Animals in Disasters

https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/15271.

Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract

Animals are a large part of our lives in the United States—in many households, they are considered one of the family. In the recent Black Forest Fire outside Colorado Springs (June, 2013), CNN interviewed a man that went back into the evacuation zone to rescue his dogs. When asked why he would put his own life in danger, he quickly responded that they were part of the family.

Keywords

Disaster; Animal welfare; NGOs; Capture; Evacuation

Animals are a large part of our lives in the United States—in many households, they are considered one of the family. In the recent Black Forest Fire outside Colorado Springs (June, 2013), CNN interviewed a man that went back into the evacuation zone to rescue his dogs. When asked why he would put his own life in danger, he quickly responded that they were part of the family.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) defines the human-animal bond as a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and other animals that is influenced by behaviors that are essential to the health and well-being of both. This includes, but is not limited to, emotional, psychological, and physical interactions of people, other animals, and the environment. In their article entitled, Placing the Human-Animal Bond in Context in the Face of Disasters (May 4, 2006), they note that due to a lack of more traditional support systems in modern society, for many people, companion animals are the sole source of emotional and social support, providing significant psychological and physical health benefits, especially to children, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally and physically ill, and the incarcerated. Given this bond, they believe that when disasters strike, saving animals means saving people.

The important role that animals play in our lives is not a new phenomenon, and there are examples of rescuing animals in distress dating back generations, but animal rescue as we know it today is a relatively new member to the disaster response field.

For the purpose of this text, a disaster is any event that causes injuries, deaths, or property damage of sufficient severity or magnitude to disrupt the essential functions and services of a community. A disaster overwhelms a community to a point where they are not able to meet all of the requests for assistance and outside help is needed. Animal rescue is defined as a component of animal welfare with a specific purpose of removing an animal from a situation that is or may become harmful. That might make Noah one of the first true animal rescuers (Fig. 1.1)! Unlike foster or adoption programs or traditional shelter work, animal rescue infers a sense of emergency and a need for technical training and/or expertise.

Fig. 1.1 Noah's Ark by Edward Hicks, 1846.

Animal welfare as we know it today got its start in 1822 when Irish politician, Richard Martin, was able to steer a bill through the English parliament offering protection of cruelty to cattle, horses, and sheep. Two years later, the first animal welfare organization was founded—the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). In 1840, Queen Victoria gave her blessing, and the SPCA became the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In 1866, Henry Bergh brought the SPCA model to America, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was founded.

In 1916, the American Humane Association (AHA) started its Red Star program with the specific purpose of helping military animals. Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) was founded in 1954 followed by International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in 1969, National Animal Control Association in 1978, United Animal Nations (now RedRover) in 1979, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in 1980, Best Friends Humane Society in 1984, and Code 3 Associates in 1985.

It took a number of years and major disasters before the animal welfare groups developed specific animal rescue programs. A number of the groups responded to disasters, but there was very little attention to providing specific equipment, training, and financial support until the early 1990s following Hurricane Andrew (1992). AHA, HSUS, and United Animal Nations (UAN) were very active in the mid-1990s to late 1990s as they began to develop animal disaster teams, but there was very little effective communication, collaboration, or cooperation between the groups. It was an extremely competitive environment as the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) vied for the lead role and name recognition. In those days, since very few communities were active in animal rescue, whoever got to the scene first declared themselves as the lead agency and assumed incident command. Self-deployment occurred too frequently; teams were not adequately trained in incident management or incident command; and yet, thousands of animals were rescued!

Not only was there poor communication on animal issues between the NGOs, but also a similar situation occurred between the NGOs and local government and the state, between the states and the Feds, and between the Feds and the NGOs. Two hurricanes changed that. In a span of 6 years, hurricanes Floyd and Katrina significantly changed the way that animal issues were addressed at the local, state, and federal levels and greatly impacted national animal response capabilities (Fig. 1.2).

Fig. 1.2 Turkey Farm following Hurricane Floyd, 1999 (FEMA).

Hurricane Floyd (1999) had a devastating effect on the state of North Carolina. According to the NC Department of Public Safety, approximately 2.8 million poultry, 2000 cattle, 250 horses, and more than 30,500 hogs drowned. It was the first time that we saw every major animal welfare group converge to provide support and, in many cases, the first time any of them had been asked to support livestock rescue efforts. Prior to this, the majority of the rescue groups worked exclusively with dogs and cats and as a group had very little experience in handling livestock. Interestingly, even though there was very little organization, standardization of procedures, or interoperability (let alone a desire to communicate), thousands of animals were rescued from the floodwaters.

Following landfall of Hurricane Katrina (2005), things did not start out well in terms of the animal response as affected states (primarily Mississippi and Louisiana) were dealing with incredible human losses and animals were not a top priority. That soon changed as media captured animals on rooftops and pets being separated from their owners as they entered the evacuation bus. Katrina was the largest disaster in our history in terms of pets impacted, and after the first week, state, federal, and national animal resources were being dispatched to LA and MS. For the first time, NGOs were forced to work together, and state and federal resources were forced to work in the same camp as the NGOs. Granted, it was far from perfect, but it clearly changed the way that we respond to disasters today (Fig.