The year following Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed the Pet Evacuation and Transportation and Safety (PETS) Act. The Act required state and local jurisdictions to have a plan in place for the evacuation and sheltering of household pets and service animals in order to receive Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursement. The PETS Act codified the lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina that saving pets in times of disaster also saves people. Implementation of the PETS Act at the local level has proven that human lives are saved and 99% of pets can be successfully reunited with their owners post-disaster. This is only accomplished when pet planning is included as part of the overall emergency operations planning.
