Natural disasters cause enormous animal welfare harm — effective disaster response requires pre-planning for both companion animals and wildlife.
Natural disasters represent concentrated, acute welfare crises for both companion animals and wildlife. The failure to account for companion animals in evacuation planning directly kills animals and reduces human compliance with evacuation orders, compounding human welfare harm. Wildlife casualties during major disasters are frequently enormous but difficult to quantify — the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires provided the most scientifically estimated figures to date, revealing a scale of suffering that shocked global conservation communities. Effective disaster preparedness for animals requires advance planning at individual, community, and governmental levels — including emergency food supplies, transport plans for companion animals, and pre-positioned wildlife rescue resources in fire and flood prone regions.