"Mine"

Mine, 2009

Dir.: Geralyn Pezanoski

Prod.: Alison Pezanoski-Browne, Erin Essenmacher and Geralyn Pezanoski

This will forever change our lives. As pet guardians, as parents, our lives will be forever changed – New Orleans resident. 

I avoided this documentary for the same reason when my mom brought home the DVD of Marley & Me, it sat unopened for nearly six months.

“Because, Mom,” I stressed when she asked me for the umpteenth time why we hadn’t watched it yet, “I know for a fact that I am going to cry uncontrollably.”

It’s like a sickness. I know that any movie or TV show involving a dog or the plight of a dog is almost inevitably going to make me cry. I have two dogs, a mutt and a terrier, who are my best friends (other than, you know, my fiancé). I don’t live with them anymore, my mom has them. When she told me she was moving to Arizona and taking the dogs with her, I began to cry. “Don’t worry,” Mom said. “We’ll still call each other and you can come visit anytime.”

“I’m not crying about that! I’m crying because you’re taking away my dogs!” I wailed, much to my mother’s chagrin.

As much as I cannot wait to adopt a dog of my own, I am dreading the process – there are so many dogs who need homes, so many that deserve loving families. How can I choose just one? On top of that, I work at an animal lodging facility where I spend eight hours a day, four to five days a week as a companion for dogs whose very rich owners have kenneled them while they go on business trips or vacations. I often find myself wiping away tears when I put them back in their enclosures, not wanting to hear their high-pitched whining as I lock their doors. Also, my fiancé knows better than to let me anywhere near an animal shelter or a pet store, because I will want to take all the dogs home. I'm also the type of person who will quickly change the channel in order to avoid watching the ASPCA commercials featuring all the moon-eyed dogs wanting a sponsor. Aaaagghhh my eyes are watering just at the thought of those damn commercials.

According to the synopsis on the documentary’s website (minemovie.squarespace.com), “Mine is…about the essential bond between human and animals, set against the backdrop of one of the worst disasters in modern US history [Hurricane Katrina].”

I was going to avoid watching this film as much as possible. Maybe save it as the last one off my list. But I didn’t want to postpone the inevitable. I found myself actually needing a good cry, so, I put it on.

The film opens to a montage of Hurricane Katrina wreckage from August of 2005. While rescue personnel were concerned with evacuating the people of New Orleans, the people were dismayed that they were being forced to abandoned their pets. Shelters were refusing to accept people with animals. Therefore, pet owners had no choice but to leave their beloved pets behind. After the city began to return to normal, pet owners were faced with the task of trying to track down their beloved furbabies.

Mine focuses on five people and their difficulties with reclaiming their dogs in the aftermath of Katrina. There are also interviews with the dog foster parents, ASPCA workers and rescuers, and animal rights activists. Director Geralyn Pezanoski does a miraculous job recording the emotional pain, joy and outrage of all involved.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and later Hurricane Rita, 150,000 animals died. Those that were found alive were rescued and shipped out. This project, known as Operation: Orphans of the Storm, sent 15,000 pets to 500 shelters across the US and Canada. They were all catalogued and listed on Petfinder, then word was put out that owners could find their missing pets online.

Rescuer Jane Garrison was met with skepticism when she told people she was going to New Orleans to rescue animals. She was asked, "Why are you saving dogs? Why aren't you saving people?" She was shocked when she saw footage of Katrina's aftermath and news crews were abandoning the dogs they filmed. She saw people being rescued off of building rooftops, and the dogs being left behind. She explains, "None of the groups were ready for the disaster of this magnitude...I couldn't get enough people down there each day...As long as you weren't from the area, you could come down and help." Cameras follow her as she and her team search neighborhoods. They find several houses were spray painted to let rescuers know that animals were inside. They discover dogs locked in cages, trapped in destroyed homes.

Karen O'Toole, another rescuer, says of the disaster: "I knew it wasn’t a matter of sending a check to the Red Cross. I thought I was watching a movie when I saw Katrina on TV. You couldn’t rely on the government in a disaster like this."

For what it's worth, many, many efforts were made for the sake of the animals. Temporary shelters sprung up. Every cat and dog found were given medical care, vaccinations and microchips. "The first priority was saving their lives," Jane says. "The next was finding their families."

Malvin, a man in his mid-eighties, left his miniature poodle Bandit in his New Orleans home when he was told to evacuate. He left Bandit with food and water and a promise that he would return in a few days. "When the levees broke," Cavalier says, "I thought, Lord have mercy. What about Bandit? Where’s Bandit?" After living as an evacuee for eight months in Houston, Malvin recieves his FEMA trailor, and, eventually the help of an organization known as Stealth - their mission being to reunite Katrina dogs with their owners.

When Linda was evacuated with her family, she left fifty pounds of food and lots of water for her German shepherd, Precious. She begged rescuers to save her dog, but her plea fell upon deaf ears.  

Victor returned to New Orleans to find his dog, only to discover he'd been adopted by another couple named Tiffany and Jeremy, who were told that the original owner of Max "didn't want him back." Of course, Tiffany and Jeremy are shocked to discover that not only did Max's original owner wanted him, but never consented to an adoption. A pet custody battle ensues, leaving both parties fighting to call Max theirs.  

Jessie, a hard working man, had to leave behind his four-legged son J.J. (which stands for "Jessie Junior") during Katrina while he and his family were evacuated, and has since spent many, many months trying to locate him, only meeting with dead ends, false hope and lies. 

Finally, we are introduced to Gloria and her Labrador Murphy, her best friend. Gloria was "forcibly rescued" from her home during Katrina, because she refused to leave Murphy behind and be separated from him. Rescuers ignored her requests to save Murphy. Her devoted daughter scours the internet, looking for her mother's dog in a chaotic aftermath. 

I initially wrote six pages, single spaced, on this film, but I’ve decided to cut it down to save me from myself. However, I am thrilled to report that in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act, requiring states to accommodate pets in their disaster evacuation plans so that something like this will never happen again.

After the film ended, I sat on my couch, buried my face in a pillow and cried for a good five minutes. I cried for Malvin and Bandit; for Linda and Precious; for Victor, Tiffany, Jeremy and Max. I cried for Jessie and J.J.; I cried for Gloria and Murphy. I cried for the dogs that didn’t make it. I cried for the dogs that found new homes and were reunited. I cried for the owners who have lost their best friends. I cried for the fact that I could not hug my own dogs.

If you are a dog lover, a dog owner, a friend of a dog, I highly recommend Mine. Don’t be embarrassed to cry, seriously – even if you’re not a waterworks like me. These are stories that are altogether heartbreaking and uplifting, happy and sad.