PROVIDED BY CNNNEXT.COM
Published on Aug 29, 2015
It's estimated that thousands of people refused to evacuate New Orleans in advance of Hurricane Katrina for one reason: they weren't willing to leave their dogs or cats behind.

At the time, most State and Federal rescue organizations had no formal policy on evacuating animals during disasters, and so many people in need of help were faced with a harrowing choice: they could be saved, but only if they left their animals behind.

According to Science editor David Grimm (pls link to his personal website), the fact that many people died in the floods because they wouldn't leave their animals behind (as well as the sight of hundreds of abandoned cats and dogs after the flood receded) prompted major changes to state and federal laws regarding the evacuation of pets during disasters.

Inspired by Grimm's reporting (pls link to it -- it's called "how Katrina turned pets into people) in BuzzFeed, and in his book "Citizen Canine," the NewsHour's William Brangham and Justin Scuiletti tells the story of those who lived through the storm.