Milwaukee's Wisconsin Humane Society wildlife-rescue volunteer Chuck Meyer, a registered nurse who lives in Glendale, chokes up when asked to retell the story of how he rescued two dogs in New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"It's a lovely story about two very deserving dogs who I don't think ever really had a home. It's a Disney story, it really is," he says.

During his second sojourn to the Big Easy in mid-October -- the first was in September -- he met Winn and Dixie, two female dogs stranded in a rat-infested building just north of the French Quarter. A week earlier they had been rescued and Dixie was coming out of surgery after a vet's discovery that she had cancer. Two volunteers paid the $1,200 bill for her spaying and initial chemotherapy.

Meyer decided to bring them back to Wisconsin, where they were treated at the Animal Emergency Center, and later house trained and fostered by three local nuns. Unfortunately, because of his four cats, Meyer could not keep the dogs, so Wisconsin Humane Society put Winn and Dixie up for adoption.

Stephanie and Brandon Pagel of Whitewater adopted the dogs, renaming them Dinga and Hyduke, respectively. In a home with four college students, they are never starving for attention.

"We feel fortunate being able to give them a home when they've been out in unfortunate conditions most of their lives," Stephanie says. Hyduke, an Akita mix, she calls "a smaller, fuzzier version of Marmaduke," and Dinga, a beagle mix, "has tons of energy to burn."

For more information about Meyer's efforts to rescue animals affected by Hurricane Katrina, check out www.campkatrina.net.