Dear Senator, Remember Katrina

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WIN! Federal Pet Evacuation & Transportation Standards Act Passes
It's national law: The U.S. president signs Pet Evacuation & Transportation Standards (PETS) Act into law, after its approval in Congress. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as Kinship Circle joins many other animal groups in the fight to save animal lives, we also initiate letter campaigns to Congress and President Bush demanding a national disaster preparedness plan with provisions for animals. Disaster victims should never have to choose between survival and their pets. Yet that is exactly what happened in Katrina's wake.

The images are unforgivable: A white dog is ripped from a boy's arms as he boards a bus. A bewildered yellow Lab watches his family disappear in a helicopter. An elderly woman cannot receive medical care unless she deserts her cats. More than 50,000 Louisiana animals were stranded in Katrina's path. Numbers are unknown for Mississippi. Katrina's human death toll might have been lower if an enforced plan to accommodate animals had been in place... Kinship Circle letters ask for passage of the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS Act). In 2006, President Bush signs this bill into law. States are required to help evacuate companion animals during a natural disaster or risk losing federal money.

Hurricane Katrina cast people and animals adrift in a sea of loss. When levees broke, a singular scream rose from dark waters. Drowning out reason. Erasing hope. Who would hear their cries, faint as ashes? Who would see their fear, locked behind doors, bound to fence posts, stranded on rooftops? Thousands searched for familiar faces. But eyes turned cloudy when no one came. Huddled in bathtubs. Hidden behind walls. A tail wagged. A purr took flight. Caught for a second, then lost in the wind. Who would hear them? Our government did not. Who would see them? Our law enforcers did not. Who would return for them? You did. Without much money, you jumped on a plane. Drove cross country, packed to the roof. Because you were the eyes that saw each one. You were the arms that held them all. You were their food, their water, their love. This Is For You.

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The Honorable Senator _________________________________
The U.S. Senate, U.S. Capitol Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator ________________________________________,

I'm a registered voter who closely follows my legislators' stance on animal protection bills. I hope you advocate passage of S. 2548, the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act.

Introduced by Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), PETS empowers the Director of FEMA to designate funds for animal preparedness plans, including the procurement, construction, leasing, or repair of emergency shelter facilities. Please cosponsor S. 2548 and ensure it contains terms for an equitable allocation of monetary aid to states and communities for animal disaster response planning and implementation.

Hurricane Katrina portrayed the fallout of disaster arrangements with no animal component. An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 animals were stranded in New Orleans alone. This figure doesn't encompass surrounding parishes or Mississippi. While about 15,000 animals were saved, as many as 90,000 perished. Sometimes, their devoted guardians died alongside them.

In April, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) told Stamford Advocate reporters: "Hurricane Katrina taught us that many people will not evacuate if they will have to leave pets behind."

Indeed, last September CNN reported the top reason people declined to vacate homes under Mayor Ray Nagin's mandatory evacuations: "People won't leave their pets... The thing with pets is a huge deal. Some people are told they can bring them. Others are told they can't and they are staying."

Scott Sherman refused to evacuate without his dogs. Scott, along with others who stayed beside beloved pets, is listed among the hurricane dead. Plainly, an animal's survival is often integral to the survival of his caregivers.

Unforgivable images are forever etched in our nation's conscience. Denise Okojo clung to her seeing-eye service dog in the shadows of her swamped apartment. When a helicopter team arrived, Okojo was ordered to leave Molly, a Labrador retriever, behind. The blind woman said goodbye to her "eyes" and sole companion.

Judy and Santo Migliore's home was washed away in the levee breach. As they evacuated on to a barge, an official threatened to handcuff Judy if she did not leave GiGi, her 10-pound poodle, with a St. Bernard Parish Deputy. A month later, a photo arrived via email. "I'm so sorry if this is GiGi," an animal rescuer wrote. In the photo, a tangle of white fur rested atop a puddle of feces and blood. Patches of sunlight framed the dead dog and a discarded cigarette butt lay by her head.

Countless GiGis and Mollys succumbed to wind, water, poison, starvation and dehydration. Others were shipped to shelters around the U.S., never to see their families again.

I urge you to support passage of the PETS Act. We can never adequately respond to emergencies until protocols and resources enable all states to assist animals and their human family members.

Thank you,

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To identify federal legislators and find contact info, try:

Congress.org
USA Senate
Fund for Animals Action Center, http://action.fund.org/directory
HSUS Find your elected officials, https://community.hsus.org/humane/leg- lookup/search.html
Project Vote Smart
Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121

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Kinship Circle

In kinship, not dominion, each individual is seen. We do not use the rhetoric of slavery. To define animals as unique beings Guardian, Caregive, Him/Her/They… replace Owner, Own, It… Until moral equity and justice serve all — no one is free.