The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals launched a disaster-preparedness campaign Thursday in Baltimore to encourage pet owners to create a plan for their animals.
“We encourage everyone to plan ahead,” Laura Brown, animal care specialist for PETA, said at the Peabody Court Hotel in Mount Vernon. “A step-by-step plan will help ensure [the animals?] safety.”
PETA, which labels itself as the world?s largest animal rights organization, created a new public service announcement to encourage people to develop a plan for their pets in case of an emergency.
The 30-second announcement, which has already aired in Florida, is a dramatization of what PETA calls “an all-too-familiar scene from Hurricane Katrina.” A helicopter hovers over an area of water, and barking is heard in the background. A woman pleads with her rescue officers to lower the helicopter and save her dog. The announcement ends with the helicopter flying away without the dog, and barks are still heard as the animal sinks underwater.
“We must learn from these tragedies,” Brown said.
During Hurricane Katrina, many pet owners struggled over deciding whether or not their lives were more important than their animals?, Brown said. “This was the tragic reality during Hurricane Katrina, and they should never be forced to make that choice,” she said.
PETA?s Web site, HelpingAnimals.com, is advertised at the end of the announcement.
The site has a five-point disaster plan that includes information on pet shelters, harnesses and carriers, identification tags, and food and water.
Brown remembers the emergency team she led through New Orleans after Katrina to rescue the many injured and abandoned animals.
“Thousands of animals were left in death traps,” she said. “If a plan had been put together, these lives wouldn?t have been lost.”
