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Oxford County Animal Response Team
News
House Unanimously
Backs Legislation to Include Pets in Disaster Planning to Protect People and
Animals
The Humane Society of the
United States Urges President to Sign PETS Act
WASHINGTON (September 20, 2006) – The Humane Society of the
United States today applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for finalizing
the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS) Act to help ensure
that America’s pets and service animals aren’t left behind in a disaster. The
House approved the bill tonight by voice vote to require the inclusion of
companion animals in disaster planning at the state and local levels. The HSUS
urges President Bush to sign the bill into law.
“We’re extremely grateful to House and Senate leaders for
promptly taking up the legislation, passing it, and sending it on to the
President,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the
United States. “While Katrina spawned so much suffering and dislocation, it also
made plain there exists a remarkable bond between people and their pets and that
our public policies need to better reflect our sensibilities about animals.”
The House PETS legislation, which originally passed
overwhelmingly by 349-24 in May, was introduced by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.)
and Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) just weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf
Coast, and was followed by a Senate version that was introduced by Sen. Ted
Stevens (R-Alaska) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and passed unanimously in
August. The final bill that will be sent to the President contains provisions to
help with disaster planning, including:
-
requiring that local and state emergency preparedness
authorities include plans for pets and service animals in disaster plans to
qualify for grants from FEMA
-
granting FEMA the authority to assist states and local
communities in developing disaster plans to accommodate people with pets and
service animals
-
authorizing federal funds to help create pet-friendly
emergency shelter facilities
-
allowing FEMA to provide assistance for individuals with
pets and service animals, and the animals themselves following a major
disaster
"Congress has taken a major humanitarian step forward today.
Pet-owning families and disabled people with service animals now can rest
assured that provisions for their safety and that of their animal companions
will be made in case of disaster,” said Rep. Lantos. “Never again will Americans
with disabilities or with cherished household pets have to choose between their
own safety and the animals they depend on."
HSUS disaster experts say that evacuations would run more
smoothly if pets are included in pre-disaster planning. A recent Zogby
International poll found that 61 percent of pet owners say they would refuse to
evacuate if they could not take their pets with them.
“Two-thirds of American households own pets, and when Katrina
hit, many pet owners had to choose between their own safety and the safety of
their pets,” said Rep. Shays, co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Animal
Caucus along with Rep. Lantos. “The PETS Act will help us ensure that during
future emergencies we have plans to protect pet owners and their pets. I am
grateful to have worked closely with The Humane Society of the United States and
Mr. Lantos to help bring this bill over the finish line.”
Officials Have Learned To Evacuate Fido,
Too
If Pets Are Allowed, More People Will Be Saved
By Brian Skoloff
Associated Press
Sunday, July 30, 2006; A03
WEST PALM
BEACH, Fla. -- When Hurricane Katrina
ripped through New Orleans,
more than 10,000 people refused evacuation because they wouldn't leave
behind their most precious possessions -- their pets.
Rescuers
wouldn't allow people to bring animals, and most shelters weren't
accepting them. Some who refused to leave their pets became casualties,
among more than 1,500 people who died along the Gulf Coast. It's a refusal many understand.
"I wouldn't
leave my dogs behind. They're part of the family," said Patricia Neal,
42, of
West Palm Beach.
"Would you leave your children at home?"
The loss of
life got emergency managers thinking -- you can't save people without
saving their pets.
Many
hurricane shelters across the South will now open their doors to humans
and their animals in hopes of saving more lives in future storms.
Louisiana
and Florida require local
governments to include pets in emergency plans. New Orleans now allows evacuees to take pets on
buses. Texas, Alabama, South Carolina,
Mississippi and North
Carolina are considering similar measures, said Laura Bevin
of the Humane Society of the
United States.
"It's just
taken off," Bevin said. "Within 10 years, maybe less, it will probably
be more of a standard thing. People just saw too many pictures and
videos of people sobbing and clutching their animals as they tried to
get into shelters.
"A lot of
animals in New Orleans
just drowned," she said.
The federal
government also has recognized the lapses in emergency plans.
The Pets
Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act passed the House in May and
is now before a Senate committee. It would require local governments to
prepare to evacuate people and their pets or risk losing federal funds.
