No Hurricane Preparedness Hurts Pets & Families

Needless Pet Grief Over Lack Of Hurricane Preparedness Plans For Pets

Pet owners around the world can empathize with the difficult struggle to make a decision to abandon a pet or not in a emergency disaster such as was the case in Hurricane Katrina. Kate Sullivan’s report below shine the light for the need to have pet hurricane preparedness plans made long in advance so no one has to struggle with such a dilemma during a hurricane or the painful aftermath that lack of emergency preparedness can bring to more than one family.

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, nationally and internationally emergency preparedness experts and responders are now recognizing the major issue of emergency preparedness plans for pets as well as for humans. People love their pets and many times will not abandon them except at gunpoint. It is so necessary no matter what your disasters may be to gain as much disaster preparedness information on pet disaster preparedness as possible. It is also important to have an emergency preparedness kit for each of your pets as well as for each member of your human family. In developing your emergency preparedness plans it is vital that you also include an emergency preparedness checklist of the important things to have for taking care of your pet in the most effective manner possible.

It is an excellent idea and costs very little to have ALL your pets if at all possible pet micro-chipped for identification purposes. This is one very good way to hopefully reunite a lost or unfortunately abandoned pet in a disaster situation. Another every cost effective identification idea is to write your name and phone number along with an out of the region friend or family contact and telephone number on the inside of the pet collar in waterproof pen so there is an additional contact potential.

It is vital that all pet lovers and pet owners obtain as many helpful emergency preparedness tips as possible concerning disaster preparedness and their pets. My new book Train For A Hurricane has a number of suggestions as to how to deal with the disaster preparedness issues concerning pets as well as the grief and trauma of a pet that is lost or dies in a disaster situation.

All pet lovers in my opinion should have this comprehensive information including the disaster plan for pets. As a supplement to my new book Train For a Hurricane I have included an extensive disaster guide on emergency preparedness exclusively for pets called Emergency Get & Go Disaster Guide For Pets. This will help you in preparing your pet emergency preparedness plans, evacuation strategies, emergency preparedness necessities for pets hurricane survival and disaster recovery for pets as well as information to help you design your own emergency preparedness checklist of all that you will need for your pet in their own emergency preparedness kit. Hurricane preparedness is a MUST not only for your family but also for your family pet(s) as well.

COMMENTS WELCOMED!

Are you or have you been in a hurricane disaster? Do you know someone who is recovering or has been affected by a hurricane in the past? Please share your thoughts and stories here on this blog. All I ask is that everyone be respectful and sensitive of each other and that identifying information about a person who is not the author be limited to protect their privacy.

Be Safe!

Terrie

Dr. Terrie Modesto, Critical Incident Thanatologist

www.trainforahurricane.com

Oct 2, 2007 10:18 am US/Eastern

Mine: The Pets Of Hurricane Katrina Victims

http://wcbstv.com/pets/local_story_275083702.html

Kate Sullivan

Reporting

(CBS) NEW ORLEANS, La. Hurricane Katrina did more than ravage communities, rip apart families, and destroy property. For many, it stole the one thing they loved more than anything in the world: their pet.

Nearly 600 families are actively looking for their pets a year after Katrina, which may be even as far away as Canada.

A new documentary follows the stories of Katrina survivors forced from their homes, some by gunpoint, who are now still searching for the pets they were forced to leave behind two years ago.

Filmmaker Geralyn Pezanoski started the project just months after Katrina hit, not knowing the drama that would unfold.

"The state vet of Louisiana had said that no more animals could possibly be alive six weeks after Katrina – after the hurricane. They’re in houses. They haven’t had food. They haven’t had water. So at this time when the problem was supposed to be over, it wasn’t. I would go on missions and there were still animals alive eight weeks later," Pezanoski said.

Those animals were shipped to shelters and rescue centers across the country where they were rescued by new owners, not knowing the original owner was looking for them.

"There was a holding period, a fostering period, it varied but it was a couple of months after Katrina at which time where people could adopt them. So you have all these families around the country bonding with these animals that have nurtured back to health after being in conditions where they were starving – where they were traumatized by whatever they had been through," Pezanoski said.

The documentary shows both sides: the new owners’ love of their new pet, and the agony of the Katrina victim who must face the reality that their pet did survive, but has found a new life with another family.

"She explained to me that this is a complicated matter, that the family had adopted him and may be attached to him. Well I said, ‘What about me? I raised him. So I’m not attached to him, he’s mine," one heartbroken Katrina victim said.

The documentary shows that both sides think the other is being selfish, with Katrina victims wanting their pets returned, and adoptive families wanted to keep the animals.

"I don't think the documentary aims to give answers, but I do think the answer lies in the fact that we are all very bonded to animals. I mean humans and animals have an intense bond, and in a tragedy situation I think that just intensifies all the more," Pezanoski said.

"We also have to consider the animals are survivors and what’s best for the animals, and I don’t know that anyone knows that. We all project our own feelings onto our animals, and so everyone thinks they know what’s best, but ultimately it’s just a really complex situation," Pezanoski added.