What Really Happens to Pets When Natural Disaster Strikes
In 2005, as Naomi Flam watched the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina from her home in Fresno, CA, she couldn't stop thinking about the storm's impact on the pets in those communities. She learned that animals weren't allowed in most emergency shelters and evacuation vehicles, so many pets had to be abandoned when their owners headed for safety.
Soon afterward, Naomi, now 58, began to worry about the animals in Fresno, which is prone to wildfires. "I wondered what we would do to help pets if a disaster happened in our area," she says.
In 2006, the federal government passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, which requires authorities to include household pets in their emergency operations plans. In 2011, Naomi began volunteering with several traveling disaster animal response teams, which staffed emergency animal shelters during natural disasters in Mississippi, Missouri, New York and New Jersey.
That same year, Naomi decided to start an organization closer to home. She founded the Central California Animal Disaster Team (CCADT), a nonprofit organization that shelters animals from seven counties in central California during emergencies and later reunites them with their owners.
DISASTER STRIKES
In 2015, when a wildfire threatened Earlinda Polkenhorn's home in North Fork, CA, she received evacuation orders in the middle of the night. "My husband and I piled our two dogs, four cats and six guinea hens into crates in our truck," she says. Luckily, before Earlinda could worry about how to care for her pets in the shelter where she and her husband were staying, members of CCADT came to the rescue. "I was so grateful that they took our animals to an air- conditioned facility," she says.
CCADT often coordinates with the Red Cross to set up animal shelters near community shelters. "The family can help care for their pets, which lowers the stress levels of both the human and the animal," Naomi says.
Another bonus: CCADT's services are free. Pet food brands donate food, and other supplies are purchased with funds from private and corporate donations.
For Naomi, the biggest reward is hearing how she has saved someone's life by rescuing their pets. "People tell us that they would have stayed behind if they couldn't take their pets with them," Naomi says. "But because of CCADT, they didn't have to make that risky decision. It feels good helping to bring entire families from crisis into safety."
You Might Also Like
