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May 30, 2006 5:26 pm US/Eastern
Pets May Soon Be Part Of Hurricane Evac Plans
Some Katrina Animals End Up In Our Neck Of The Woods
by Christine Sloan
SOUTH ORANGE (CBS) ―
Shiloh, Jennifer, Mojo and Little Pup are four dogs who have one thing in common.
They were all abandoned by their owners during Hurricane Katrina because pets weren't included in evacuation plans.
"I saw dead dogs, dogs that had starved to death," said Leah Jacobson, who helped rescue animals during Hurricane Katrina.
Sharon Wilkenson was also a rescue worker. She ended up adopting Little Pup, who was found with a gunshot wound to her head.
"She was brought into the triage area and I saw her and fell in love with her," Wilkenson said.
Another dog named Wishbone was rescued from a house filled with water. Her new owner said she survived for a month without food.
We asked Maryann Kot, a Secaucus resident, if she would leave behind her dog.
"Definitely not, she would come with us. She's part of the family," she said.
U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg said he's co-sponsoring a bill that would require local and state emergency officials to come up with pet evacuation plans in order to qualify for FEMA funding.
"We're not choosing between a human and an animal, the humans come first," Lautenberg said.
May 23: Bill Considers Pets In Disaster Plans Sept. 8, 2005: Katrina Leaves Pets In Peril
Adopt A Pet From The Katrina Catastrophe!But Armando Fontoura, the director of the Office of Emergency Management in Essex County, said the proposal doesn't seem practical.
"The people have horses, snakes," Fontoura said. "We need all police teams to be trained to handle pets under stress."
Kim Saunders helped reunite 3,000 Katrina victims with their pets.
"It's really important for people to not have to make that choice to stay behind in a dangerous situation," she said.
A dangerous choice she said made by 40 percent of the people who chose to stay behind during Katrina.
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