Florida’s Animal Disaster History
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Transcript of Florida’s Animal Disaster History
Florida’s Animal Disaster History
1st Major Animal Disaster
HurricaneAndrew
1992
Andrew History
700,000 evacuated 80,000 housed in shelters 175,000 people homeless 25,000 homes destroyed 100,000 homes damaged $20 billion in damages $10 billion cleanup costs
Personal Losses
Home Job Friends Security Pets
Forgotten Victims - Animals
People told to leave pets behind
Homes blown apart – pets escape in fear
Disoriented pets wandered from home
No ID on pets No system for
animals
MASH Animal Compound
HSUS & Citizens Against Pet Overpopulation
Six weeks Mostly volunteer
workforce Support from Army:
supplies, full-time vet, tents, security
Animal Statistics of Compound
600 lost, foster or owner give-up animals
About 2,000 seen by emergency vets
Most lost pets never matched w/ owners
30 day holding period before adoptions
FL Wildfires 1998
First pet friendly shelters open in Volusia & Flagler counties
First “DART” response State directed animal
response effort
Hurricane Floyd
Evacuation Nightmare Estimated 2 million
people evacuated from FL, GA, SC & NC
2 hour road trips took 18 hours
Hotels & Shelters full Not enough places for
pets & large animals (horses)
Floyd – “NC’s Andrew”
Florida’s 2004 Hurricane Season
Hurricane Charley
Hurricane Charley Community services
completely disrupted “10 mile wide
tornado” No storm surge Impacted along Hwy
17 corridor - Devastation across state
Charley - Animal Response
Hurricane Frances
Frances
Hurricane Ivan
Hurricane Jeanne
Hurricane Katrina - 2005
Katrina - LA
Katrina - MS
Animal Facilities Destroyed
FL Assists MS
The Animal Victims of Katrina
Animal Issues are People Issues
Not question of putting animals above people
Taking care of what important to people
Human/animal bond -more important in extreme stress
Planning for animals intertwined w/ planning for people if either is to be effective
Questions?Questions?