Companion Animals / 33The database also included nearly twenty-six thousand requests
for rescue from people who left animals behind and another eight
thousand lost notices. The Animal Emergency Response Network
reunited thirty-two hundred animals with their human compan-
ions. The network remains in place as a public service funded by
the nonprofi t Petfi nder to assist in future disasters.
In October 2005, the LA/SPCA leased a warehouse in the Algiers
neighborhood of New Orleans to resume its operations. Because of
disease control, sanitation, and safety issues, among others, estab-
lishing an animal shelter is a complicated process. With assis-
tance from the Humane Society of the United States, the American
SPCA, and regional organizations, the staff took in homeless ani-
mals while fi elding telephone calls from the public and the media.
In November, the LA/SPCA convened a multi-agency team to assess
the state of the animals in New Orleans, particularly in the hard-
est hit “hot spots,” including the lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard
Parish. The purpose was to estimate the number of animals at large
in the city and to assess their condition. The goal was to tailor sub-
sequent response efforts to the needs as observed. Following the
assessment, national and local welfare groups sponsored a humane-
trapping effort, which greatly reduced the number of strays. The
number of feeding stations was reduced because of problems with
rats, already rampant in the storm’s aftermath.
On October 6, 2006, President George W. Bush signed the Pets
Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act into law.^23
In response to the impact of Hurricane Katrina, the PETS Act
amended several sections of the Stafford Act to require state and
local emergency management agencies to include companion and
service animals in their disaster response plans. Funding from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is contingent on
compliance with the PETS Act. The act had been introduced in the
House of Representatives by Christopher Shays (R-CT) and the late
Tom Lantos (D-CA), and in the Senate by Ted Stevens (R-AK) and
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). The House passed its version of the act
(HR 3858) in May 2006 by a vote of 349 to 24. In August, the Sen-
ate passed its version (S 2548) unanimously. The Senate amended