Major disasters repeatedly expose gaps in animal welfare planning and response. Lessons from documented events improve future preparedness and reduce animal suffering.
Disasters reveal the welfare consequences of planning failures - the animals left behind in Hurricane Katrina were not a welfare accident but the predictable outcome of emergency plans that did not account for the human-animal bond. The lesson learned - that people will not evacuate without their pets - produced the PETS Act and improved co-evacuation planning that has saved both human and animal lives in subsequent disasters. The 2019-20 Australian bushfires demonstrated wildlife welfare at catastrophic scale, driving emergency wildlife welfare response planning improvements. Each major disaster should produce welfare-informed planning improvements that reduce suffering in the next event.