Tennessee preparing diaster plans for pets

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture is showing those communities how to set up “disaster animal response teams.” The department is coordinating training and providing credentials for team members.

“The more organized we are to take care of things, the better off we are,” said Louis Graham, a Hendersonville, Tenn., veterinarian and a first responder for animal emergencies.

For many animals lovers, Hurricane Katrina brought home the need for animal-relief programs when it devastated the Gulf Coast. Hundreds, if not thousands, of pets were left homeless by the storm.

Congress got the message, too, and passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act following Katrina.

Authorities in New Orleans and other coastal towns found that many residents resisted evacuating as Katrina approached for fear of abandoning their pets.

Under the new federal rules, which took effect in October, state and local governments must include pets in disaster-relief planning to qualify for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Tennessee’s emergency plan includes a 34-page section dealing with the evacuation of animals.

As part of that planning, local emergency management agencies have lists of pet shelters for displaced pets and the names of volunteers willing to help rescue animals in emergencies.

Robert Linnabary, a veterinarian, began working on emergency response planning for the agriculture department years ago after getting a call from firefighters at a residential fire.

The firefighters were having trouble getting a handicapped woman to leave her fire damaged apartment building because she was worried about her dog. Linnabary took the dog to his clinic until the woman could return to her apartment.

The process for training emergency responders includes hands-on and classroom instruction on handling, transporting and caring for animals.

“We’re working hard as we can to get every county up and running,” Linnabary said.