"The
handful of people who think we are putting animals before people have it
all wrong," said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), who co-sponsored the House
version of the bill. "We want to save human beings, but we can walk and
chew gum at the same time."
A Zogby
International poll conducted in mid-September found that about 49
percent of the random sampling of nearly 3,000 people across the country
probably would not evacuate ahead of a disaster if they couldn't take
their pets.
"I know I
wouldn't," Lantos said.
Craig
Fugate, Florida's emergency management chief, said
officials now have a greater understanding that "the relationship
between man and animal is so strong of a bond that not to address it
means that you are choosing not to plan for some of your population."
"This has
now gone from being about pets to being about saving people's lives,"
Fugate said.
The
American Red Cross, which operates many storm shelters, has historically
not allowed pets, mainly for health and sanitation reasons, said agency
spokeswoman Laura Howe. Some people are allergic, and officials fear pet
dander could get into ventilation systems.
"We have
people who come into shelters who have breathing problems," she said.
"It's a basic safety issue."
The Red
Cross is now working with animal agencies to operate shelters that
would, in some cases, have separate pet buildings on the same grounds or
separate ventilation systems within the shelters.
In
Florida, Palm Beach County officials spent $170,000 to upgrade
a recreation center to shelter standards after the local public school
board refused to allow pets and people to be housed together at its
facilities, again for health reasons.
"After
Katrina, it was clear we had to do something," said Paul Milelli, the
public safety director for the county, where about 400,000 people live
in evacuation zones.
"Consider
the numbers of people who refused to leave [during] Katrina because of
their animals, and the suffering they had to endure," added Jo Sullivan
of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "If we
had a plan then, there could have been even more people saved."
In past
years, many people have chosen to evacuate when ordered, leaving pets
behind. They would lock the doors and leave plenty of food and water.
All along
the coast in Mississippi and Louisiana after Katrina,
dogs and cats were left to fend for themselves, many escaping destroyed
homes after the storm. Some survived only to die after days without food
and clean water.
In one
devastated neighborhood in Waveland, Miss., strays were hunted down and killed. It
then became an issue of disease and disposal.
More than
15,000 dogs and cats were rescued from Louisiana and Mississippi alone. Many of the abandoned pets
were eventually shipped across the country to shelters that agreed to
keep them until reunions could be arranged. Hundreds still remain
separated from their owners.
Several
lawsuits have been filed nationwide as owners seek to get their pets
returned from people who adopted them.
Dorreen
Couture fled as Katrina floodwaters submerged her home in St. Bernard
Parish, south of New Orleans.
She left behind her husband, Steven, and their two dogs, Master Tank and
Nila.
Soon after,
Steven, too, had to flee, leaving the dogs on the second floor of their
flooded home. He returned about a week later and found them sick and
skinny. He took the dogs to a makeshift animal shelter with a promise
they would be returned.
Eventually,
they were flown to a shelter in the Tampa Bay area and adopted separately. The
Coutures have filed a lawsuit to get them back.
"They're
part of our family," Dorreen Couture said. "That's what I'm fighting
for, to get our family all back together so we can finish recovering
from our disaster."
Tampa
prosecutor Pam Bondi adopted Master Tank, a St. Bernard she renamed
Noah, and is fighting to keep him, claiming the animal suffered from
previous neglect, something the Coutures deny.
"Had he
been properly cared for, I would have been driving him back to New Orleans myself," Bondi
said.
The woman
who adopted the Coutures' other dog has declined to talk publicly about
the dispute.
"It's going
on all around the country," said Illinois
lawyer Dominic Salvati, who is representing another New Orleans family trying
to get its dog back. "It appears that it's almost an epidemic now."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
[TOP OF PAGE]
Legislators help
pets in disasters
By John Gramlich, Special to
Stateline.org
June 30, 2006
With hurricane season under way and images
of Katrina lingering, state lawmakers are turning to the plight of pets in
emergencies – an issue among a host of animal-related legislation to reach
governors’ desks in recent weeks.
Since May 22, the governors of Florida,
Hawaii, New Hampshire and Vermont have signed bills that provide more protection
for pets during emergencies. In Louisiana, where animal rights groups estimate
thousands of pets died during Katrina, a bill passed by the Legislature June 15
has drawn national attention as the most sweeping attempt to keep pets and their
owners together during disasters.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House of
Representatives has passed a bill that would require states to have emergency
evacuation plans for pets in place. Sens. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Frank
Lautenberg (D-N.J.) have introduced a similar bill that could add federal
funding to help states carry out the mandate, though no amount has been
specified.
