Disaster Planning for Our Pets

Disaster Planning
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Disaster Checklist

Pets have become a part of our family in today society. It is our responsibility to make sure they are safe during a disaster. This website offers a variety of information. It is important to have a plan for your pet. This site will help you make an emergency plan for your pet. FEMA recommends that we have supplies(food, water, batteries, etc) 72 hours after a disaster strikes. This also applies to our pet as well. Do you have enough pet food? Do you know what hotels will accept pets? Are your pets shots up to date? Is there ID on your pet? Do you have a recent picture? These are just a few questions a responsible pet owner must answer before an emergency happens. Please take a time to review recommendations from FEMA regarding pets and disasters.

The Humane Society of the United States offers disaster preparedness brochures to educate the public on pets and disasters.

The need for trained animal volunteers to respond emergencies or for fundraising activities please contact Maryland State Animal Repsonse Team. Please contact MSART

The Red Cross recommends the following:

Local and state health and safety regulations do not permit the Red Cross to allow pets in disaster shelters. Service animals which assist people with disabilities are the only animals allowed in Red Cross shelters. It may be difficult, if not impossible, to find shelter for your animals in the midst of an evacuation, so plan ahead. Do not wait until disaster strikes!

Contact hotels and motels outside your local area to check their policies on accepting pets and restrictions on number, size and species. Ask if "no pet" policies could be waived in an emergency.

Keep a list of "pet friendly" places, including phone numbers, with your other disaster information and supplies.

If you are alerted to an impending disaster, call ahead for reservations.

Ask friends, relatives or others outside the affected area whether they could shelter your animals.

If you have more than one pet, they may be more comfortable if kept together, but be prepared to house them separately.

Make a list of boarding facilities and veterinarians who could shelter animals in an emergency; include 24-hour phone numbers.

Ask local animal shelters if they provide emergency shelter or foster care for pets during a disaster.

Animal shelters may be overwhelmed caring for the animals they already have as well as those displaced by a disaster, so this should be your last resort.

Along with the recommendations from the Red Cross, tt is important to have up to date I.D. on your pet. A collar with current information is good but a microchip is a permanent form of ID.

Microchipping is performed either at your vets office or at microchipping clinics held by local rescue groups. Once your pet is microchipped you MUST register the chip. This simply means that you fill out the registration card and send it back. A microchip is worthless unless it is registered.

If your pet becomes lost, a scan across the back of your animal with a microchip scanner will allow shelters access to your information and unite you with your pet.

Please contact MSART.

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