Leave Your Pets Behind
CNN just ran yet another story about people who refused to leave their homes because the evacuators could not or would not take the pets along with them. Before condemning people for not evacuating when they "should have," think about all the thousands upon thousands of pets that have been left behind to starve or die of lack of clean water. Think about how much you care for your familiars, your loyal pets, these parts of your family that mean so much to you. Then decide whether you could leave them behind.
As I write this, Bushi, one of our dogs came over and laid his head on my knee, looking up with big brown eyes as if to say "hell no, you can't leave me. I'm too damn CUTE.
To a lot of people, their pets ARE their family. They are loyal, loving, and would do anything they could to help you. When you are called upon to help THEM, can you just turn your back and leave? I couldn't. We have 3 parrots, 2 cats, and now 10 dogs, and I am not prepared to leave any of them behind if we are told to evacuate.
This pair who didn't leave were twin nuns who would not leave their parrot and their dog. Rescuers could not take the animals as well, so the Sisters refused to go. It took many days for people to come back, but they did come back, and they took their animals with them.
If the ASPCA had the resources to get all of those animals and house them and feed them and take care of them while their humans evacuate, that would be one thing. Unfortunately, humane societies are strapped for cash during the best of times because we, as a society, treat our animals so damn poorly that there HAS to be organizations to take care of them when we do not. They're doing the best they can, but unless we help them dramatically, we can't be certain they can handle what is clearly our responsibility to handle ourselves.
Bottom line is that if you are going to evacuate people, you MUST make allowances for them to take their animals with them. Otherwise, many will choose to stay. We should not condemn them when they make that choice.