Learning from the hurricanes of others....Saving our Best Friends

We supposedly live in an era of exceptional communication.  Advanced technology allows us to see what goes on in other parts of the world...even as it is happening.

Why, then, don't we learn from the mistakes others have made?  What good is increased communication....if if you see it as empty information and don't learn from it?

In Mississippi and in New Orleans, many people died in Hurricane Katrina because they would not abandon their pets.  Some might not understand this -- but most pet owners will.  For many of us, our pets are family.  They look us for food, kindness and safety.  They don't judge us or argue with us...they trust us completely.

I evacuated just before Katrina hit - with 2 dogs, 2 cats and my computer.  Had I not had a place to take the animals, I would not have left.  There would have been no question, no decision to make. 

Days after Katrina, there were New Orleans residents on rooftops that refused to leave because rescuers refused to allow them to bring their animals.  In some cases, the "rescuers" shot the family pets they were leaving behind.  They said it was to keep them from starving...but it was stupid and cruel.  Children who saw that will never forget and likely never forgive.

After years of hurricanes, the officials in Florida know that provision must be made to rescue pets along with their people.  They long ago recognized the importance of the bond between humans and their pets.

This has been documented, written about, discussed...for years.  Pets and their owners form a bond that does not disappear because disaster threatens.

Yet in Louisiana and Mississippi, in spite of the communications available, no knowledge was absorbed on the subject.  Although officials in those States knew that Florida takes great care to include family pets in evacuations, they never considered applying the knowledge Florida had gained.

A woman who lived near me died trying to get her dogs to safety.   Many here who did not evacuate stayed rather than abandon their dogs and cats.   In fact, many who did not leave the Mississippi Coast and their homes as Katrina stormed toward us stayed only because there was no provision made for evacuating animal family members.  

These people are the best of us.   They are the ones who don't abandon their friends, they don't consider their own safety above that of another.    They are the friends we would feel safest with in an emergency - the neighbors we trust most.

As we rush toward another hurricane season, the lesson may have finally been learned by a few counties in Mississippi and Louisiana as they have announced plans to provide shelter for pets as well as for people.   As disaster preparedness still seems to be planned county by county, this is only a beginning.

In this great world of tremendous communication, it seems that people only learn from their own mistakes -- not from the mistakes of others.  Lives will be saved in the future when officials make  the simple decision to save ALL family members, not just the two-legged ones.

Sadly, it's a year too late for the hundreds of animals -- and the people who loved them -- who died in Katrina. 

Kay King works from her home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Please visit her site at http://www.1disaster-recovery.com .