Planning for Your Pets in Times of Emergency

When a disaster strikes, animals can become isolated and untended for weeks, unless they are evacuated or placed in a secure facility. Many disasters leave behind substantial debris, contaminated food or water supplies, downed fences and power lines, and damaged structures. Abandoned animals face significant hazards after the event. What would you do if a hurricane, tornado, or wildfire swept through your town? What would you do with your animals - your beloved dog, your prized horse, that cat you love to hate - the furry friends who live with you in your house, who are not just pets, but members of your family?

Your local emergency management agency has arranged for emergency shelters for people if their homes are destroyed. However, emergency shelters are not required to let you bring your animal with you, except for trained service animals such as seeing-eye dogs and monkey-helpers. So, what do you do?

You need to prepare in advance for what you would do with your pet or other animals if an emergency situation arises to tend to the health and welfare of your animal. If left without food or water for an extended time, your animal could become vicious - and killed by the very people who arrive in an attempt to rescue them in self-defense. It is your responsibility to plan for what to do with your pet in times of emergency.

Animals left untended in a flood or when the walls or windows are broken out could escape. They will likely become exposed to contaminated water and wild animals, leading to a potentially costly decontamination, or monitoring to assure they have not contracted a disease like rabies.

What many people may not know is that their local emergency management agency has the authority, and should have the resources, to help their animals get through the disaster.

In January 2006, the United States Congress passed HR 3858, the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS Act) to enable FEMA to respond not only to the needs of people, but the needs of their pets, in times of disaster. The PETS Act amended FEMA's charter, giving local emergency agencies an opportunity to receive funding for planning for pet and animal shelters. Those local agencies should have in their plan provisions for what to do about the potential of thousands of pets needing food and shelter following a disaster.

The bill came out as a consequence of the chaos of Hurricane Katrina and the tens of thousands of displaced Americans whose pets were lost or abandoned in the chaos that followed in the wake of the near-total destruction of New Orleans and much of the Mississippi coast. Thousands of dead animals were found floating in the waters or drowned in the muck, left behind by pet owners with nowhere to go, and no one to turn to for help.

You should check with your local emergency management agency to find out what their plans are for animal sheltering and care in times of emergency, then develop your own plan. If the local agency does not have a plan in place - your job becomes even bigger.

The Department of Homeland Security has developed a training video to help local emergency responders, and animal owners, figure out what to do following a large-scale disaster. There are two modules in the video - one for local emergency planners, and the other for animal owners. It is available for download from the Emergency Management Center free of charge.