
Someone has finally weighed in on the pro-pets side of the emergency planning stuff:
There are people who will not leave their pets behind, therefore endangering not only their lives but the lives of rescue personnel.
I do agree that the majority of the responsibility lies with the pet owners, and yes, in most cases, people should have their own evacuation plan for themselves along with their pets. But there are people who do not have the means to evacuate out of the county and can't go to public shelters because they won't leave their pets behind. Most of these people are going to be the elderly and the poor.