Many of us have watched on television some of the heart-wrenching scenes from New Orleans concerning pets.
There were video clips of dead or dieing animals abandoned after the storm; of one dog frantically swimming through flood waters for a rescue boat that could only accommodate humans; of a doctor at a hospital who put his own life in danger to stay with pets because he had promised evacuated people he would make sure they were evacuated, too.
Having gone through Hurricane Ivan last September, some of those scenes playing out in the United States are very familiar to us.
One thing that is strikingly similar in both situations is that the welfare of pets seemed to be an afterthought, especially from a government standpoint.
Certainly human life must be considered more important than that of pets, but when people start putting their lives in danger because of their love for pets, some forethought should probably be put into the matter.
In some ways, the problem is worse here. Many Gulf Coast residents had the opportunity to drive inland with their pets to escape Katrina. Here in Cayman, evacuation is extremely difficult because pets are not a priority on flights off the island.
For those who stayed on the Island for Ivan, the choices were few since no shelters allowed pets. Some people took their pets to their workplace. Some left them at home alone. A significant number of people chose to stay home with their pets, even though it put their lives in danger.
For many people, pets are part of the family, like children. Pets are becoming so endeared to some people that they are even the subject of custody battles in divorce cases.
Perhaps it’s time for our Government to recognise the trend and make at least one hurricane shelter pet friendly, where residents could take their pets – in a kennel – to seek refuge during a hurricane.
It could be noisy, and it might smell a bit, but pet lovers would gladly accept a little inconvenience to know their precious pets are safe. Even more importantly, the Government would know the owners of those pets were safe, too.
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