"They killed Fluffy!"

After all of the heart-rending stories about abandoned pets and people being forced to decide between evacuating without their pets or staying put with them because pets are not permitted, FEMA is sounding out a plan that would require states to develop evacuation plans that includes pets. Those states that don't will not be eligible for FEMA funds.

Folks, you know how I feel about my pets but this touchy-feely stuff is utter nonsense. Let's complicate even more an already complicated process by mandating that in addition to people, local and state government must also make provisions for Fido, Fluffy and Butterball. I'm not talking about service animals, but a dog, a cat and . . . a hamster? Who knows. I don't.

Maybe someone has a real attachment to their goldfish. Can they insist that accommodations be available for their aquariums?

Or will local and state governments be required to define what constitutes a pet in order to prevent someone from walking in with something like this?

(In the spirit of full disclosure we had one and they look far meaner than they really are. Uros are very timid.)

Or is this a knee-jerk reaction from an already bruised FEMA after so much media hype?

Of course it is.

In its look at the situation on October 2 (printer-friendly version) the Mobile Register noted:

"There's a certain number of people who aren't going to evacuate for any reason," [Betty Morrow who is completing a study of evacuation behavior during last year's Hurricane Ivan] said.

Some of those people may be saying that they're staying because of their pets, but she sees that as a kind of excuse.

The abandoned ones? Pets are abandoned every single day but when a disaster the size of Katrina occurs it happens on a larger scale, but with the media's lense magnifying the situation it becomes another "crisis."

Last year four hurricanes hit Florida in the span of six weeks. Humane Societies throughout the state provided emergency shelter for thousands of pets, and then faced their own crisis — a real one — when people never returned for them. Government-operated "Animal Care and Control" shelters were similarly affected. Heck, Doc housed as many as he could in his two animal hospitals and even he had some no one ever came back to claim.

But thanks to the media hype it's now some sort of crisis that FEMA says local and state governments must address. Or else.

One of the scenarios the article I referenced envisions, is designating certain emergency shelters strictly for pet owners, in close proximity to separate boarding facilities for their animals.

Which comes first: emergency shelter for people or their pets? Will shelters for people with pets be dependent upon suitable accommodations nearby for their animals, or is it the other way around?

I find it hard to imagine that people who have to go to public shelters because they are unable to get themselves out of harms way, will have carriers or crates in which to contain their animals. How many will also arrive with feed, water, bowls and medications; litter boxes, kitty litter . . .

(Oops! Wait! Just in case, we need to add the provision of carriers and crates and feed to our plan!)

Are the pet shelter managers . . .

(Oops! Wait! We need to add volunteers to our plan!)

. . . going to screen the animals to ensure that they're healthy? Are local and state governments going to require (and verify) that every pet has had minimum much less proper inoculations.

What happens if the pet is sick or hasn't hadn't had its vaccinations. Or maybe it has but the owner didn't think to take the paperwork with them to prove it?

Oh, and then there's that little storage thing to think about to make sure someone's little, helpless Fluffy isn't next to someone else's Killer.

Or are they all going to be crammed in together with folks later sobbing on Geraldo's shoulder as the camera rolls, "Fluffy was happy and healthy when I brought him in and now he's dead!"

Once the storm has passed, each and every one of these pet owners will, of course, take care of their own pets. You betcha!

Some will. Some will try. Others won't expecting someone else will do it for them, and some, as always, will simply disappear leaving "Fluffy," "Fido" and "Butterball" behind.

And then the media will have another failure of government about which to endlessly hype.

~~~~~~
You can blame Norma for my pulling this out of DRAFT where I stuck it last October.

LATER: Have you checked out this week's edition of Wizbang's Carnival of the Trackbacks?