June 12, 2006
By Laura Scott
The Kansas City Star
Many heart-breaking stories came from the abandonment of pets late last summer as Gulf Coast residents fled Hurricane Katrina or tried to escape the flooding.
Photo: Scores of pets abandoned in the midst of Hurricane Katrina were rescued by the Humane Society of the United States. (File photo)
That abandonment often was not voluntary. One that particularly captured public attention was the boy who had his fluffy white dog taken from him as he climbed aboard a bus of evacuees leaving the New Orleans Superdome.
“Snowball” was yanked from the boy’s arms because pets weren’t allowed on the bus. The boy cried so much that he threw up. Many fruitless attempts were made later to locate boy and dog and get them back together.
Snowball and his little owner are cited today as good examples of why Congress should pass legislation requiring state and local governments to include pets in their disaster planning.
As Katrina approached, residents of New Orleans and elsewhere often chose to stay put because they couldn’t take their pets with them. Some people died because they made that choice.
After the hurricane hit, many did not leave their flooded homes because their pets couldn’t be transported along with them.
Others left with sad hearts, like the little boy, because they were forced to choose between their own rescue and that of four-legged family members. That’s a cruel choice. Many pet owners feel their animals are members of the family.
More than 60 percent of American homes have a pet. In homes of single or elderly persons, they often provide the daily love and companionship that otherwise would be missing.
A Zogby International poll after Hurricane Katrina showed that 61 percent of pet owners said they would be likely to refuse an order to evacuate if they couldn’t take their pets with them. Clearly, Congress needs to act to keep animals and people together in emergencies.
The House recently approved a bill requiring state and local governments to consider pets in their disaster planning in order to qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency funds. It’s a start, but the Senate bill is more comprehensive.
It authorizes federal funds to help states create emergency shelters for people with pets and it allows the federal government to provide rescue assistance following a disaster.
The rescue of those who survived the hurricanes — both human and animal — was a massive undertaking. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that it was involved in assisting 10,000 animals along the Gulf.
Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, says in one day volunteers removed 700 animals that were left behind.
“There’s no government safety net for the animals,” he says. “It was entirely on humane organizations like HSUS. We had to do the rescue, the sheltering, the transportation, the reunions, the reconstruction, all of that. We had 7,000 phone calls and e-mails from people just in the New Orleans area, telling us animals were trapped in their homes.”
Now, he says, many animals are homeless. The HSUS and others have launched a spay-and-neuter program for these animals, which is a huge undertaking.
A requirement that people’s pets be included in disaster planning, with funding that creates places for pets to be kept safe, will go a long way in protecting the lives not only of animals in a disaster, but their owners as well. And it will help to make the aftermaths more manageable.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/opinion/14795801.htm