SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - Twenty years ago this August, Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans, leaving thousands stranded with nowhere to go.

But also, among the stranded were the furry friends of those trying to survive.

KSLA’s Payton Manuel spoke with an organization who was on the ground 20 years ago and how their rescue efforts then helped shape efforts today.

“When we saw the scale of what was happening in Katrina and the desperate need, and if you were there, you can’t forget the fact that there was such a shock at the displacement of human beings, the suffering, but that was immediately followed by the fact that you had dogs and cats swimming around the city with really no one doing any kind of rescue for them,” Francis Battista said.

Battista, the co-founder of the Best

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