Bodhisattva Cowboys

The devastation of Hurricane Ike left thousands of heads of cattle, horses, pets and wild animals stranded and in danger. At MSNBC, Mike Stuckey describes the work of compassionate people who are rescuing them.

In some photos the rescues look like Old West cattle drives, except the cowboys are driving the herds through water instead of across the plains. Volunteers have rescued stranded pets and more than 550 tiny baby squirrels, which were blown from their nests and now are being bottle fed in animal shelters.

Mike Stuckey interviewed Jerry Finch, whose life's work is rescuing neglected and abused horses and finding them better homes. Finch's rescue facility was destroyed by Ike, but his first priority is rescuing horses on Galveston Island. Finch said, “There are a lot of people taking care of human needs, electrical, water and sewer. We’re there specifically to take care of the horses. We each have our own little world we try to take care of. Ours is the horses.”

Sometimes the bodhisattva of compassion wears cowboy boots.