Natural and human-made disasters leave animals stranded, injured and orphaned, requiring coordinated emergency response that is increasingly being formalised in disaster management.
Animal welfare in disaster response has historically been an afterthought, resulting in preventable mass suffering during floods, fires, earthquakes and industrial accidents. Formalising animal disaster response - through planning, trained responders and legal frameworks requiring animal evacuation provision - reduces this suffering at scale. Companion animal rescue during human evacuations has improved as agencies recognise that people refuse to evacuate without their animals, creating safety risks. Farm animal and wildlife disaster response remains significantly under-resourced. Pre-event planning, trained volunteer networks and clear legal authority structures are key to improvement.