TIPS WORTH NOTING AND SHARING ABOUT LOCATING, TRACKING & RESCUING PETS AFTER A DISASTER
The following list deals with information regarding
pets, and lost and found, meant primarily for people who are searching for
their pets involved in disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc.
A personal note from the author;
I have been rescuing animals since the age of seven and all of my rescue work has been 100% self-funded. My first experience with a fire loss happened while I stood across the street at a friends house, only to turn around and see my childhood home engulfed in flames. I stood directly in front of my home (across the street) as neighbors held me back and I watched it burn with some of my animals and family trapped inside. The windows broke and I was sure everyone inside was going to die. The fire department hadn't yet arrived the minutes felt like hours and finally (like something you'd see in an old horrific circus) my cats emerged from the broken windows which were engulfed with flames and my family was rescued by neighbors.
The animals who did not survive were locked in habitats and perished from the smoke.
In every tragedy I learn something new and add it to my blog. Please continue to share it with those in need.
I hope you find it useful and my prayers are with you and your families.
RA~
Let's go!
1. Listing lost & found/Helping thy neighbor: After you have listed all of your missing pets on websites such as LOST MY KITTY, PAWBOOST, PET HARBOR and social media sites like Facebook & Instagram, consider helping your elderly neighbors. This is the while you wait for evacuation orders to lift. If you don't have a signal, you can be certain that some of us are already working from cities or states away as we learn of found animals and posting them online for you to find.
Majority of the elderly are not using social media and they need
your help. Not just for matchmaking online, but also, once their pets are
found, they often need a ride to identify and pick up their pets. In addition,
the elderly often fall victim to identity theft, so it’s important to take
steps to protect their sensitive information and throughout this article we will offer some tips in how to that as you search for your animals.
2. Comparing lost and found pets in photos: If an animal resembles
yours, go see it in person. You may never forgive yourself if you don't.
Even if unscathed by a fire, there is a good chance that they will NOT look
the same as they did the last time you saw them.
Author:RA
Why? They could have brown, black or red dirt or smoke or
other types of debris attached to their hair or fur. Their coats can go from
thick, long and fluffy to the short & matted. Ears may be burned and a black nose can turn pink. Why cats noses change color
3. Common Mistakes: The sex of altered (spayed and neutered) pets is often mistaken
and mislabeled on the intake sheet. This means the listing might read as a
female when it's in fact a neutered male. Many if not all pets who come in un-chipped and in tact, will be spayed or neutered and thus their status will have changed. If an animal resembles yours,
do not use the noted sex to confirm it’s a definite match, or to rule it out.
Author:RA
4. Learn How To Use Your Social Media: Some people need extra time (due to work, family matters or a combination of factors) to pick up their animals. In the meantime, there are hundreds of volunteers trying to reunite pets with their families. If you are missing any animals, someone may try to reach you through facebook. Since they are not on your friends list, the message they send about your beloved pet, will certainly go to the "MESSAGE REQUEST" box! Be sure to check your FACEBOOK messages "MESSAGE REQUEST" box. It's right beside your "RECENT" messages. Anything and everything you need to know "how to do" can be found on YOU TUBE
5. Severe Stress Can Change Your Pet’s Personality. They may hold
their heads low due to emaciation, exhaustion, fear or shame. Cats in
particular try their best to hide pain from humans, but when they no longer are
able to do this, they are in trouble. Do not expect them to come running when you call. They are frightened, hungry, possibly injured and after time maybe even infected.
Within two weeks (post disaster) if they haven't fallen prey to wildlife, most kitties have acclimated to being feral. Depending on climate and if uninjured, some actually enjoy the great outdoors and once you find them they will look at you like why are you so upset?!
Author:RA
6. The Odds Of Survival: If your cat or dog was not locked in a crate, there's a good
chance they escaped, and it's often just a matter of time before they show up
somewhere. Unless you have found teeth, bones or a body, they are most definitely alive. In fires, cats lay low and as soon as the windows break or a wall comes down, they leap out and run for safety. Cats will literally leap through fire. As soon as disaster strikes, that docile, shy, helpless kitty you once knew - is no more.
✴️ SEARCH for your cat's at NIGHT. They are nocturnal and hide or sleep during the day. Sign on or hire an experienced or professional trapper to set a trap. If you go out on your own, it's best to gear up. Wear steel toe boots, gloves, carry a soft flashlight, mace, a small blanket, common sense and call for your kitty. There are nails, glass and plenty of other foreign objects that can puncture your shoes and gloves. Keep your night search simple. Listen for a response to your calls, do not chat, LISTEN and do so quietly. They will sometimes respond and if they do "meow" it will be human equivalent of a whisper. This is because they do not want to alert wildlife that they are in the area.
7. Animals Found 30+ miles From Ground Zero: Do not rule out a pet being yours simply because it’s being
kept at a shelter outside of your local shelters county perimeter. People can pick up animals and transport them to a safer location and that can be anywhere convenient to them. How would a shelter know the difference unless they insist the person tell them where the picked them up at? See this example - a dog shows up 17 months later and had traveled
three states. Who would have thunk it?
8. Microchips: Animals aren't always scanned, and sometimes the
contact information is out of date or unregistered. If you've lost them, register your chip immediately and hope someone checks twice.
9. Do Not Walk Or Scroll Past Your Pets: A pet such as a brown tabby can appear as a silver tabby due to
photographic lighting, flash, etc. The shade of an animal's coat will indeed
change after it has run through a forest of burning trees and falling objects.
