Law Reforms Help Keep Pets and People Together When Disasters Strike

According to news reports, the most cited reason by thousands of people who stayed behind in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck was that they didn't want to leave their pets.

Forced evacuations excluded animals and literally tore animals from the arms of their distraught owners and emergency support did not extend to pets. The toll was unimaginable: animals abandoned and left to fend for themselves; people's hearts broken and worse: because of the exlusions, many people put themselves in harm's way by either refusing to evacuate or by returning to dangerous areas too soon. Human and animal lives were lost unnecessarily.

One of Katrina's many lessons was that human and animal rescue efforts have to be coordinated to include companion animals. This lesson was so profound that it resulted in a bi-partisan initiative and, as a result, the PETS Act (Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act) was passed by congress in 2006, for the first time, providing standards that included the evacuation of companion animals in times of disaster.

The most significant difference between the recent Ike and Gustav response was that people were told to take their companion animals with them when they evacuated. Specific instructions were provided to animal guardians how to safely take their pets on public transport. Thousands of pets accompanied the millions of people who fled inland in the face of the latest hurricanes - shelters throughout Texas and neighboring states set up emergency accommodations for evacuated pets, while animal rescue groups deployed early response teams and shipped thousands of crates to facilitate animal transportation.

"This is the first time in history that pets have been a priority in an evacuation," said Ana Zorrilla, CEO of the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (LA-SPCA), based in New Orleans.

And Texas has been at the forefront of this new mindset.

• In Austin, officials drop off pet supply kits — including carrying crates and waste disposal bags — before evacuees even arrive at the shelters.
• Fort Worth keeps evacuees' pets at the city animal shelter and provides free microchips for the critters to make sure they will be matched with their owners.
• Evacuees staying at the Dallas Convention Center can play and cuddle with their pets at another area of the complex just across the street.
• "We get a lot of hugs from folks with tears in their eyes," said Kent Robertson, a division manager with Dallas animal services. "Their homes have been destroyed, and they don't know what they're going to do, but they have a place for their animals."

Inland Texan shelters have taken in hundreds of animals from Lousiana and coastal shelters - over 500 additional animals doubled the number of dogs cats and dogs already at the SPCA's two shelters in Dallas and McKinney, several hundred of whom still remain - they are up for adoption and won't return to their former shelters, which have to make room for stranded pets found along the Gulf Coast.

So far, Humane Society workers have rescued several hundred animals after Gustav and Ike. But they said they expect the number to be far less than the 10,000 pets rescued in Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina. "This act is not only saving pets' lives — it's saving human lives," said Scott Haisley, senior director of emergency services for the Humane Society of the United States, which supported the federal law. "We are seeing fewer animals left behind," Haisley said.

You can still help! Visit your local Texas animal shelter and adopt or foster one of the evacuated animals, or donate supplies for their extra guests!