A Lesson From Katrina: Pets Matter
For years, despite an estimated 69 million U.S. households with a pet, animal advocates have been relegated to the fringes of emergency planning. After Katrina, however, and the sight of people in New Orleans refusing to evacuate and in some cases dying with their pets, emergency officials are starting to take animal rescue seriously.
By saving the pets, advocates said, owners can be saved as well.
In Calvert and Montgomery counties, planners are trying to establish emergency pet shelters alongside those for humans. On Capitol Hill, five representatives have proposed making pet disaster planning mandatory by tying it to federal funds. Meanwhile, many pet owners have begun to make plans.
"People are finally realizing that this is a serious issue," said Lynne Bettinger, a Red Cross-certified instructor in pet first aid.
At her class early last month at a Gaithersburg veterinary clinic, many students showed up with Hurricane Katrina fresh on their minds. They learned to take pets' pulses, construct makeshift muzzles and carry injured animals over long distances.
Animals' Return Gives Big Easy's Aquarium a Boost
expeditions are being planned to the Florida Keys, the Caribbean and other spots to collect more.This may frustrate you as much as it does me, in which case you may want to take a moment to write to the editor. If you can do more than that, then get involved. I hate to see the loss of all that life end up with the stealing of animals from the ocean, consigned to a life of captivity in order to restore an income to this aquarium.
"There are no pet stores that sell nine-foot sharks," says John Hewitt, the aquarium's director of husbandry. "You've got to get them some other way. We're going to try and collect as many animals as we can."
Categories: acquarium | katrina | pets | emergency planning | animal rescue
