FANCY IS ONE of the lucky ones.
The Norfolk-based group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals gave the 7-year-old miniature toy poodle that name.
When she was found locked in a New Orleans home following Hurricane Katrina, from Aug. 28 until Sept. 16, she hadn't eaten in nearly three weeks and had lost half her body weight.
Her fur was so fouled by floodwaters' chemicals, oil and human waste that shears wouldn't cut it, and it finally fell out.
And she had developed a life-threatening infection.
But, through it all, the dog's toenails remained painted hot pink.
Fancy not only survived Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, but became one of the few New Orleans pets to be reunited with their owners.
"It's amazing," said Cyrillia Duplessis, the dog's owner, who now lives in Fort Worth.
"Her food was underwater, and I guess she was drinking the toxic water."
Then there was the trek the dog made over half a continent as animal rescue groups moved in to help.
"I was very surprised she ended up all the way up in Virginia," Duplessis said.
Of 250,000 pets separated from their human families during Hurricane Katrina, it's estimated that 200,000 are still missing.
The reunion took place the day before Thanksgiving, when PETA paid to fly the poodle and her "foster parent," Colleen O'Brien, from Norfolk to Dallas.
O'Brien, PETA's 29-year-old communications director, took Fancy into her own Virginia Beach home for 10 weeks and fell in love with the dog, whose real name turned out to be 'Licorice.'
Thanks to PETA, the poodle's story had a happy ending.
"We've spent a great deal of money, as have a lot of animal groups, since Katrina," O'Brien said.
She said volunteers from animal-assistance groups across the country went to New Orleans and broke down locked doors to rescue animals after receiving calls from displaced owners.
Duplessis had taken her mother to the hospital for dialysis as Katrina approached, then couldn't make it back home.
"We figured we'd ride the storm out for a couple of days at the hospital," she said. It didn't work out that way. She and her mother had to be evacuated to Texas.
Duplessis called New Orleans animal-rescue workers to tell them the dog was trapped.
When the rescuers finally got to the dog, they inserted a microchip beneath the animal's skin with information about where she was found.
A week later, a Duplessis relative went to the shelter to pick Licorice up, but she was gone.
Duplessis spent many hours searching Internet sites loaded with pictures of pets made homeless by Katrina.
"I thought every black poodle I saw on the computer might be Licorice," she said.
Licorice was one of 30 rescued New Orleans dogs PETA brought to Virginia.
"Many were not in good shape," O'Brien said.
"It was so sad seeing them taken off the bus [from New Orleans]," she said. "They were so scared and craving attention."
PETA saved the poodle's life by paying for a spaying to rid it of an infection in its uterus caused by the putrid floodwaters. Licorice would have died within days without the operation.
O'Brien said PETA has been looking for the dogs' families and so far has located five of the 30.
"The rest have been adopted into good homes by foster parents," she said.
O'Brien said 63 percent of American households include companion animals and that some New Orleans natives perished because they were told by government agencies they'd have to leave their pets behind and refused to do so.
Hurricane Katrina points out the need for the government to "have a system in place for people who lost everything, and, in the process were told they couldn't take their animals with them," O'Brien said.
"They should be allowed to bring their pets," she said. "Some families were ordered to leave the animals on the side of the road under threat of arrest.
"The federal government's slow response caused thousands more animals to die," O'Brien said. "They don't have a plan for handling animals in a disaster."
She said one man shot his elderly dog because he refused to leave it behind to suffer.
"As if the pain of losing his home wasn't enough," O'Brien said.
She gave up her Thanksgiving holiday to fly with Licorice to the reunion. She had gotten quite attached to the dog and giving her up was difficult.
Duplessis said O'Brien broke down and cried at the airport when she had to part with Licorice.
She said the dog became so fond of the PETA employee that she now has to show her videotape of O'Brien to cheer her up.
"I don't know how she survived for so long," O'Brien said of the dog's three weeks alone in the house without food.
"She must've been terrified--the noise, the fumes, the intense heat. She's a strong little girl."
For more information on assisting pets made homeless by Hurricane Katrina, visit helpingani mals.com.
MICHAEL ZITZ is a staff writer with The Free Lance-Star. Contact him at 540/374-5408, or mikez@freelance star.com.