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."
