Pets in disasters: Owners’ views sought on evacuation and disaster planning
A new study is calling for pet owners' views on how they prepare for and might respond in floods, bushfires, cyclones and other natural disasters.
Dr Melanie Taylor and Dr Penny Burns from the University of Western Sydney's School of Medicine are leading the study which was prompted by anecdotal evidence of challenges pet owners and emergency service personnel face during disaster preparation, evacuations and recovery.
Dr Taylor says during Hurricane Katrina in the United States some people stayed with their pets because they were unwilling to leave them or they were unable to seek shelter in evacuation centres with their pets and as a consequence people and pets died.
"The tragic events of Hurricane Katrina triggered changes in US legislation and fuelled greater interest around the world in understanding the impact pets can have on people's decision making and the effectiveness of the emergency services response," says Dr Taylor, who is also a member of the Disaster Response and Resilience Research Group.
"There is a growing need to consider pets and their owners' needs in all stages of disaster management from preparation to evacuation to post disaster recovery."
"Attitudes to disaster planning for animals – pets and livestock – are changing," she says.
To help inform revised planning for disasters by government and non-government organisations, Dr Taylor and Dr Burns are conducting an exploratory online survey to collect information from pet owners who have experienced a disaster where they have had to evacuate their homes or consider evacuation.
The study is called 'Pets and People, Preparedness for Disasters', or P3D for short. The survey will cover the preparedness, response and recovery stages of disaster from the perspective of pet owners, and will include consideration of the bond people have with their pets and how living through a disaster together affects both the owner and the pets.
"We will assess the extent to which pet owners were prepared, the role pets played around evacuation decision-making, how owners managed their pets at the time and post-disaster, and how they believe this impacted their well-being at the time and subsequently.
Dr Burns, who is a GP Fellow in Disaster Medicine at UWS, says importantly the study will also seek the views of pet owners who haven't experienced a natural disaster first hand.
"We need to understand if and how pet owners prepare for disasters so emergency services can improve communications regarding the responsibilities and actions of pet owners in times of natural disaster," says Dr Burns.
This study has been approved by the University of Western Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee. The approval number is H9993.
Ends
22 January 2013
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