Cities house hundreds of pets after Gustav, Ike

Fort Worth keeps evacuees' pets at the city animal shelter and provides free microchips for the critters to make sure they will be matched with their owners.

Evacuees staying at the Dallas Convention Center can play and cuddle with their pets at another area of the complex just across the street.

"We get a lot of hugs from folks with tears in their eyes," said Kent Robertson, a division manager with Dallas animal services. "Their homes have been destroyed, and they don't know what they're going to do, but they have a place for their animals."

But some evacuees resist giving up their animals, even temporarily.

Pulliam said one elderly couple staying at an Austin shelter slept in a car outside with their two cocker spaniels, rather than turn them over to shelter workers.

Last weekend, Galveston resident Ida Navejar ran away from the Austin Convention Center with her iguana, Iggy, and one of her five Chihuahuas, Cha Cha, because she apparently thought she would not get them back from the animal shelter. But the 19-year-old and her pets were found after police put out a bulletin, and Navejar returned after reassurance that her animals would be cared for and later returned.

"They're like our kids," said Ida's mother, Maria Navejar.

Before Gustav and Ike, owners weren't the only ones leaving hurricane-prone areas with pets. Animal shelters in harm's way evacuated cats and dogs to several nonprofit animal welfare agencies across Texas.

The SPCA of Texas took in about 300 animals from Louisiana shelters before Gustav hit earlier this month, then accepted 235 more from South Texas shelters in Ike's path last weekend. That's in addition to the 500 cats and dogs already at the SPCA's two shelters in Dallas and McKinney.

"Animals are totally dependent on people, and we have to be there as an organization to do this," said James Bias, president of the Dallas-based SPCA of Texas.