10 years after Katrina, RedRover Responders prepares for pets in disasters
August 24th, 2015
Beth Gammie, RedRover’s Emergency Services Manager, is at the Emergency Response bootcamp this week in Gonzales, Louisiana. Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, animal emergency response groups are coming together to train responding personnel about animal rescue and care in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
Beth will learn various aspects of animal disaster response, including water rescue, fire rescue, pet first aid, large animal rescue, animal sheltering, and decontamination of animals exposed to flood waters, oil and other hazardous substances. She is also practicing hands-on water rescue scenarios using animal mannequins, boats and other rescue equipment. Later this week, Beth, an emergency animal sheltering expert, will be presenting workshops to other boot camp attendees on Emergency Animal Sheltering in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
News stories about the animal disaster boot camp:
- “Lessons learned after Katrina: Animal rescue groups practice saving pets at disaster boot camp” – The Advocate
- “First responders take part in week long animal rescue training” – WBRZ-TV
- “Animal Responders Train for the Next Big Storm on 10-year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina” – LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
Boot camp participants LSART (Louisiana State Animal Response Team) shared photos from the slack water training
Partnering with our National Humane Organizations
Posted by LSART (Louisiana State Animal Response Team) on Saturday, August 22, 2015
Hurricane Katrina animal stats
In 2005, approximately 250,000 dogs and cats were displaced or died as a result of Hurricane Katrina, including an untold number of other animals such as fish, small mammals and horses. Many officials refused to let animals—even service dogs—on evacuation buses or airlifts, forcing families to leave their animals behind.
44% of the people who refused to evacuate during Katrina did so because they could not evacuate with their animals.
Hurricane Katrina was one of the five deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history for both pets and people.
A national ASPCA poll revealed that many pet owners still aren’t ready for the next big storm. More than one-third of cat and dog owners don’t have a disaster preparedness plan in place for their pets.
