Disasters disproportionately affect companion animal welfare when evacuation plans exclude pets, and dedicated animal rescue capacity significantly improves outcomes.
Companion animal welfare in disasters is a welfare emergency with a clear policy solution: inclusive evacuation planning that treats pets as family members rather than property to be abandoned. The lesson of Hurricane Katrina — that pet exclusion from evacuation led to both animal deaths and human non-compliance with evacuation orders — has driven significant policy improvement in many jurisdictions. Proactive planning at the individual and community level dramatically reduces animal suffering during disasters.