Animal Owners Urged to Have Emergency Plan for Severe Weather

March 2, 2012 Mike Charbonneau 2-min. read

North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, along with the American Veterinary Medical saving dog in storm Association (AVMA) and numerous other organizations, have assembled useful resources to help veterinarians, animal care providers, and animal owners who find themselves in the path of tornadoes, hurricanes, tropical storms, floods, severe winter weather, or other events requiring emergency response or evacuation.

As noted by in the AVMA’s emergency planning booklet, "Saving the Whole Family," emergency preparations should include pets and other animals.

The following links provide useful information for disaster planning.

[section_subtitle]Companion Animals [/section_subtitle]

American Veterinary Medical Association

Hurricane Preparedness
Saving the Whole Family

North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Protecting your Pets in a Disaster

United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Animals in Disasters

If you need to evacuate to a shelter with your pet

If you take pets to a shelter that allows them, you need to have pet supplies, collar with ID, up-to-date vet records, pet carrier, and leash. A picture of the pet is good to have. For identification purposes, it is also recommended that pets be microchipped. If there is no shelter that accepts pets, look for local hotels that allow pets such as those listed at www.petswelcome.com.

[section_subtitle]Horses[/section_subtitle]