The flurry of new laws and bills has gone
beyond pets in emergencies. The Humane Society of the United States reports
that, since January 2006,
Three states (Kansas, Maryland and Montana) have restricted the ownership of
exotic animals – including bears, lions and tigers – as pets.
Three states (Colorado, Georgia and
Illinois) have increased penalties for owners of dogs deemed “vicious” or
“dangerous.”
Illinois became the first state to ban certain felons from owning aggressive
dogs; among felons specifically targeted are drug manufacturers, who were blamed
for using dogs to attack law enforcers.
Six states (Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina and
Washington) have clamped down on animal fighting, including for gambling
purposes.
Arizona and Washington outlawed bestiality, or sexual relations between a human
and an animal, bringing to 32 the number of states in which the act is a crime.
In addition, since 2005, legislatures in 21 states have outlawed “Internet
hunting” after a Web site premiered offering customers the chance to kill live
animals from the safety of their homes, according to the Humane Society. (See
related story: State lawmakers bag online hunting).
The post-Katrina pet evacuation laws are
about more than saving animals. Victims in storm-affected areas in many cases
refused to leave their pets behind.
An October 2005 Zogby International poll
found that 49 percent of adults said they would not leave disaster areas without
their pets. In New Orleans, 44 percent of those who did not evacuate during
Katrina claimed they stayed because of their pets, according to the Louisiana
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
A bill sponsored by Louisiana state Sen.
Heulette “Clo” Fontenot (R) would be the most far-reaching to date if signed
into law, as expected, by Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D). Both houses approved the
bill unanimously.
Like the new Florida and New Hampshire
laws, the bill requires that service animals, such as guide dogs, be evacuated
with their owners. But it also calls for the establishment of pet shelters in
the state and an identification system to reunite pets and their owners after
emergencies. The measure, which applies only to cats and dogs, would require
local authorities to outfit the animals with bar-coded tags during emergencies.
Fontenot told Stateline.org he introduced
his legislation after seeing televised images from Hurricane Katrina in which
service animals were left behind.
“I thought it was totally unconscionable
to take a person’s only source of independence away from them,” Fontenot said.
The plan is expected to cost the state
about $4 million, according to Fontenot, who said federal regulations add to the
cost of evacuating pets. In temperatures above 85 degrees, for example, pets
must be evacuated in refrigerated trucks, Fontenot said. Temperatures above 85
degrees are routine in Louisiana.
“Those refrigerated trucks are very
expensive. We could easily transport those same animals in an open-air flatbed
trailer at one quarter of the cost,” he said.
Like Louisiana's measure, the Florida,
Hawaii and New Hampshire laws call for authorities to develop plans for pet
evacuation. Vermont’s new law requires that state and local emergency planning
commissions include representatives from animal rescue organizations and removes
from civil liability those who voluntarily shelter pets during emergencies.
In 2005, Maine became the first state to
sign an “animal emergency” bill into law. The Maine law established an Animal
Response Team to respond to disasters affecting animals.
Animal rights representatives have hailed
the state and federal initiatives. Ledy Van Kavage, senior director of
legislation and legal training for the American SPCA, said it would be a
disgrace if Louisiana did not enact pet evacuation legislation.
“Let’s face it, all eyes are on
Louisiana,” Van Kavage said.
Meanwhile, other pet-related legislation
has moved speedily through statehouses nationwide.
In the past year, at least 15 states have
introduced “dangerous” or “vicious” dog bills, according to the National
Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which tracks state legislation. At
least 29 states and the District of Columbia already have laws in place,
according to NCSL. Only Ohio's statute bans certain breeds of dogs, including
pit bulls and Rottweilers.
States also are getting tough on animal
fighting, such as dogfighting, cockfighting and – in the recent cases of Alabama
and Mississippi – hog-dog fighting, in which trained dogs attack penned feral
hogs. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) signed a bill to outlaw the sport on
March 28, and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R) followed suit on April 13. Louisiana
became the first state to criminalize the practice in 2004.
