During all the recent hurricane activity, I’ve been struck by many mentions that the shelters which open for inhabitants of affected areas do not permit pets. While I can understand that, I’m left wondering – what do you do, leave your beloved animals in a house that might well be blown to bits? Are there pet shelters, or animal hospitals and kennels which will take in pets as people flee to people shelters?
I think it’s heartbreaking to think of. I imagine that people in the hurricane zone just accept that they might lose their pets. Perhaps it’s assumed the animals will find safe cover on their own, but I imagine they usually never get reunited with their owners.
There was an online news story recently (sorry, cannot find the cite) where animal shelters were sending the animals out of state. The story had a photograph of a kitten behind bars in a Texas animal shelter, after it was removed from a Louisana shelter, after having come from a Florida shelter as a result of one of the first hurricanes.
I’m just waiting for one of those stories to show up on a network news programs about these forgotten victims.
Really? And then have our resident pet-disapprovers come out of the woodwork, laying guilt trips because of the fact that someone’s looking after dogs and cats when there are people that need to be housed? You’ve been around here for awhile, so I’m sure you know what I mean.
I was in a hurricane during the '80s. I think I was the only person left in my apartment building, because the shelter would not accept pets, and I wouldn’t go without my kitties. It was an awful experience, but everyone survived.
I can’t fathom leaving my pets in danger. Period. I can’t imagine if I was forced to, what I would do. 
A couple that my wife and I are friends with just this week adopted a four-month-old kitten through some sort of adoption program. My understanding is that the program was started in response to the recent storms. I’m not sure if the kitten was adopted out of a shelter in located in a storm area, of if it was someone’s pet that they put up for adoption.
Not a lot of solid info in this post. The GQ equivalent of oatmeal, I guess (I feel warm inside, anyway).
I guess any Dopers who might have first-hand knowledge about current possibilities for animal sheltering during storms may not be online right now.
My sister has been evacuated many times. She drives 3.5 hours inland to a friend’s house because she can bring her pets with her. Leaving them behind is not an option for her.
My suggestion would be for people in hurricane areas to figure out, before they are desperate, where they can go with their pets in an emergency. Find a friend inland. Check out motels that take pets, even if they are a couple of hours away. Find a boarding facility inland and arrange to bring your pets there when you hear there’s a hurricane coming. (It’s not like they just appear with 10 minutes’ notice.)
Last year I took two Red Cross Emergency Shelter training courses. Our instructor was a shelter manager who has travelled pretty widely to set up and manage shelters during emergencies. She stressed to us that Red Cross shelters do not accept pets…but that in actual practice, she always tried her best to find a way to help the pet owner. If it’s possible to convince the owner to go to a safe, pet-accepting motel, that would be best. If not, if the pet is small and contained in a cage (like a cat carrier), the staff might put the carrier into a separate room or staff office, away from the people in the shelter. Or if it’s safe, the owner might be asked to leave the animal in the car, at least temporarily. She told us that she definitely would never allow the pet to stay in the main shelter area due to hygiene, allergy, and/or phobia problems.
It was very clear to all of us that in the shelters she has managed, she does her best to obey the rules, yet still make the evacuees as comfortable as possible in a trying time. That’s the most important job of shelter staff, and if it entails bending the rules a bit for a pet owner, she was willing to take responsibility.
Maisy
When I lived in Florida, all employees for the town where I worked were on call during possible tropical storms and hurricanes; we weren’t allowed to leave.
The plan: the wife of one of the police officers would be taking care of all of our dogs nd cats. She lived in a standard cinder-block-strapped-down-to-survive-a-hurricane ranch house, which would likely survive a hurricane. if called, the plan was to grab Bailey, her food and accessories (collar, leash, toys, etc), a sleeping bag and some personal items, drop her and her food off at the “pet safehouse” for lack of a better word, and head off to work, where I’d be stationed in a 100-year old building that survived several hurricanes.
On the contrary–although Asheville wasn’t hit horribly by Ivan, we did suffer power outages and serious (for us) flooding.
Our animal shelter survived pretty well, but another local shelter was inundated. Facts are still coming out about what happened, but the other shelter was kind of a hellhole before the storm hit, and they were under a court order to shut down; we’re kind of hoping this keeps them from reopening.
In any case, we put up public service announcement about protecting your pets during the storms. It’s not hugely informative, but given the number of animal control complaints we got about people leaving their animals outside during the torrential downpours, even things that are blatant common sense can stand a little repitition. (We distributed the PSA to local radio and television, so that folks who don’t visit our website can get the message).
missbunny’s advice is good. If your area is going to be hit hard, and you’ve got a couple day’s warning, that’s when you should be acting. Most animal shelters operate at full capacity most of the time, and won’t be able to take in additional animals during emergencies; many areas don’t incorporate animals into their emergency action plans. (In our area, we’ve just started doing this in the last couple years). Get your animals out of the way of the storm before it hits; don’t count on being able to provide for them if you don’t already have a plan in place.
Daniel