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Emergency planning for pets works best at three levels: your household, the animal-serving facility you rely on or work with, and the surrounding community. The Best Friends Animal Society Emergency Preparedness Toolkit turns those levels into practical decisions about local hazards, communication, evacuation or sheltering in place, staff, supplies, and partner support.
What the Best Friends podcast episode covers
In episode 145 of The Best Friends Podcast, published April 6, 2023, Best Friends Animal Society discusses its Emergency Preparedness Toolkit with Sharon Hawa, the organization’s senior strategist of emergency services. The episode page describes Hawa’s work as strengthening Best Friends’ disaster-response capability and says she has more than 20 years of emergency-management experience. It also recounts that she began volunteering with the American Red Cross in New York City after 9/11.
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The same biography says Hawa managed a mega-shelter in Alexandria, Louisiana, during the 2008 response to Hurricane Gustav. The shelter peaked at more than 3,000 evacuees, with several hundred animals in a co-located pet-shelter facility. Those figures are part of Best Friends’ biographical account of Hawa’s experience, not a general measure of shelter capacity.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe episode page does not provide a transcript, so its listing supports the topic and guest identification, but not unverified spoken quotations. The written toolkit captures a central principle in one sentence: “You need to help yourself before you can help others.”
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How to include pets in a household emergency plan
Start with a plan for people and pets together. A household emergency can disrupt phone service, separate family members, or prevent an owner from getting home quickly. Decide in advance how family members will communicate if local phone lines are inaccessible and who can care for pets if you cannot return promptly.
- Gather supplies for your household and animals, tailored to your pets and local needs.
- Learn likely evacuation routes and where emergency shelters are located.
- Make a family emergency plan that covers pet care as well as communication and movement.
These steps are a starting point, not a substitute for planning around the hazards that are plausible where you live. The toolkit’s personal-preparedness section prompts readers to consider both household readiness and what happens when the usual way to contact one another or care for pets is unavailable.
How an animal facility should assess local hazards
Shelters, rescues, boarding facilities, veterinary clinics, and other animal-serving organizations need to identify hazards relevant to their location and operations. The toolkit recommends assessing both how likely each hazard is and how it could affect staff, volunteers, animals, property, operations, and the wider community.
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Its hazard analysis uses a numbered rating scale. Hazards scoring three or above should receive further impact assessment. That threshold is a prioritization aid in the toolkit, not a universal measure of risk. Use the assessment to decide which scenarios need detailed plans and whether the response may call for evacuation, sheltering in place, or different actions in different parts of the facility.
For each priority hazard, consider the consequences for animals and the people who care for them, whether buildings and essential services will remain usable, and what the organization can realistically sustain. These are linked questions: a facility may be safe to occupy but unable to provide essential services, or it may need to move animals even if staff can remain on site.
What belongs in an animal facility emergency plan
A useful plan spells out how the organization will operate, not just what hazard it fears. The toolkit’s templates cover evacuation or emergency actions, sheltering in place, continuity of essential services, staff roles, communications, animal relocation, partner boarding options, and supply inventories.
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People, roles, and communication
Identify responsibilities for staff and volunteers and how instructions will reach them. Share draft plans with the workforce so people who will carry them out can identify gaps. The plan should account for staffing needs under the scenarios being considered, rather than assuming that every employee or volunteer will be available.
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Animal movement and essential services
Set out how animals could be relocated, including potential partner boarding options, and how the facility will maintain or adapt essential services. Consider what needs to happen if the building cannot be used, if normal operations are disrupted, or if animals need to remain safely on site.
Supplies and storage
Use an inventory to record which supplies are available, where they are stored, and what needs to be purchased. Tailor the list to the animals served, the facility’s likely needs, and its response plan; the toolkit does not endorse a specific preassembled emergency kit.
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Review and exercises
Plans should be tested and updated when an exercise reveals missing information or an impractical step. The toolkit recommends at least one tabletop or functional exercise each year. A tabletop exercise lets participants talk through decisions; a functional exercise tests parts of the response in action. Use the exercise to find what needs revision, not merely to confirm that a document exists.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to decide between evacuation and sheltering in place
There is no single choice that fits every hazard or facility. The toolkit treats the local hazard analysis as the basis for deciding whether to evacuate or shelter in place. Compare the likely effects of the hazard with the safety of the building, availability of essential services, animal relocation options, and staff and partner capacity.
- Plan for evacuation when the assessed scenario makes moving people or animals necessary, and identify where animals can go and how they will be transported or received.
- Plan for sheltering in place when remaining on site is a viable response, with roles, communications, supplies, and essential services accounted for.
- Prepare for both where needed by maintaining separate, clear procedures for the scenarios your hazard assessment prioritizes.
These are planning categories, not a real-time safety judgment. Follow directions from local emergency officials during an incident.
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How animal organizations can coordinate with the community
Facilities may be able to help people and animals beyond their own operations, but they should decide in advance what assistance is realistic. The toolkit suggests considering temporary care for displaced owned pets or stray animals, reunification support, and contributions of people, equipment, or supplies.
Talk with local emergency officials and animal-welfare groups before a disaster. Document each partner’s capabilities and capacity, and clarify how an agreement will be activated and how available support will be communicated. Advance coordination makes it easier to match requests to actual resources rather than relying on assumptions during an emergency.
Using the toolkit as a planning aid
The Emergency Preparedness Toolkit is a customizable aid for individuals and organizations, not a one-size-fits-all plan. Adapt its prompts and templates to local hazards, the facility and animals involved, and the people, partners, and supplies actually available. Best Friends also describes its broader work on its Emergency Response page.
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