Natural disasters disproportionately harm animals when emergency planning fails to account for their needs, and effective disaster response requires integrating animal welfare from the start.
Animals are among the most vulnerable in disaster scenarios. Farm animals confined in buildings face drowning in floods or burning in fires without human intervention. Pets left behind in evacuations suffer from dehydration and injury. Wildlife populations can be devastated by habitat destruction from disasters combined with human rescue operations. Integrating animal welfare into disaster response planning reduces both animal and human casualties.