Citizens need to be made aware of how important it is to include animal issues within their emergency plan. This involves putting together an emergency supply kit for the animals in their care, developing a pet care buddy system, so that if they aren’t able to get to their pets to take them to safety someone else will, where they can go with their animals, and that when evacuating they should always take their animals with them. This not only pertains to companion animals, but also farm animals. While it is not always realistic to evacuate large numbers of farm animals, every effort should be made to plan for their relocation, including arranging transportation, alternate routes to take, and enough food and water to last several days. If at the time of the disaster it is not possible to evacuate all of the farm animals a plan should be in place for what would be the best alternative action, such as moving them to higher group, or perhaps turning them out in the field.

Disaster Preparedness: http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/disaster-preparedness.aspx

Pet Emergency Preparedness Kits: http://petsready.com