“It was like a ghost town,” said Denise Erickson, an animal control officer from Luce County who brought a team from the Upper Peninsula to New Orleans. Her team went to rescue as many animal survivors of Hurricane Katrina as possible.

“There were overturned cars and boats on trees,” she said. “No life anywhere. And the smells, we didn’t even want to know what they were.”

The only human beings allowed in the city were law enforcement officers and animal rescue workers, she said.

Within half an hour, the U.P. relief workers began to see lost, abandoned animals in the nooks and crannies of New Orleans, animals of all kinds roving around in the 104 degree heat, trying to survive in the wake of the disaster.

“The first animal we saw was a yellow Sharpe-mix which was hanging around in front of a store,” she said. “A man was feeding it an MRE,” which stands for Military Ready to Eat ration.

It was the first dog they saw, and the first dog they rescued.

A staging area for animal rescue organizations was set up at a Winn-Dixie grocery store in downtown New Orleans.

Ms. Erickson, Lois Fighter, Jan Maskus, and Patty Newby of Michigan had arrived in New Orleans after spending one night at the home of Louisiana Senator Kathy Wells.

The group went to Louisiana to retrieve animals already housed in shelters. They intended to make room in the shelters for incoming survivors of the hurricane, but Senator Wells directed the group to New Orleans, where they were needed more.

In the wake of the hurricane, many homeless animals had found their way into houses.

“Dogs were forming into packs and getting in,” Ms. Erickson said. “Some home owners living outside of the area were aware of this and contacted the senator.” She, in turn, gave Ms. Erickson addresses and authorized her team to enter homes to look for vagrant animals.

“Some were alive,” Ms. Erickson said. “Some weren’t.”

Animal rescue workers, including Ms. Erickson’s group, the Upper Peninsula Katrina Animal Rescue Effort (UPKARE), cornered and caught dogs and brought them to the Winn-Dixie staging area.

The group encountered dogs, goats, pigs, snakes, ferrets, turtles, and even fish. Some of the animals they found in houses, some on the streets

“It was stressful for us to see,” she said. “We’re animal lovers, and many of them were malnourished, traumatized, scared, and some were aggressive.”

At the Winn-Dixie, Ms. Erickson was put in charge of what she called the “aggressive dog ward,” a group of Pit Bulls, Chows, and mixes that had become dangerous. At one point, she was bitten by a dog.

Nonetheless, Ms. Erickson took the animals out for walks. She did so with a “catch pole,” a six-foot-long rod with a noose at the end. That way, the dogs could be exercised, but couldn’t attack her.

Lois Fighter and Jan Maskus of Newberry focused on the animals at the site. They cleaned cages, walked dogs, picked up trash, and battled the extreme heat and tight living conditions of the camp. They had bottled water with them, but no one had electricity or running water.

At Winn-Dixie, animals were fed, watered, held for a day or two, then shipped elsewhere. Their information was recorded on paper tablets to be posted online at petfinders.com. Workers detailed where a given animal was found, what condition it was in, and where it was sent.

UPKARE had one of the largest operations in the Winn-Dixie staging area. The group brought a 30-foot-long gooseneck stock trailer and three pop-up canopies.

“We kept somebody in the camp 24 hours per day,” Ms. Erickson said. “It was stressful. We had good days, and we had bad days, but every day was hot.”

The hardest part, she said, was seeing the sick animals and watching people filter back into New Orleans with nothing but what they carried on their backs.

At one point, the group was approached by a woman who had only her vehicle and $10. When she read the side of the U.P. rescue truck, she cried, and insisted the group take her $10.

“It broke her heart,” Ms. Erickson said, “to see us down there rescuing animals.”

Although animals were the main focus of UPKARE, the group also brought supplies for people in need.

Lt. ReVord of the Iron Mountain Police Department, who started the U.P. Northeastern Wisconsin Law Enforcement America United Campaign, donated $2,000 to the group. They used the money for supplies.

“The supplies we got were an enormous help,” said Ms. Erickson. “We brought trash bags, bleach, buckets, all equipment necessary for people coming back to contaminated homes.”

“While down there we were so tired we didn’t want to eat,” she said. “And fluid retention was hard because we were constantly sweating.”

Their trip was fraught with hardship. Their truck broke down three times during the course of the rescue operation.

While at the Winn-Dixie staging area, UPKARE workers were approached by other animal relief workers who told them about an illegal mass euthanization effort. They were told that animals were brought into a school and shot.

Although Ms. Erickson and her team had intended to pick up animals who already had been housed at existing shelters, the animals they brought back to Michigan are actually animals displaced from their homes by Katrina.

Before bringing them back, the 13 dogs under UPKARE workers’ protection were given basic check-ups by a veterinarian in New Orleans, and as they passed through Alabama, the animals were given a more thorough screening.

“We did this because we would never jeopardize the U.P. animals these victims would come into contact with,” Ms. Erickson said.

In Albertville, Alabama, a second veterinarian gave the dogs physicals, fecal exams, rabies checks, and heartworm checks. They were treated for fleas, received rabies booster shots, and reports on the animals were sent to the Department of Agriculture in Lansing.

They had planned to bring back about 30 animals, however, despite what Ms. Erickson said was a tremendous discount provided by the veterinarian in Alabama, by re-focusing on Katrina refugee animals, the group had to pay for vaccinations, allowing only 13 to be brought back to Michigan.

While in Alabama, the group picked up two hitchhikers, a set of abandoned puppies. The puppies are now in the St. Ignace Animal Shelter. They also picked up a beagle they named Flight, because he kept running away.

Now that they’re in Michigan, the animals will stay in foster care for three months.

Ms. Erickson’s team and the Animal Aid Association of St. Ignace will put the animals’ information on petfinders.com, so that people in the south looking for their pets can find them.

After three months, those providing foster care for these dogs can keep them, or put them up for adoption.

Ms. Erickson has taken personal responsibility for a female beagle name Rita. Rita has a broken leg that must be amputated, and Ms. Erickson is seeking donations for the operation.

“Quite a few veterinarians in the U.P. have offered to spay and neuter the rescued dogs,” she said.

Reflecting on the event, Ms. Erickson said what she saw in New Orleans made her realize that people should drop their grudges, and not concern themselves over material things.

According to her, nothing on television comes close to the conditions she encountered in New Orleans.

Even so, “I would do it all over again,” she said.

In three months, qualified animal lovers interested in adopting dogs brought back by UPKARE workers can contact Ms. Erickson at (906) 293-4827.