Companion Animals / 39not to place themselves at unnecessary risk. Yet, the blockade of the
city prevented animal response teams from doing what they had
agreed to do. Government policy became the villain.
The PETS Act represents a sincere effort to change that image
and to ensure that the chaos and tragedy of Katrina does not occur
again. The act was championed by nearly every animal welfare and
rights group in the country. By requiring states to include compan-
ion and assistance animals in their emergency plans, the act pub-
licly recognizes the importance of the human-animal bond. It is
an important part of the solution, but Ike showed that it does not
eliminate the need for people to create their own disaster plans and
include their animals in them. State animal response teams across
the country emphasize the need for local plans, as does FEMA, the
Humane Society of the United States, the American Humane Asso-
ciation, and every emergency response agency. The information is
available to people online and in print form. The question of how
to get people to act on it is complex. It is diffi cult enough to plan
for what we know will happen tomorrow or next week. It is much
more diffi cult to plan for something unknown, such as a disas-
ter, which might not happen at all. In the Conclusion, I offer some
ideas for how to encourage people to prepare. Legislation such as
the PETS Act gives us hope but should not lull us into thinking
that all is well. When we took animals into our homes, we made a
contractual agreement to provide for their care. Our obligations to
those who depend so completely on us do not end with a piece of
legislation.