Twenty years after Katrina, the Louisiana SPCA is releasing the mini-documentary, “20 Years Stronger: Embracing Our Future.” It highlights people who were on the frontlines before, during, and after Katrina made landfall.
“This was really the first response of this scale that set the tone for disaster responses that followed,” said Laura Maloney, who’s featured in the documentary and led the Louisiana SPCA when the storm hit.
In 2005, rescue protocols at the state and local level didn’t include plans for the safe evacuation and sheltering of pets.
“Human lifesaving, for all the obvious reasons, was number one,” said Louisiana SPCA CEO Ana Zorrilla. “First responders weren’t really prepared to rescue people with pets, and so, initially, their policy was only to take humans. That caused people to stay because they didn’t want to leave their pets behind.”
That had tragic consequences. It’s estimated that some 260,000 families in Katrina’s path had pets, and more than 100,000 animals were abandoned. Many who stayed behind with their pets lost their lives.
“I think Katrina was the first natural disaster of this magnitude that was televised. So I will say I think that brought light to probably what had been happening over time, in a way that had never been seen by our country before.”
Emergency response would never be the same. In 2006, Congress passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, or the PETS Act, which required state and local disaster relief plans to be made for people and their pets before, during, and after a major disaster. It’s led to more planning and investment in preparedness, as well as increased communication between government agencies and nonprofits. That partnership was on full display in Houston when Hurricane Harvey stalled over the city in 2017.
“More people are going to come to your shelter if they can bring their animals,” said Salise Shuttlesworth, Founder and Executive Director of the Houston-based rescue Friends For Life. She ran the first-ever cohabitated shelter during Hurricane Harvey, offering people and their pets shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown. With support from local veterinarians and volunteers, and assistance from BARC, they cared for more than 3,000 pets and kept families together.
“I will forever credit the late Mayor Turner for opening those doors and saying, this is important and we’re going to acknowledge it’s important by sharing our city resources. Because we could not have been able to do that without his vision and his permission to do that.”
Julie Kuenstle with the Houston SPCA says improvements made in storm preparedness have been evident in natural disasters post-Katrina. The nonprofit rescued 2,300 animals during and after Harvey.
“State authorities around the country now know that pets are family. And so the messaging for animal welfare organizations has changed dramatically because of that.”
You can learn more about the Louisiana SPCA’s Katrina response effort in their new documentary here: “20 Years Stronger: Remembering Katrina.”