Are You Ready?

That's the question my friends at United Animal Nations are asking. If disaster strikes, are you ready to evacuate quickly?

They ask this question because their mission is "bringing animals out of crisis into care." When groups of animals are in crisis from floods, fires, hurricanes, or plain old bad shelter management, you will often find United Animal Nations there--setting up and running temporary shelters, calling in their trained volunteers, and managing reunions between dogs and their humans.

One of the most important things you can do for your family and your pets is to plan for a quick evacuation, and practice that plan.

Research has shown that in stressful situations, our brains work best if there have already been some rehearsals. Those rehearsals set up a pattern in our brains. When the time comes to move quickly, an already established pattern can be in our brain database--ready to be acted upon.

Right now, United Animal Nations is trying to assess pet owner's state of preparedness. I suggest you click onto their site, and take their short poll, click here.

Afterwards, you may want to review their excellent ideas and resources for disaster planning, click here.

Comments

[Alexis Raymond]

Also, don't forget another important component of disaster planning is making sure your pets are identified, preferbly with a tag and permanent microchip. Microchips are the single best way to ensure that you can be reunited with your pet if you are separated during a crisis!

[Kaye Swafford]

Thanks for the wonderful reminder, Alexis. BTW, for those who haven't met Alexis, she's with United Animal Nations.
Kaye