your pet behind, and for so many people that did leave their pets behind, they came back to just devastation. not only were their homes destroyed, their communities destroyed, but their lost their pets. like so many other new orleans institutions, the local spca headquarters was destroyed in the storm. they quickly set up a temporary facility in an old coffee warehouse. helen hester came to help. that s where she first met chaz. he was brought in actually on my birthday in 2005, about three months after the storm. he was so frightened and undersocialized at that point, he didn t remember that humans were his friends, and the volunteers would come in and read to the animals, so they would get used to human voices again. and i d be reading, i would put my hand in the cage. and he d come over and start sniffing. and then you d feel that fur. it was like oh, he s soft. oh, those are soft ears. oh, wait. this is a nice dog. chaz was recovering, but