"In Vermilion Parish, they didn't wait for the cavalry"

Cajuns roll up sleeves, hustle to save their lifeblood.

So, as Hurricane Rita turned homes into swamps, roads into waterways and fences into memories, the cattlemen and rice growers, oil workers and alligator farmers of Vermilion Parish didn't need government to tell them what to do: They launched rescue boats from front yards and high-water trucks to pull their neighbors to safety.

And as the tidal surge receded, they advanced, using airboats, trucks and horses to round up thousands of stranded, loose cows and bulls, fighting to keep the livestock – their livelihood – from plunging off the high road into submerged sidetracks.