Ironically, this spring Beaumont’s Ford Center was the host site of Texas’ Hurricane Conference for emergency management professionals and local officials. Four months later, the Center, surrounded by the destruction wrought by Hurricane Rita, is one of two staging centers for animals rescued from the wreckage. Although animal health officials estimate that more than 30,000 Texas pets and livestock were evacuated prior to the storm’s strike, many more were left behind, and their owners are unable to retrieve or house them immediately.