ANIMALS DESERVE THE SAME ATTEMPT IN RESCUING AS ANY HUMAN BEING AFTER ANY NATURAL DISASTER.

Immediately after a natural disaster strikes, very little effort is undertaken to save pets that are trapped in locked houses and if happened upon by emergency relief personnel in search of people, the pets are simply passed by. Worse yet are the pets that have escaped the confines of their homes. Out on their own, scared and hungry, fearing everything, they search for food and a safe place to hide. Most emergency relief personnel will stay clear of the pets that they encounter along the way for fear that the pets have become dangerous after being without food and drinking nothing but contaminated water. In Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, one newspaper reporter wrote, “Many of those animals sit forlornly on the rooftops of flooded homes, slowly starving to death as rescue boats ignore them, looking for people instead. Some have even tried swimming to boats, only to be rebuffed by the rescuers.”

It breaks my heart to think of all the animals that have been left behind and abandoned by rescuers. Just because they aren’t human beings, does not mean they don’t need help!