Many reluctant to evacuate without pets

Published: Sept. 8, 2008 at 1:14 AM
Order reprints
Sylvania Moore is all smiles as she's assured that she and pet dog Buddy will get out of New Orleans safely as Hurricane Gustav threatens the city Saturday, August 30, 2008.   (UPI Photo/A.J. Sisco)
Sylvania Moore is all smiles as she's assured that she and pet dog Buddy will get out of New Orleans safely as Hurricane Gustav threatens the city Saturday, August 30, 2008. (UPI Photo/A.J. Sisco) | Enlarge Enlarge
DENVER, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Forty-seven percent of U.S. adults say they would refuse disaster rescue if it meant leaving without a family pet, American Humane Association officials say.

The survey by the research organization Caravan for American Humane Association finds that 72 percent agreed there should be formal evacuation plans for pets.

"During Hurricane Katrina, American Humane and others rescued nearly 10,000 animals," Marie Belew Wheatley, president of the American Humane Association, says in a statement. "As Gustav set its sights on Louisiana we were part of efforts that temporarily and safely housed more than 1,000 animals for evacuating residents who needed a place to shelter their pets."

The survey of 1,005 U.S. adults also indicated people with children were 62 percent more likely to leave their pet and evacuate than those without children.

Fifty-five percent of dog owners would refuse evacuation efforts, compared to 43 percent of cat owners, and dog owners were 41 percent more likely than cat owners to say pets should be rescued at all costs when rescuers encounter them. Forty-five percent say animals should be rescued only after all humans and 34 percent say animals could be rescued along with humans "if time and space permits."

No margin of error was provided.


© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Obama meets the pope (1 min)
Emmett Till's family seeking casket (2 min)
Motorist saves 6 in rooming house fire (10 min)
Study says heat gels, sprays, unproven (13 min)
Clippers sign No. 1 pick Blake Griffin (16 min)
Lynch vetoes medical marijuana legislation (17 min)
UPI NewsTrack Entertainment News (29 min)
fark
Teenage hit-and-runner uses Self-Arrest lane to be booked and released in twenty minutes. Would...
Woman's laugh sounds like a car horn
AAA warns motorists to expect 1 of every 100 highway miles to be under construction this summer....
Sign for small Canadian town is hilariously vandalized to advertise certain illicit activity. City...
German zoo admits that, in hindsight, it may have been a mistake to name one of its monkeys "Obama"...
Photoshop theme: Bad franchise ideas