The Honorable Senator _________________________________
The U.S. Senate, U.S. Capitol Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator ________________________________________,
I'm a registered voter who closely follows my legislators' stance on animal
protection bills. I hope you advocate passage of S.
2548, the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act.
Introduced by Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Lincoln Chafee
(R-RI), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), PETS empowers the Director of FEMA to designate
funds for animal preparedness plans, including the procurement, construction,
leasing, or repair of emergency shelter facilities. Please cosponsor S. 2548 and
ensure it contains terms for an equitable allocation of monetary aid to states and
communities for animal disaster response planning and implementation.
Hurricane Katrina portrayed the fallout of disaster arrangements with no animal
component. An estimated 50,000 to
100,000 animals were stranded in New Orleans alone. This figure doesn't encompass
surrounding parishes or Mississippi. While about 15,000
animals were saved, as many as 90,000 perished. Sometimes, their devoted guardians
died alongside them.
In April, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) told Stamford Advocate
reporters: "Hurricane Katrina taught us that many
people will not evacuate if they will have to leave pets behind."
Indeed, last September CNN reported the top reason people declined to vacate homes
under Mayor Ray Nagin's mandatory
evacuations: "People won't leave their pets... The thing with pets is a huge deal.
Some people are told they can bring them. Others are told
they can't and they are staying."
Scott Sherman refused to evacuate without his dogs. Scott, along with others who
stayed beside beloved pets, is listed
among the hurricane dead. Plainly, an animal's survival is often integral to the
survival of his caregivers.
Unforgivable images are forever etched in our nation's conscience. Denise Okojo
clung to her seeing-eye service dog in the
shadows of her swamped apartment. When a helicopter team arrived, Okojo was ordered
to leave Molly, a Labrador retriever, behind. The
blind
woman said goodbye to her "eyes" and sole companion.
Judy and Santo Migliore's home was washed away in the levee breach. As they
evacuated on to a barge, an official threatened
to handcuff Judy if she did not leave GiGi, her 10-pound poodle, with a St. Bernard
Parish Deputy. A month later, a photo arrived via email.
"I'm
so sorry if this is GiGi," an animal rescuer wrote. In the photo, a tangle of white
fur rested atop a puddle of feces and blood. Patches of
sunlight framed the dead dog and a discarded cigarette butt lay by her head.
Countless GiGis and Mollys succumbed to wind, water, poison, starvation and
dehydration. Others were shipped to shelters
around the U.S., never to see their families again.
I urge you to support passage of the PETS Act. We can never adequately respond to
emergencies until protocols and
resources enable all states to assist animals and their human family members.
Thank you,
