I have some very exciting news to report! National Geographic will be doing a series of shows about Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Woohoo! The upcoming episode is about a specific section of the sanctuary in Utah, called DogTown. The first episode aires tomorrow, January 4th at 9:00pm ET on the National Geographic Channel.

Below is a short 3 minute clip of what the first show will be about. Check it out – I know I will!

For anyone who doesn’t know, when I did animal rescue in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, Best Friends was the organization I spent most of my time working for as a veterinary technician. I was managing (with immense help from all the wonderful volunteers) the Cat Area in their rescue shelter, called Celebration Station, all by myself for several weeks. That was when they decided to send two of their own employees from Utah to help co-manage (Hi Mike and Mark!).

They also stayed and continued rescuing pets long after all the other “big name” animal agencies had left. They will forever be my favorite animal shelter/sanctuary/organization/etc. I Best Friends!

Side note: Not to sound like a commercial, but if you are interested in helping to bring about a time when there are no more homeless pets, the Best Friends Network is the place to be. It’s totally free and quickly becoming one of the best places on the web for those wishing to help animals. Look me up when you join!

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Photographed in Metairie, Louisiana on January 15, 2006.

On this particular day, I was having “one of those days”. Celebration Station was hectic and several things had recently happened that put me in a funk. So I took a walk along the road behind the building to clear my head. The day was dreary and matched my mood, until I came upon this monarch butterfly. It was surviving in the worst of conditions and seemed a little worse for the wear, yet it still flew merrily about. Seeing it reminded me why I was there… to help Louisiana begin with a fresh start.

Last year on this date (November 9), I had just returned home from my first pet rescue trip in post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana. I volunteered for 8 days with Alley Cat Allies at their base camp in Bogalusa, Louisiana. It’s hard to imagine a whole year has passed. There isn’t a single day that goes by that I don’t think about my experiences there, and of my time with ARNO and then the months with Best Friends Animal Society. I’m including the good memories with the bad here, too.

I wish I could say that I’m “over it”, but I’m not. I fully expected I would be stronger and that it wouldn’t affect me to the extent it has. I guess I thought that I could just pick up where I left off with my life here and be on my merry way. Now, I know that is not going to happen and, honestly, I doubt my life will ever be the same. Experiences like that change a person forever and it’s just something I’m going to have to deal with forever. Plain and simple, I just see the world through different eyes now.

But, ya know what? I don’t regret a single second of my time there. And, if given the chance, I would it all over again. I might be slightly damaged, but I’m not broken. Personally, I like to think my nicks and cracks (not to mention the bites, scratches and bruises ) just add character to an already strong, but not totally unbreakable, foundation.

Here’s hoping another year goes by where the hurricanes are weak and the foundations grow stronger.