Animal Welfare Professionals

I've come to the unbelievably late realization that often times, if not always, in times of disasters there are little to no places that can house both owner and their companion(s). For example, Red Cross can provide shelter, but will not allow pets unless they are service animals. In many cases, people may feel as though they have no choice but to release/abandon their pets in order to access escape from said disaster. Those who can will try to live from their car or make it by being homeless. Also, since the beginning of the pandemic, while shelters were seeing a lot of adoptions, many were also seeing a rise in returns, abandonments, and surrenders. Some owners were just no longer able to care for their fuzzy friend(s) due to the loss of jobs. At times, that lack of income made people have to decide between feeding their kids or animal, affording vet bills or personal medication, etc. 
Which has brought my attention to that, at least, in California there is no real protocol for pet owners during disasters. I'm only one person, but I want to help. However, I have no clue how to have this challenge brought to our government's attention. Pets are no longer just a "thing you take care of", they're our family and enrich our lives in a majority of ways. 

What can I do? What can we do? Where to begin?
#DisasterRelief
#PetSupportServices*

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Michelle Ozawa
Adoptions Associate
Humane Society Silicon Valley
Milpitas CA
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Please contact Ryan Soulsby at Butte County Animal Control in Butte County California: rsoulsby@buttecounty.net.  We have been through the Oroville Dam evac, Camp Fire, and Bear Fire, plus a ton of other minor incidents, and there is an amazing organization called North Valley Animal Disaster Group that was formed and works with BCAC to house animals for those people who have been temporarily displaced from disasters.  This group also provides support by going into the disaster zone to evacuate, and when possible shelter in place, animals that people were unable to get out when an evacuation happens.  

Ryan can tell you more about the legal (government) requirements of having a disaster team, at least for the state of California.  EVERY county in EVERY state should have some organization equivalent to NVADG.   No county should be relying on their local animal shelter to take in the huge amount of animals that are displaced during a disaster.   Without NVADG we would have been completely overwhelmed during the Camp Fire.   As it was, we provided shelter for the animals that were too difficult for the temporary shelters to handle, and took the animals that were not claimed after the temporary shelters shut down.  Plus the local animal shelter is not going to be able to handle the number of animals from a disaster, which means the animals in the shelter and the animals from the disaster are going to be dispersed to shelters outside the area.  This drastically reduces the ability of the animals getting back to their owners.  We fought very hard to keep the animals from the Camp Fire local after the temporary shelters were shut down, and we were able to get a lot of animals back to their owners - an amazing number of cats were reclaimed, many several months later.   For more info about NVADG go to their website: NVADG.org  Our shelter and animal control staff train with them, and have assisted in evacs, shelter in place and the temporary shelters.  I can't say enough about NVADG and for every county to have something in place like this organization.

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Tracy Mohr
Animal Services Manager
City of Chico Animal Services
5308945630
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Hi Michelle

You should look into the CART (Community Animal Response team) network.  I know that Sonoma and Napa in the Bay Area both have CARTs.  These organizations work to set up temporary shelters during emergencies to house displaced animals - both companion animals and livestock - until they can be returned to their homes.  They also are a great resource for disaster preparedness resources.  I know there are CARTs in many counties.  Maybe there is one close to you?  CARTs are volunteer based organizations that answer to their County.  Volunteers are required to undertake FEMA disaster training so that they fit into the broader county, state and national framework in a disaster.  Our shelter has set up an MOU with our local CART so that we can help in disasters.

A few more organizations that you may look into in the Bay Area doing good work are the Halter Project and the North Valley Animal Disaster Group.

Claire Meeks
Pets Lifeline 
Sonoma Valley

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Claire Meeks
Pets Lifeline
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