Comments on: Southern California fires and disaster readiness

By: Lynn

Lynn — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:27:30 +0000

As someone who lives in southern CA and who in the past has been forced to evacuate, I know EXACTLY what to do to prepare. Any responsible person knows to plan ahead. What’s the big deal about collecting the pictures, financials, pet supplies, and a couple changes of clothes, pet food and water, halters and leashes, getting the crates out, and packing it all in your gas-filled car? If you don’t have to evacuate, big deal, it takes ten minutes to put the stuff away.

And NEVER, NEVER, NEVER leave your home to do a quick grocery expedition without your pets. Things happen quickly and you may not be allowed to go back to your home. Also remember the heat and leaving pets in cars. A catch-22. Best to have one adult stay at home with pets and the other adult go for food.

With all due respect to the folks who survived Katrina, Californians are nuts about their pets and will fight tooth and nail to protect them. And then there are some CA’ers who couldn’t care less.

Say prayers, folks.

By: emily

emily — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:01:31 +0000

I live in Florida and have had to leave my home three times in the last 20 years. One of those time there was nothing left to come home to. I can understand the heartache of looking at your home and packing the most important things. But I would never leave a living thing behind to face a fire alone and scare. What type of person is this> We have a saying here among the pet owers who keep reservations at our shelters there always room for one more! No pets left behind!

By: Maureen

Maureen — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:55:02 +0000

I don’t know if there’s a place to post something important that doesn’t fit into the current topics, but…I think tonight’s CNN special, “Planet in Peril” is something that most on this blog would want to see. There’s a segment about China and our food imports that everyone here is keenly interested in.

It’s scheduled for 9 pm EDT, but I see that it’s being repeated at 12 pm and throughout the night for those who have TIVO-like digital recorders. Part II of the series is on tomorrow night.

For a preview of the China segment, see the CNN website:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/.....index.html

If you can’t watch it, do read the article on this link. It’s a tragic state of affairs for the Chinese who can’t escape their terribly polluted waters (and crops irrigated with them), and tragic, as we have learned for those who are in the food chain for these exports.

By: 2CatMom

2CatMom — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:56:21 +0000

VJ - apparently not enough! I had heard that there were pets in the stadium - but who knows.

The most important thing is to have carriers close at hand. In this case many people have had a little time to get things together.

Many disasters come without warning. If you wake up in the middle of the night with your house on fire, you’ll have to act immediately. If your carriers are in the basement crawlspace or attic you are not going to have time to get them in this type of disaster.

By: VJ

VJ — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:00:03 +0000

Read in my local paper that people with pets are
banned from Qualcomm Stadium and are gathered in the parking lot with their pets. Have we not learned anything from past disasters.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:32:21 +0000

I absolutely agree with getting more crates than you need. I have at least 12 of them, all different sizes and varieties. At one time or another over the last 20-odd years, I’ve used them all, or lent them to people who needed help.

By: elizabeth R

elizabeth R — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:50:18 +0000

Ever since Katrina I have been preaching disaster preparedness to my friends and family——G-d helps those who help themselves as Gramma used to say. I am always on the lookout for small pet travel crates at garage sales and rummage sales and have now picked up four of them beyond what my own pet family needs. I have never paid more than five dollars and once only a dollar. They are stored away but will be available for anyone’s use when/if the need arises. I have also loaned them out a few times already to friends who have needed them to temporarily house a stray or feral.

By: Trudy Jackson

Trudy Jackson — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:43:17 +0000

I’m so glad to see all this on petconnection. I have a lot of friends in Cal. who are bengal breeders. I will send them all the info. I get from you.
Please take care everyone, We are all praying for this to be over.

By: Leslie k

Leslie k — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:33:15 +0000

I can’t imagine any circumstance that would make me abandon my animals. If I couldn’t take them,I wouldn’t go.How hard is it to grab a few leashes & crates ? You can always worry about food & litter later.

By: 2CatMom

2CatMom — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 13:56:46 +0000

On NPR this morning they had a story of a father who had to flee the approaching fire with his two daughters. They left behind several animals including a cat named Lucky who they recued as a kitten from a garbage can. Their apartment complex later burned to the ground.

I am truly glad they got out OK. But they knew the fire was coming. How much effort would it have taken to put the cat in a carrier, grab the goldfish bowl etc before they left?

Even if there weren’t free places to take your animals, you have a car. Put a litterbox on the floor of the back seat and keep the cat in the car if you have to (assuming that its not blazing hot).

Most of the human shelters are taking crated animals. So even if they decided to stay in a hotel room (which they did) drop the cat off somewhere or sneak the cat into the hotel room where you are staying.

Do not leave your pets behind. Yes your children come first, but your pets should be a close second.