Cockfighting remains legal in only two
states, New Mexico and Louisiana. But that hasn’t prevented some lawmakers from
voicing their disapproval. A proposal introduced in January by New Mexico state
Sen. John Grubesic (D) sought to make cockfighting the official “state
disgrace.”
The start of hurricane season, however,
has served as a grim reminder of Katrina and has made pet evacuation during
emergencies a top priority for legislators and animal rights groups alike.
“I think it’s a good animal welfare
policy, but I also think it’s a good public welfare policy,” said Dan Paden, a
researcher with the domestic animal department of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. “It goes a long way toward not forcing Americans to
abandon, in disasters, all they have left of their lives, which are their
animals.”
[TOP OF PAGE]
House Passes "PETS" Act
to Keep People and Animals Together During Disasters
May 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - The Humane Society of the United States lauded the U.S. House of
Representatives for tonight's passage of the Pets Evacuation and Transportation
Standards (PETS) Act, H.R. 3858, which requires state and local emergency
management agencies to make plans that take into account the needs of
individuals with pets and service animals in the event of a major disaster or
emergency. The legislation passed by a vote of 349 to 24.
"The House of Representatives has taken an important step in ensuring that
Americans will never again be forced to make an impossibly difficult choice:
leave their animal behind while they flee a disaster or take their chances by
staying in a disaster-stricken area with their pet," said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS
president and CEO.
Representatives Tom Lantos (D-CA) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) introduced the
bill in the U.S. House of Representatives a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina
hit the Gulf Coast, stranding thousands of animals who were abandoned during the
storm and endangering people who would not leave their beloved companions. The
PETS Act requires that local and state emergency preparedness authorities
include plans for pets and service animals in disaster plans. Those agencies
must submit these plans to qualify for grants from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA).
The HSUS expressed its gratitude to Reps. Lantos and Shays for authoring the
bill, and to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don
Young (R-AK); Ranking Member James Oberstar (D-MN); Economic Development, Public
Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA);
and Committee Member Ben Chandler (D-KY) for supporting the bill and helping it
move through to passage.
"The faces of the men and women stranded in the Gulf Coast flooding will be
forever etched in my mind," said Rep. Tom Lantos. "The images of little children
with nothing in the world other than the shirts on their backs still disturb me
at night. But I cannot help but wonder how many could have been spared the wrath
of the hurricanes if only they could have taken the family pet. Today Congress
has taken an important step toward ensuring that nobody has to make that choice
ever again."
A version of the legislation introduced in the Senate (S. 2548) by Senators Ted
Stevens (R-AK) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) includes several additional
provisions, such as granting FEMA the authority to assist in developing the
household pet and service animal disaster plans, and authorizing federal funds
to help create pet-friendly evacuation shelters and to provide assistance for
household pets and service animals following a major disaster.
HSUS disaster experts say that evacuations would run more smoothly if pets are
included in pre-disaster planning. A recent Zogby International poll found that
49 percent of adults say that they would refuse to evacuate if they could not
take their pets with them. "The human horror and devastation in Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama was a tragedy we need to address, but it was also
heartbreaking to hear stories of forcing evacuees to choose between being
rescued or remaining with their pets," said Rep. Shays. "This bipartisan
legislation is necessary because, when asked to choose between abandoning their
pets or their own personal safety, many pet owners choose to risk their lives
and remain with their pets."
Passage of the PETS Act coincides with the release today of the forecast for the
2006 Atlantic hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration is predicting a very active hurricane season, with 13 to 16 named
storms, including eight to 10 hurricanes and four to six major hurricanes.
Non-profit organizations such as The HSUS, ASPCA, Louisiana SPCA and countless
local animal control agencies and individuals from across the country rescued
10,000 animals in Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.
"Saving animals from the effects of a disaster requires planning by individuals
and by government agencies," said Pacelle. "It's important to have pets included
in government disaster and evacuation planning, but responsibility still lies
primarily with individual families to plan ahead and be prepared. If it's not
safe for you, it's not safe for your pets."
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal
protection organization representing more than 9.5 million members and
constituents. The non-profit organization is a mainstream voice for animals,
with active programs in companion animals and equine protection, disaster
preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research
and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education,
investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy, and field work. The group is
based in Washington and has numerous field representatives across the country.
On the web at www.hsus.org.
Rachel Querry 301-258-8255
Copyright © 2006 The Humane Society of the United States. All rights reserved.
