Family That Fled Katrina Gets Pet Dog Back

Family That Fled Katrina Gets Pet Dog Back

By M.R. KROPKO

November 17, 2005

CLEVELAND -- As Hurricane Katrina approached New Orleans, Ann Gadel and her family crammed into a small car and fled north. But there was no room for Daisy, a 70-pound boxer-Doberman mix.

Daisy was left behind in the house with the windows boarded up. When they realized their neighborhood had been flooded, they thought there was no hope for the pet.

"At the time we thought we'd be back in a few days," said Gadel, 47. "When we realized our house was pretty much a total loss, I was heartbroken that we had to leave her behind. I cried my eyes out."

Daisy defied the odds and survived, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sent the pet in a truck to Ohio along with three others rescued in New Orleans. On Wednesday, Daisy flew from Cleveland to Orlando, Fla.

"I can't believe she's alive," Gadel said shortly after being reunited with Daisy. "This is the happiest day of my life."

Gadel, now living in Titusville, Fla., with her father and three adult siblings, said Daisy has been in the family for seven years.

After Katrina, Daisy's picture was spotted on the Animal Emergency Response Network, a Web database created by Pet Finder for animals from the recent hurricanes.

Daisy was in good condition when she arrived in Ohio, say shelter workers, who helped identify her.

Eric Rayvid, a spokesman in New York for the ASPCA, said it wasn't unusual for Daisy to end up in another state _ more than 300 animal shelters or rescue groups in about 40 states are housing hurricane-displaced animals.

Gadel says the big mystery is how Daisy got out of the house and survived the flood waters.

"I was so thrilled," she said. "I didn't think it was even possible Daisy was still alive."

Only 40 genes separate your pet dog from a wolf

The difference between an obedient, friendly pet dog and a big bad wolf could be down to as few as 40 genes, according to a study into tameness.

The research also found that to adapt to a life on the farm or in the home takes many more changes in gene activity than that required to love humans.

A Swedish team compared two groups of farm-raised silver foxes in Siberia, one where for 40 generations the foxes have been selected for their friendly nature, while the other was raised in the farm but not selected for tameness.

The comparison was reported yesterday in the journal Current Biology by Dr Elena Jazin and colleagues at Uppsala University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and the Norwegian University of Life Science.

In the tame foxes, they found surprisingly limited changes in gene activity in the brain compared with the non-selected silver foxes. Foxes have about 25,000 genes.

When compared with wild foxes both groups had 3,000 differences. There were a similar number of differences with dogs revealing that being friendly to humans takes far fewer genetic changes than being domesticated.

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