[cwiz24]

Fabulous idea. This should have been taken care of long ago.

[cwiz24]

Ping!

[mlc9852]

What about horses?

[Translates]

That would be a wonderful thing. People should take responsibility. I'm sure a lot of people in N.O. would have taken their pets if they could have - while some people left without a thought, I'm sure. Hopefully, that will serve as a model of what NOT to do. From the news reports I'm seeing in Galveston I heard that more people are taking their pets. Let's hope this legislation passes.

[republican4ever]

I could not agree more. If the situation ever arose, I would send my two-legged family members into safety and remain behind with my furkids. I don't think I could live with myself if anything happened to them. They are totally defenseless against human cruelty and the forces of nature.

[cripplecreek]

I know that some people will say it's ridiculous but the fact is that many people only stay in harms way because of their pets. Unfortunately I suspect that the elderly are the most likely to refuse to leave a pet.

I won't leave my dogs any more than I would be willing to leave a child. Fortunately I can leave and take my dogs. Many elderly people can't.

[bboop]

OK, picture this -- the school buses/ Amtrak/ Grayhounds -- pick up REFUGEES, including my family and our dog. He's a Border Collie, pretty ADHD, Alpha Male, kills cats and would kill skate-boarders if he could get at them. OK, and my cat is aboard too. Cat gets loose, dog runs down the aisle, bites an old lady who is a liberal/ thinks he's CUTE and reaches out to pet him. Another dog joins him. They relieve themselves on someone who is sleeping on the floor because the train/ bus is full.

I am SO SORRY. I love my pets, but ....

[Voltage]

How about Teddy Bears?

[ncountylee]

Lantos is a hard left socialist, since when did they develope an interest in pets? There is something in the wood pile here that smells.

[MarineBrat]

Federal disaster grants to state and local governments should be conditioned on how they accommodate pets in their evacuation plans

Total insanity.

[ArmyTeach]

Yes. This should have been common sense policy applied to the appropriate agency ... but federal law? Aw. c'mon.

[expatguy]

Sorry but this is simply insane.

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[Seruzawa]

More laws and regulations. Wonderful.

[longtermmemmory]

utter BS legislation.

Most areas with an actual plan have shettlers SPECIFIC for those with pets.

Nagin and Blanco dropped the ball and they are CYA to say it was not their fault.

FL has pet provisions, TX has pet provisions.

LA incompetence did not acomodate pets. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FEDS.

(the democrats want to blame Bush for killing fido. hmmm [s]JOHN ROBERTS PERSONALLY KILLED PETS IN NEW ORLEANS WITH GUNS PROVIDED BY THE NRA! [/s] GASP! )

[BobCNY]

Are all you people nuts? I have owned dogs all my life and consider them "a part of the family", but I would not want money, time or space wasted on an animal aka pet in an evacuation.

If someone is such a nut job as not to leave a burning house because Snowball the cat is in there, do you expect to send a fireman or waste the time to retrieve the cat. The same would hold true for an evacuation.

How about people with allergies??? Will they need to be put on a seperate buses because great aunt Milly has boots the dog with her. Will FEMA not get to waste taxpayer money buying all assortments of animal cages to transport the pets.

People in this country really have lost all perspective on the value of human life, and this is another example.

[sgtbono2002]

Nothing like getting on a bus with Leroy's pit bulls. He trains them to fight but he calls them his pets and after all they dont eat much.Only an arm or a lef at worst. Yes Stoppig a mile out to let Tyrones German Shepherd pee isnt a big deal. Hope no one on the bus is allergic to Ruby's cats. who come up with these crazy ideas? If people who have pets dont have a car thats tough.

[Spok]

In an emergency, time and assets are limited. Would people be denied evacuation in favor of pets? By whom and by what criteria would the transport resources be allocated? Would a dog or cat be kicked off a bus to squeeze one more person aboard? Or vice versa? Would the call to load lifeboats become "Women and children and pets first"?
I'll be flamed to a cinder for saying this, but it doesn't sound as though this situation is being taken at all seriously. In a real emergency, choices often sacrifice even human life. I can't believe the emergency workers who were evacuating people left pets behind to be cruel; sometimes choices are finite.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

This law should ALSO REQUIRE the owners to take their pets and that would FORCE RESPONSIBILITY on those who normally try to evade it.Likewise,those who ignore this law and their pets are rescued should be heavily fined and billed for food,housing and medical care.

[Political Junkie Too]

For public evacuation, such as city-provided buses, that's one thing. But, many people who evacuated themselves in their family cars still left pets behind because the lodgings they reserved had no-pet policies. It's easy for me to Monday-morning Quarterback, but in that situation, I would have loaded my dog in the car and dealt with it when I got to my destination, rather than leaving the dog behind to fend for himself.

-PJ

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

Only someone with zero experience in disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, or non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO) could conceive of such a patently stupid idea.

The only time those operations occur is when the "normal" world has pretty much turned to a "Sierra" sandwich, and you are left with the U.S. military as your last resort. Otherwise, it would be an orderly with drawl using conventional civilian modes of transportation. When you have to call in the military, you are down to let the military evacuate the people or let them die as your courses of action.

For those who have never been aboard a military vessel or aircraft; here's a clue: These craft were not built with animals in mind. They only marginally accommodate human beings.

Back when West African and Haitian "humanitarian" operations were all the rage of under the leadership of the most incompetent and corrupt commander-in-chief the U.S. military has ever had the misfortune to endure serving under -- there was a series of excellent "Personal For" messages from Commanding Officers who had "been there, done that" about how to keep the evacuees from acting like animals; killing and raping each other, particularly the children. Also, it became obvious that elementary toilet training, even among adults, was not part of the cultural curriculum.

In short, the worst looters from New Orleans were true gentlemen compared to this crowd.

Into this mix, you cannot throw pets. It takes all you have just to get the people out.

[najida]

Most of the serious breeders and pet owners etc (dogs, cats, birds) have their own cages, food containers etc for evacuations.

I see both sides of this, and my 'zoo' is one of the reasons I won't ever evacuate (reason #1 you're seeing on the highways out of Houston).

With that being said, the world has changed. More and more people are attached to their animals like never before. We can grouse and moan about it, but bottom line, it's something that now has to be taken into consideration in an evac. Segregate if necessary.

But I tell ya now, I'd rather be hunkered down with the animal folk that the ones who left Fluffy chained to the back fence >:>