PET PODs: A Tool to Assist with Good Welfare Provisions during Emergent Conditions

The PETS Act amended the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to ensure state and local emergency preparedness operational plans included provisions for individuals with household pets and service animals following a major disaster or emergency. While the national newsworthy events are usually large scope disasters, there are also local events which do not meet the minimal conditions to qualify for state or federal level welfare support. Local governments should be prepared to house pets at evacuation shelters, regardless of the breadth of the event, and especially for local events that do not reach the level of state or federal disasters. Wake County, North Carolina developed a concept of prepared sustainment “PET PODs” equipped with inventory and operational instructions required to create and operate an animal evacuation shelter, which could be, or not be, closely associated with the human evacuation shelter. The Wake County Animal Center “PET PODs” provided supplies for animals which arrived with their owners at evacuation shelters during Hurricane Florence, which in addition to volunteer personnel and donated feed provisions, established the foundation for good animal welfare for dozens of animals.