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Earlier today i saw a lady being interviewed in a storm shelter and she said that she hopes her dogs are okay at home.
I would never leave my dogs alone, I would rather ride it out with them at home or I would just get in my car with them and drive north or west or wherever I can away from the storm.
I agree I would never leave my dogs alone at home during a hurricane. Years ago when we had a big wildfire that was threatening the area I live in and I was scheduled to work that night I called in and got permission to bring my dogs and leave them in our department which in those days was in the basement of the hospital.
My dogs loved going to work with me and my coworkers all enjoyed the pet therapy they got when they were in the department. That was back when I had Jazz and Dash. Dash managed to talk everyone into sharing their dinners with him While Jazz found something to make into a toy and had people playing with her. We do have a very stressful job and and I think that night the stress level of all was down.
Then when we had another wildfire threat years later and It was Jazz, Dash and Dazzle and we did get evacuated at 1 AM the dogs and I spent the night in my car in a parking lot of a park near the beach as none of the shelters they had set up allowed dogs. They did prevent the fire from reaching our neighborhood so 2 days later we were able to go home.
Unfortunately not everyone is in a position to take their pets with them when they are forced to evacuate. I'm not going to judge that lady; I am going to hope her dogs are all right.
I just saw on the news that the shelters are accepting people and their pets. No excuses for this lady at all.
There are some shelters that will take pets, but it's about 1 in 7 and some less populated ares won't have a place for them. No matter what I will not leave my dogs to possibly die alone at home. I will figure something else out, or stay and ride it out with them. Yes I will risk my life for my dogs who are part of my family.
But there is no excuse for her and she looked to be in her late 50 so she wasn't an 80 year old lady.
I couldn't do that. We'd fold our crates and put in the car along with other dog related needs. Drive in the opposite direction and try to find a place to stay for whatever time is needed.
It's great that the shelters are taking in pets too but I don't believe it is all the shelters. There may be size and/or # of pet restrictions imposed at some of these shelters as well. Perhaps she did try to call and got a negative reply. Law enforcement or the county officials may have come to her place to say she needed to evacuate and to leave the pets. I can't imagine they would but there are some people in that position that shouted out orders to evacuate and she may have become flustered and left on their orders.
Oh yeah, last night watching some of the news, one lady and kid were trying to find a place to stay. Seemed even the shelter where they could have gone was full. Forget if it was both news and police, but she was given enough money to stay at a motel I don't recall if there was a dog involved in that story or not but so glad that she was able to stay somewhere.
So many people didn't go to shelters during our last hurricane because they didn't want to leave their pets behind. Eventually the shelters realized if they really want to keep people out of harm's way they needed to allow people to bring their pets so now some of them do.
I was horrified after Katrina seeing how many people left the area and left their dogs tied up in the back yard to drown.
I would never evacuate and not take my pets with me. Even if I had to put them in my car and drive out of harm's way and sleep in the car with them.
But there is no excuse for her and she looked to be in her late 50 so she wasn't an 80 year old lady.
How do you know there is no excuse for her? You know her transportation options? (Not everyone owns a car.) You know how much money she has? (Not everyone can afford a hotel room at a pet-friendly hotel, and many shelters do not accept pets.) You know what her other care responsibilities are? (Perhaps she's responsible for the care of a dependent human, and staying at home with her dogs would be dangerous for the person she's responsible for caring for.)
Have you EVER considered that perhaps she's doing the best that she can, given the resources she has and the danger this storm poses to everyone in its path?
Why so many so-called "animal lovers" so often judgmental a-holes is something I will never understand. Yes, the well-being of pets is important. But it DOES NOT come before human welfare! And sometimes in natural disasters people are forced to make not the best choice, but the least-worst one.
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