Sept. 7, 2005 — Four kittens floating on a broken door. A German Shepard loose on the interstate. And a 90-kilogram (200-pound) potbellied pig tied to a fence.

Those were just a few of the animals that Willie Cirone and his partner Jeff Eyre rescued from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

The Humane Society volunteers sped though New Orleans answering calls from evacuees who left their pets behind and rescue workers who found them in the floodwaters.

The truck was surrounded when it pulled onto a street filled with rescue workers searching flooded houses for survivors.

"I got four kittens I rescued today," one firefighter called out as he dashed past the boats to a dry spot where he'd left the mewling gray kittens.

Three others brought dogs over, including Tim Robson, who'd spotted a beagle in a window and smashed it open to get the dog out.

"How can people leave them," wondered Robson, a firefighter from New Mexico who owns a dog and a goldfish. "I'd much rather see a person in a house than an animal because an animal can't do anything for itself."

Thousands of people were forced to leave their pets behind when they evacuated New Orleans. Most expected to be home in a few days. But with nearly 80 percent of the city buried under disease-ridden floodwaters, officials said they won't be able to get back to their homes for months. Even to get their pets.

The Humane Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are doing their best to rescue animals trapped in sweltering homes for more than a week. Getting them all will be impossible.

"You can only take as many dogs as you have people to take care of them," Cirone said. "It's a massive operation."

Cirone and Eyre spent nearly two hours Tuesday clearing a house filled with 22 cats, two dogs and a bird. Healthy animals roaming the street are left to fend for themselves so the animal protection crews can focus on saving those trapped in homes with no way to scavenge for food.

It's exhausting work, but the worst part isn't the animals. It's the people.

"You've got to walk through bodies to get animals," Cirone said. "Some were in the water. Some were on their porch."

The burly firefighter and animal control officer from New Jersey said he tries his best to tune out the misery around him and to focus on getting his job done. But there are moments when it slips through.

Like when a small boy and his mother dropped off their pet rabbit and mice.

"All their possessions were in a Volkswagen Beatle. That's all they have left."

The animals are being cared for at a farm north of Louisiana until they can be reunited with their families, many of whom were told they would not be able to bring their pets on evacuation busses and helicopters. Photographs of some animals are being posted on a Web site, petfinder.com, so that their owners can claim them.