The good news is that from most accounts, animal rescue before and after the hurricane has improved tremendously. The majority of people with pets acted responsibly and brought their pets with them. Animal rescue groups worked side by side with government agencies to get pets onto buses or shipped in air-conditioned trucks to temporary shelters. Standardized record keeping meant people and pets would be reunited. Three years of applying lessons learned after Hurricane Katrina paid off.
See an NBC video clip for some of the best coverage we found about the disaster preparations for pets. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#26486144
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) video gives a good sense of how much better pet evacuation was organized. http://video.hsus.org/?fr_story=05a4cc52bd83b42070825840fbf20d4bf5c85728&rf=bm
For people who left their pets behind, no excuse is a good one this time. There were loads of options provided. The operation wasn't perfect but it was about a thousand percent better than after Katrina.
This leads us to another point. Pardon our soapbox here, but where was the media in reporting what would happen to the pets? National articles and television news segments didn't start mentioning animals until after most people were on their way out of the area.
It would have been very helpful for national media to report that people should be bringing their pets, having them in crates, and bringing medical records. Evidently word hasn't spread that when people think there's no safety for their pets, they will stay through a disaster. This endangers them, the animals, the first responders, and animal rescuers.
See the following article in USA Today's September 1 online edition for a short article about the evacuation. A longer article by Sharon L. Peters is in the Tuesday print edition in the Lifestyle section. We were quoted in these articles and asked to compare pet evacuation processes for the two hurricanes - Katrina and Gustav. "Gustav prompts mass pet evacuations, By Sharon L. Peters, USA TODAY Thousands of pet evacuations were carried out over the weekend ahead of Hurricane Gustav and plans and resources are in place to find and care for the left-behind animals that survive the hurricane. . .
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-09-01-gustav-pets_N.htm
Another aspect that fell short, in our opinion, was the availability of pet-friendly hotels. In destinations where people were evacuating, there still weren't nearly enough hotels that welcomed fleeing people with their pets.
We believe that in a crisis, such as a hurricane, ALL hotels should temporarily become pet friendly for those who have their pets in carriers. At least, they could provide pet rooms like smoking rooms. Pets will never do as much damage to a hotel room as humans. Anything a pet does can be cleaned with a good vacuum cleaner and stain remover. Can hotels say the same thing about their human guests?
Check out our website for information on how to prepare pets for disaster and what to keep on hand for any emergency. Go to www.rescuedsavinganimals.com and click on "Preparing for disaster tips."
Save your pet. Save your life. People get hurt when they stay behind or go back into danger to help their pets.
What have you seen or heard that impressed you about the Gustav pet evacuations?
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