[TOP OF PAGE]
Responders urge plans for
pets
https://www.disasternews.net/donations/
BALTIMORE (January 20, 2006)
-
Why don't cities and states include
pets in disaster planning?
We support federal legislation
to require the government to include pets when they're setting up state disaster
plans.
-Melissa Rubin
Amid the chaos following Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of
anguished pet owners were forced to decide between leaving their beloved animals
behind or evacuating to a safe shelter.
"No one should ever have to make that choice," said
Melissa Rubin, vice president of field and disaster Services for the Humane
Society of the United States (HSUS).
HSUS and other voluntary agencies are urging Congress
to support the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act requiring
state and local authorities to include both pets and service animals in their
disaster evacuation plans.
The bipartisan bill (H.R. 3858) has been introduced by
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), Rep. Barney Frank
(D-Mass.), Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.). A
corresponding Senate bill is expected.
After heartrending footage and news stories about
people leaving pets behind after Katrina, Rubin and others hope people are more
aware of how important it is to include pets in disaster plans. Considering
sixty percent of Americans own pets, it's an issue that could be important to
many.
"Pets are part of the family," said Rubin. "No one is
going to evacuate without their pets. I really believe people have seen that
now. When people in New Orleans had to get on the bus or get on the boat, they
had to leave the pet behind."
"We support federal legislation to require the
government to include pets when they're setting up state disaster plans."
As the PETS Act is under consideration, people can
still include their pets in their evacuation plan on an individual and family
level, pointed out Rubin. "We'd like to tell everyone that if it's not safe for
you it's not safe for your pet. You have to include your pets."
Trauma lingers for animals
HSUS rescued and sheltered more than 10,000 animals in the
wake of Katrina, but the trauma still lingers for animals, observed Rubin.
"There are still animals that unfortunately are on the
streets in New Orleans that you can't just easily capture. They are so
frightened that we've started a humane trapping program in Orleans Parish and
along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Some of these animals are very scared."
No one knows the exact number, but many animals are
still believed to be roaming New Orleans, hiding under millions of tons of
debris or hunkering down in abandoned houses.
Katrina damaged and destroyed many animal shelters in
Mississippi and Louisiana. HSUS is offering a grant program for shelters that
want to apply for funds to help them rebuild. "Some of them need to establish a
temporary site for at least a year or a year-and-a-half while they rebuild,"
said Rubin.
Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of HSUS, urged people
to remember that recovery from Katrina will take years. "The HSUS responded
immediately with an army of people who helped establish two massive shelters in
the wake of Katrina's devastation along the Gulf Coast," he said.
"We are still on the ground with rescue activities, and
we are still spending tremendous resources on reunions. But it is important to
understand that we are going to be involved in this effort for years - restoring
and enhancing the capacities of shelters and setting up spay and neuter
operations that will address some of the fundamental problems of animal care
along the Gulf Coast. We are grateful to the people who have offered their
financial support. It gives us this staying power."
Are your pets prepared?
HSUS recommends that families simulate a disaster to test
their preparedness. Pretend you have 45 minutes to evacuate, and ask yourself
the following questions:
1. Can you gather all your pets and put them into pet
carriers in time? Do you have carriers for all your pets?
2. Are all your pets wearing collars and ID tags with
their name, your name, your telephone number, and an emergency telephone number?
3. If your cat escapes the cat carrier and becomes
lost, could you provide a photograph?
4. Do you know where you can go with your pets in the
event of an emergency evacuation? Do you know of any pet-friendly motels nearby?
Do you know where your local emergency animal shelter is located?
5. Do you have your veterinarian's telephone number on
your list of emergency numbers in case your dog or cat becomes ill?
If you have horses...
1. Can you have your horses loaded on the trailer ready to
leave in time? Will your horse trailer hold all your horses?
2. Is your horse wearing a halter with her name, your
name, your telephone number, and an emergency telephone number on it?
3. Do you know where you can go with your horses in the
event of an emergency evacuation? Do you know where your local emergency equine
shelter is located?
4. Do you have your horses' Coggins tests in your
emergency packet to present to the officer at the emergency shelter?
5. When you arrive at the emergency shelter to pick up
your horse after several days, could you provide identification photos and
descriptions from your emergency packet to prove ownership?
Posted January 20, 2006
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Oxford County
