Muttshack Animal Rescue has provided valuable lessons from experience during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Despite the chilling example of thousands of pets being left to drown in homes and pet carriers in New Orleans during the hurricanes and floods last summer, many people in the northeast United States were recently urged to leave their pets 'confined or secured' in their homes and to evacuate without them as record flooding hit the area. Pets and livestock cannot survive in homes, cages, carriers, stalls or stables when the water levels rise above the places they are confined in. Many pet owners in New Orleans tragically underestimated how high floodwaters would reach when they left their pets in kennels or locked inside single story homes and returned to find them drowned.

Climatic changes may well be creating weather patterns that will cause unprecedented floods in areas not accustomed to them in this country. Pet and livestock owners must be aware of the potentially deadly results of not having an evacuation plan for their livestock animals, for themselves and their pets. Any time an animal is left behind during a catastrophic emergency, the animal is in danger. Owners must be aware that flooding or other hazards may make their homes or barns deathtraps instead of safe shelters, and plan accordingly on how to save their animals.

Nancy Cleveland spent eight months rescuing animals in the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans and saved hundreds of abandoned and lost animals. She gave this valuable advice when interviewed. "Specific steps that can be taken before we are faced with a disaster situation include: 1) Microchipping or tattooing all animals with identification so that if they are lost during an emergency they can be reunited with their owners later. 2) Having photographs of all animals and their complete veterinary records including vaccinations and any medications, in a "go-kit" ready to take at a moment's notice. 3) Having sufficient animal carriers and transportation capability to evacuate all animals, a place to take them, and a week's supply of food and water set aside for evacuation or emergency feeding."

In many ways natural disasters like Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina resemble terrorist attacks and similar precautions should be taken for food, shelter and survival of both man and beast during these unpredictable catastrophes

If animals cannot be evacuated from a hazardous situation, for whatever reason, then owners need to give them as much a chance to survive as possible. This means letting them loose or giving them access to the outside, in a flood, so they can at least swim for their lives, rather than confining them inside or chaining them in situations where floodwaters may rise above their heads. For more information about Animal Rescue certification courses, contact MuttShack Animal Rescue at. http://www.muttshack.org

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