In this week's Speaking of Safety blog post, Brett McPherson, Emergency Management Supervisor for Environmental Health and Safety, discusses pet safety in emergencies.
"After the devastating fires in San Diego, we took a pretty big hit in emergency management, because we didn’t have a plan to take care of all the animals," explains Brett McPherson. "After the disaster, we created plans to deal with everything from a horse to a mouse. Because of this event, the citizens were asked to have a plan in place for their pets."
In many cases, people have stayed behind to make sure their pets are being taken care of. "Search the archives of Katrina, Sandy, and other disasters we have had nationally, and more than likely, you are going to see families clutching on to their pets while being rescued," he adds. "Why didn’t the people leave their homes? They didn’t leave because they didn’t want to leave their pets behind."