American Pit Bull Terrier Gazette Vol43 I2 | Page 4

Your animals and Weather emergencies
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite photos of
Florida Panhandle communities, before and after, flattened by Hurricane Michael.
T
his is not so easy to talk about,
having just been on the biting
edge of a terrible storm. We were
affected ourselves as well as through
family and friends. The takeaway is
this.....you need to have a plan. A well
thought out and initiated plan for an
environmental disaster.
Recently, Hurricane Michael graced
our shores. Directly hitting Mexico
Beach, Panama City, Lynn Haven and
Marianna. This was a very powerful
storm that held it’s “eye” long after it
was on land. Two days prior to the storm
landing, there was no gasoline to be
found. Animal shelters were saturated
with companion pets being surrendered
by their families. Hospitals were
evacuated because of structural damage
DURING the storm. Many people
stayed in their homes, some because
they had to, and some because they
stopped believing in the weather news.
Emergency Services sent warnings and
evacuation notices to people. I know
that because our son got them, and he
was notified in time to save himself,
his fiancé and their pets. Yes, they had
a friendly home to come to that was
inland, but regardless, they got out and
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we are very grateful to the people that
put together the emergency warning
system.
I started thinking about the
preparations we have in place to handle
an emergency. Year after year of
hyperbolic reporting does not make one
immune from a storm, but... it does wear
you out and make you think “That never
really happens, does it?” Hurricane
Florence was “catastrophic” before it
touched land. What language are they
planning to use next, “apocalyptic”? Try
to ignore broadcasts that sensationalize
news and weather. People complain
about this kind of reporting, yet they
still listen to it and click on it. If we stop
responding to this, they will stop giving
it to us. Listen to local weather sources.
Make sure you are getting important
texts from Emergency Services. Make
plans to evacuate, or make hunkering
down work.
These days, they make it way easier
to enter a human shelter with a pet.
The shelters here had cages for pets
ready two days before Michael hit. Not
comfortable for anyone, but you have a
way better chance of getting out alive.
The fact is that our breed is generally not
that attractive in a closed environment,
like a shelter.
Because people keep more dogs than
they can move, the dogs stay in place.
In flooding situations, this is horrific.
Dogs drowning in place. I think it
was 2015, the floods in the Carolinas
took the life of many animals. We all
remember Katrina, but if you didn’t
know... it is estimated that 600,000
companion animals either drowned or
starved. Think about that. I know that
Who can forget the images of Katrinia