Disaster victims fare much better with their pets

They stayed and faced the danger of Category 5 Hurricane Katrina, to keep them safe.

They huddled in attics and on rooftops with them clutched in their arms.

They toiled around the clock in toxic floodwaters while sharing their little food or clean drinking water with them.

They refused rescue that didn’t include them.

They left behind valuable possessions they had, to bring them to safety.

Now people who have lost everything – their homes, their belongings, their jobs – are desperately searching for the one thing they cannot bear to lose: their pets.

In a disaster, every minute and resource counts. Why save the animals?

“There are twice as many households in this country with animals as there are households with children,” said Dr. Joseph Taboada, associate dean of the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, which worked around the clock with other relief organizations to try to save the animals in the Katrina affected areas.

“Forgotten by FEMA and other federal and local authorities is that, in many of those homes, the animals are cherished members of the family. That reality played out in how both the pre-hurricane evacuation and the post-hurricane rescue and relief efforts worked or didn’t work.

“It is well-documented that many of the people that did not leave New Orleans stayed because of their animals. As floodwaters were rising and people were dying, many refused to get in boats or to be hoisted into helicopters without those pets.”

“My sister, Louise, stayed in her home in the path of Hurricane Katrina and faced the wind, rain and then floodwaters that drove her to the second story of her house,” said Jo Anne Wagner-Castillo, a veterinarian from Tampa, Fla. “She was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, and her immune system was greatly impaired, but she chose to stay behind to be with her dogs, Bosco, a 3-year-old Yorky-poo and Luke, a 2-year-old black Lab.

“We are told to evacuate and go to emergency shelters, but we are also told that the shelters won’t accept pets, so this is why a lot of people, like my sister, stay behind.”

The real truth is that if you save the animals, you save people and resources as well. Because people will stay behind to protect their pets, will refuse rescue that doesn’t include their pets, and some, after leaving, will try to go back for a pet left behind, it is inefficient as well as inhumane to leave the animals out of the picture when planning for evacuation, rescue and relief in a disaster.

It is not enough just to survive the immediate danger. To truly survive, you have to recover, and pets can play a powerful role helping people recover from trauma.

When a huge earthquake rocked Kobe, Japan, in 1995, killing thousands and leaving a huge number homeless, for the first time pets were allowed into some emergency shelters, and officials observed how pets helped people cope. Now they set up shelters and foster families for the pets near the human shelters, so they can stay in contact.

“We know the human-animal bond is important and people get healing from their pets,” said Dr. Yoshiko Uchida, professor of veterinary medicine in Hokkaido, Japan. “And the pets also need their owner’s protection, because they also have stresses and strains.

“In addition, we have found that it is easier for human and animal to flee together.”

“My 84-year-old Aunt Gloria was rescued, then shuttled to numerous shelters,” said Wagner-Castillo. “She lost everything but her life and her dog, a pug, who came with her. I think that was the only thing that pulled her through.

“Having her dog gave her something to hold onto.”

Said Taboada: “As the federal and local governments struggled to evacuate the thousands of people who stayed behind, it became apparent how strongly the human-animal bond played a role in the outcomes of those efforts.”

He added: “Finally, those animals also began to be allowed out.

“Pets came to the emergency animal shelters in helicopters, buses, pickup trucks and trunks of cars. They came in the arms of people who no longer had shoes on their feet.”

Countless agencies and volunteers raced against time to save the animals. But it wasn’t enough.

Volunteers report seeing the bodies of dead pets in the roads and skinny starving pets begging for help. Countless others died trapped inside their homes, where their owners thought they would be safe but couldn’t return to get them.

While the thousands of animals housed in the shelters seems high, in reality, only a lucky few made it to safety.

Even those pets lucky enough to escape to shelters face uncertain futures. Reuniting them with their families is a challenge, because they weren’t rescued together, and even those that were often ended up hundreds of miles apart.

Many displaced owners are in temporary housing that won’t allow pets. At the shelters, there have been many joyful reunions, but for every happy ending there are many more tearful pet owners who don’t find their beloved pets.

The emotional toll that these losses inflict is tremendous. And for the rescued pets whose owners can’t be found; what awaits them?

Animals are not some expendable and unnecessary frivolity but an integral element in peoples’ lives. The human-animal bond is a part of human nature and a powerful, driving force in many people’s lives.

This year’s hurricanes have shown us the incredible power of nature, as well as the best and the worst of our society. They’ve reaffirmed the American passion to help in times of need but also shown the inadequacies in our ability to effectively channel those efforts.

Now it is time to learn from our past mistakes. Designers of future disaster plans need to understand the full power of another force of nature: the human-animal bond.

Caring for and protecting animals is an integral part of being human. Any disaster management plan that does not fully recognize the validity and strength of the human-animal bond will put people’s lives at risk and cost more money in the long run.

As animal lovers, make sure that your elected officials, from local clear through to your members of Congress, have heard and understood this message.

Why save the animals?

Because in doing so, we also save ourselves.