Instructing Animal Rescue Agencies to Help Injured, Abandoned, or Lost Animals Is Vital, Says Group
For Immediate Release:
May 6, 2011
Contact:
Kristin Richards 202-483-7382
Frankfort, Ky. - PETA sent an urgent letter today to Gov. Steve Beshear regarding the plight of animals who will undoubtedly become the victims of floodwaters. In the letter, PETA urges Beshear to instruct rescue teams to watch out for animals—including dogs, cats, and cattle—in flood-ravaged areas and to call local animal control or animal rescue agencies with information about animals of any species who are injured, trapped by the flooding, lost, or abandoned, and if that fails, to call PETA. The group is also pleading with citizens to make plans to evacuate with their companion animals—and never to leave animals behind to fend for themselves. In addition, PETA asks that residents look out for other animals in distress and that anyone who finds a chained dog at least cut the chain to allow the animal a chance to escape.
"Rescuing animals from disaster zones not only saves animals' lives but also helps keep families together," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "As we saw during Hurricane Katrina and other disasters, many people will refuse rescue if their animals aren't also taken to safety or will never forgive themselves if their animals die, so it's vital for rescuers to help all living beings to safety."
PETA has also asked Beshear to ensure that residents who willfully abandon their animals when evacuating—leaving them to face agonizing deaths from drowning, starvation, or disease—be charged with cruelty to animals. PETA is also writing to the governors of Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee.
People can help animal rescue efforts by donating to PETA's Animal Emergency Fund, which provides grants to organizations that do rescue work. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to Gov. Beshear follows.
May 6, 2011
Governor Steve Beshear
1 page via fax
Dear Governor Beshear:
This is an urgent plea on behalf of PETA's 2 million members and supporters, including many thousands in Kentucky, as well as all decent people who do not wish animals to suffer needlessly. We hope in the midst of the current flood disaster that you will adopt one of the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina about the strength of the human-animal bond by allowing human evacuees to bring their companion animals and by instructing emergency workers to work with animal control to search for stranded animals, particularly chained ones, in the flood's aftermath. PETA stands ready to assist you in contacting animal rescue agencies if needed.
Initiating the evacuation and rescue of animals from disaster zones is crucial in order to prevent people from staying in dangerous areas if their companion animals are not welcomed at shelters and relief centers. The safe evacuation and rescue of animals also helps to prevent the desecration of deceased humans and even the death of injured or trapped humans by roaming and starving animal victims.
When humans do evacuate without their animals, please direct emergency workers to alert animal control and animal rescue agencies if they see animals—no matter the species—who are injured, trapped, lost, or abandoned. In a worst-case scenario, when there is no time for rescue, emergency workers can at the very least cut the chains of dogs left in backyards in order to give them a chance to save themselves. Animals left behind face agonizingly slow and panic-infused deaths from drowning, and any who survive the initial flooding face the additional hazards of starvation and disease. We hope that you will consider charging any residents who willfully leave their animals behind with cruelty to animals.
We understand the urgency of deploying search-and-rescue teams to aid human victims of this disaster and appreciate your consideration of animal victims as well.
Most respectfully,
Michele
Rokke
Special
Project Coordinator
Cruelty
Investigations Department