Making landfall a little more than three weeks after Katrina struck Louisiana and Mississippi, Hurricane Rita cut a path of destruction along the Texas-Louisiana border. While the Category 3 storm likely killed hundreds of farm animals, it mostly spared the lives of companion animals in the affected area. Disaster response experts credit the quick lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, as well as Texas's well-established response systems, for keeping pets and people out of harms' way. Read about The HSUS's role in helping animals affected by Rita.