U.S. Senate Passes the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Bill

I'm all for this! :thumbs: Some people wouldn't evacuate in Katrina because they did not want to leave pets behind.

I'm almost afraid to post this, though, because there are some meanies here who might say mean stuff to us, KenH! :tear:

 

While people come first, their pets should not be forgotten. Often times dogs, cats, birds, and other forms of wildlife, become members of the family. To ask a family to leave their pet behind, to certain death, is an immoral thing to do. Think about an elderly lady who has a dog or cat that is her companion. Is it right to demand that she leave the dog or cat behind? No. I, for one, am glad to see this bill however I do think that it is sad that we even need it. It should be common, moral sense.

 

Ken?

Wayne! Anyone that lives within 100 miles of the ocean with a pet and thinks that we should pity them for dying because of their pet, should pay me a billion dollars so that I can go get therapy.



Evacuate pets? What? Be humane - Just shoot them!

OK - more seriously. The licensed pets should be evacuated. Unlicensed pet owners should be charged a special usage fee (not taxed) $5,000 per animal for the privilege of having an unlicensed pet. Licensed pet owners should be taxed $20 per pet per year to help defray evacuation costs.

And then any pet not licensed is to be shot on sight during a mandatory evacuation. I might give a little more leniency, but what happened to this country because of unlicensed pets during katrina needs to be stopped once and for all.

IMHO

 

Thats our tax dollars hard at work!

 

I can just see it now on my property tax assessment:

2005 Shih Tzu Dog Assessed Value: 300

 

We will see just how great this is the first time a person or persons get left behind or out in the cold because there was no room due to the space taken up by pets.

The public ignorance on this issue astounds me. But then unless you have sat through a hurricane you have no real knowledge of the situation. Having sat through 6 in my life time I know all to well the actual realities of the lack of space during hurricanes.

This is like the fence along the border. They passed a bill for it. Heaven knows most dont want to go on record against that. But then they refuse to pass a bill to fund it.

So what is going to happen is people will be left of the bus for evacuation or refused space at the evacuation center because some lady has 5 cats. And no provisions will be made and in some cases just cannot be made to accomodate these "pets". And the officials will say "I know it is wrong but I have to because congress passed the bill". Again space is always limited and now it will be twice as limited.

Everybody that voted for this should be voted out of office.

 

My "thinking" is limited only by survivng 6 hurricanes. It is very much an either or situation. Having been though 6 hurricanes I have each and every time had to deal with limited space. It is always a problem in florida. Now we are going to add to that dilema pets. So naturally what will happen is Aunt Suzies 5 cats get priotiy over Mr. & Mrs Mitchell and their three children because their is no more room. Showing up to shelters and having no more room happens every hurricane. That is why some people just stay home and ride it out when they should evacuate to further inland. They dont want to spend an hour or two driving inland only to play musical shelters. Now throwing pets into the mix is probably going to have the opposite effect that most imagined. This is going to be a huge problem unless millions of dollars are spent to accomodate these pets. What I am saying is I do not want to be turned away from a shelter that i and my family need to survive because of cats, dogs, and parrots. If I have to look my wife and children in the face and say I do not know what to do, because pets have priority over us....well I do not know what I will do but it wont be pretty. What I am saying is you cant just throw pets into the mix. they have to have extra accomodations and tons of money put into that.

 

Let's consider also the special needs for the pets. Some animals to not mix well with other animals. Fighting is going to break out in such a mix and put people in danger as well.

The need for pets to use the "bathroom" is also a problem. Where are they going to do this in their time in these facilities without special accomodations. They will be doing their business just about anywhere. Not because the owners just didnt care but in times of emergencies who is going to know how bad the animal needs to go.

All storm shelters should be accomadated with kennel facilities for animals. Expecting 1-3 animals per family.

And are we going to set limits on the number of pets that can be accomodate. If Aunt suzie brings 5 cats can she reasonably maintain control of them by herself.

What kind of Havoc will ensue as a result of pets that have gotten loose? Who will get hurt when Mr. Hancocks doberman gets loose and chases Aunt Suzies cats?

Without special funds and accomodations at every facility this bill is irresponsible. People must always come first, their health and welfare must alwyas come first even to the exclusion of pets.

 

You can continue to dismiss the problems I have seen and experienced during each and every hurricane. But that attitude is what lead to the Katrina debocle.

 

This isnt about personal resourcefulness. It is about about our government having to make room for pets of all things without providing in the bill the means to do so. And our local agencies who provide for and oversee these evacuations are not going to move one step toward funding this or providing for this.

As far as personal resources go if that was al that was needed and if that always could be provided for then there would be no need for a bill, would there?

 

Where ther is no plan there is no action H. :thumbs:

 

Ken

I probably should apologize before bringing up the obvious, but there are many people that would prefer to eliminate all of those pets rather than pay taxes to have them evacuated.

If indeed there's a way for that will - some might be offended.

 

Of course, the simplest method of taxation to pay for this would be to tax all pet owners nationwide to help pay for those around the oceans that probably cannot afford the evacuation costs.

Something like a welfare program for pets.