We have images of pets that look like completely different animals because of
images taken outdoors, compared to images taken inside a home. Flash changes
things as well.
10. Do Not Place Too Much Value In a Photograph: To prevent further injury, vet techs must often hold onto an
animal while photographing it - and this can cover, bend or mis-shape certain
areas of the neck and chest and markings. After they've lost half their weight everything looks different. Thus, do not rule out a pet because
of a slight change in color, or position of markings; if in doubt, go visit the
shelter or vet.
Author:RA
11. Do not blame yourself: Any disaster is a tragedy, and the “what if's,"
just make things harder on you. Stay the course. Keep your eye on the prize.
You must maintain focused on the task at hand: finding your pet. Do not give in to thinking they've perished. Cats in particular often do survive fires.
12. SET UP SURVEILLANCE, A FOOD STATION AND SHELTER:
As soon as you possibly can, visit the site where your cat was last seen.
A. Set up a protected food station. Next to a wall, cardboard box, BBQ, chimney, etc. But away from ashes. Leave your pets usual food and a bowl of water. I would advise that you leave extra food since other critters will be dining there. Do not leave their food near the feral hideout shelter (safe space) you will create for them, but do leave it away from toxic ashes and near something that doesn't leave them wide open to be seen by a coyote or other predator.
B. Set up a feral cat shelter - see instructions below.
C. Leave an article of clothing that is saturated with your or their scent on it. Leave it in that area - preferably the shirt you just soiled and on a stick. You can take an additional step by soaking strips of cloth in tuna juice, but I typically do not recommend that, because we want wildlife to make their way out of fire ravaged areas and only your pets to return. Even leaving food out is controversial due to the fact we want wildlife to leave the area. Especially if rain and mudslides are on the radar.
D. Set up a battery operated, surveillance camera with night vision and motion sensors. You can find these camera for less than 100.00 & some for as low as 40.00 depending on the quality. Aim it on the food.
I have two outdoor kitties and I installed my night vision cameras to monitor them because sometimes I wont see them for 3 or more days and if it weren't for my cameras, I'd think they left town for good.
On YouTube you can find several ways to create a feral cat shelter out of a cooler.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=XAzk-R4ztTs
In incidents where it's possible, it's best to leave their dirty cat box outdoors, along with an article of clothing and anything they've previously slept on. There are several reasons for the cat box. A domestic cat's sense of smell is about fourteen times as strong as humans'. Cats have twice as many receptors in the olfactory epithelium (i.e. smell-sensitive cells in their noses) as people do, meaning that cats have a more acute sense of smell than humans. A used cat box is ideal but if that's gone, place one anyway and look for footprints in the sand and any evidence of use.
You can substitute this by sprinkling flour around the area where you have placed the food. Then using the chart below, check the type of footprints you see.
Check waterways and creeks for your pets. In cases of floods look at higher ground. One gentleman I know who survived the #butte fire in Nor Cal had lost three cats. He pitched a tent where his home once stood, put a can of tuna outside and hear his cat meow late that same night. He found his other kitty feet away drinking water from the creek.
Just imagine your sense of smell being 50x stronger than it is, yes that's what we are dealing with here. Despite their amazing ability to find their way home, they will not stay if nobody is there to help them. Cats will return time and time again which is why you should create a feral cat shelter for them. Once you talk your way back into the zone, post flyers with photos of the Lost pet in your area.
Author RA
MORE HELPFUL TIPS
Proof Of Ownership: The shelters, vets, animal control, etc., may require old photos of your pet, or documentation, or witnesses you may have to confirm that the pet is indeed yours. This is to protect them from falling into the wrong hands -- or even an animal abuser.
Please DO NOT abuse the rescuer for requiring proof for you to claim your lost pet.
Identity Theft: Lastly, be careful not to fall for identity theft traps. Ive lost count of the folks who have told me; "the house burnt to the ground, so there's nothing left to steal" just after I asked them to remove their address from our L & F group and replace it with a city & cross streets. You couldn't be anymore wrong. Be
mindful when sharing your social security number, driver’s license number,
address or full name with anyone, until you have validated that that person
definitely works for a legitimate government agency like the DMV, Police, Fire,
etc. A good general rule to follow: the less information you provide to
people you don’t know, the better. If given the option provide a telephone number you can later change once your search is over. Keep (sensitive info) sharing to a minimum, as there will be people looking to
prey on unsuspecting individuals who've lost their documents. If you suspect that someone has obtained your
information, you can call and put a fraud alert on your account with all three
major credit bureaus.
Listed below are the disasters I have personally helped with search, rescue and reunite efforts. This information (my blog) has been transferred from my official website to blogger.com so that I can easily update and edit at a much faster pace. My blog was originally created for survivors of hurricane Katrina. I have hundreds of hours of experience in administrating social media lost & found groups as well as ground search, rescue, fostering, adoption and re-homing and I am still learning!
If you have found it helpful please leave a comment below thank you!
If you have chosen to share any of my tips, it would be nice of you to link back to this page.
Copyright 9222015
#hurricanekatrina
#buttefirepets
#valleyfirepets
#buttevalleyfirereunited
#westvirginiafloodpets
#bluecutfirepets
#thomasfire
#skirballfire
#lilacfire
#libertyfire
#creekfire
#hurricanemichael
#woolseyfire
