Pets! Evacuations! Oh My!

Tied To A Pole In A Flood
Source: Twitter/@ShawnWTVM9

What is up with all the abandoned pets during natural disasters? It breaks my heart to see all the stranded pets in the flooding in Texas. But it is not a unique incident. Every time there is a disaster happens, people abandon their pets.

I had a fleeting thought, it is a disaster I do not know what that is like. Then POW! I remembered back in 2005 we were evacuated from our home for four days! During a raging wildfire that burned just across the freeway from our neighborhood. Granted we only owned three medium-sized dogs at the time, but they went with us. There was no way we would have left without them.

Stranded Dog
Source: K9 Psych

Every disaster is different and everybody has different situations. We were fortunate my oldest son found and paid for a motel room. Management and the staff were very accommodating because of the fire most motels and hotels in the area had no vacancies. A lot of people had to go to an evacuation center. I do not remember if pets were allowed in the evacuation center.

So should we be too critical towards people that abandon their pets? I think we should be.

What do you think? Comment below.


Update! I found this just after writing this post! We now have a Federal Pet Act, so there is no reason to leave behind pets.

PBS News Hour: How did Katrina change how we evacuate pets from disaster?

featured image source: Xconomy

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