During my first of four assignments to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, I captured this image of Sgt. Cliff Deutsch rescuing a cocker spaniel named BayBay. It was September 24, 2005 more than three weeks after Katrina stuck the Gulf Coast. Like thousands of other animals that were on their own on the streets of New Orleans, BayBay

was desperately waiting to be rescued.

BayBay was reunited with her people shortly after being rescued. During my last Katrina assignment in June 2006, I visited her and the Fitch family in Orleans Parish and saw first hand how happy BayBay was to home again. Sadly, she passed away about a year later from health complications due to ingesting toxic storm water. I’m just glad her last days were with her people in their rebuilt home.

This photo of Cliff and BayBay was awarded first place in the Nevada Press Association 2006 Best Spot News Photo Coverage.  It was also chosen by Wiley Press for the cover of Pawprints of Katrina, a book featuring over 70 of my images documenting rescues in the months

after the storm.