Summit held to discuss plan for animals during state
disasters
By Shauna McVey Staff Reporter
shauna@middletowntranscript.com
In the event of a disaster, pets across the state will
be kept safe with the help of many departments, organizations and pet
enthusiasts, including Middletown resident Theresa Overbey. Overbey,
who owns Paws and People Too, was asked to be a part of the Delaware
Emergency Management Agency’s State Animal Response Summit on Nov. 14.
SART was a meeting of representatives from state departments
and organizations, veterinarians and other pet enthusiasts to brainstorm
ways to help keep Delaware’s pets safe in the event a disaster happens
in the state.
Overbey said she will be a responder to help with search
and rescue. Other volunteers are needed to help at shelters and veterinarians
and vet technicians are needed to help with animal health care.
Each state is developing its own SART program as a result
of President George Bush’s Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards
Act, which was implemented after Hurricane Katrina. It is an amendment
to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act
to ensure that state and local emergency preparedness operational plans
address the needs of individuals with household pets and service animals
following a major disaster or emergency.
“In order to keep human beings safe, we have to take care
of the companion animals because the human-animal bond is so strong
that people will not leave their animals in a state of emergency,” Overbey
said. “When people evacuate, they have to be able to evacuate with their
animals and have a place for their animals to go.”
Anne McCann, the DE-SART coordinator for DEMA, said Delaware’s
program has been in the planning stages for about two years. She said
she is working closely with Dr. Sara Busch, state veterinarian for the
Delaware Department of Agriculture, as well as the American Red Cross,
the Delaware National Guard, local veterinarians, the Delaware and Kent
County SPCAs, and other organizations.
“We competed for grant funds nationally and were awarded
grants to hold the summit,” McCann said. “It gave us an opportunity
to bring a lot more people into the planning effort. The next step is
going to be doing even more outreach.
“We want to do outreach to the animal community – the
veterinarians, vet technicians and people who work in animal-related
businesses who have skills to bring to the table to assist in a disaster,”
she said. “The plan is so when we do have to activate shelters for people’s
pets, we will know who is going to be coming and SART can make plans
to try to help us.”
McCann said the SART volunteers will go through disaster
and animal training to prepare for an evacuation situation. Training
will begin within the next six months so volunteers can be ready in
time for the hurricane season, which starts June 1, 2008.She said SART
is working on memorandums of understanding with the SPCAs and the Delaware
Humane Association to secure emergency animal shelters.
“We have a large list of places we could potentially use
depending on the scale and location of the event,” McCann said. “The
county emergency managers would select the sites and that information
would go out on the radio and all over the media. It really would be
event-driven and the number of sites would be based on the scale of
the event.”
She said members of the North Carolina SART conducted
the summit, and are traveling to each state to deliver the information
they gained after Hurricane Floyd hit the east coast in 1999.
“They had three million animals die in Hurricane Floyd
and they had a significant problem with what to do with the animals
that were left without homes,” McCann said. “Everybody saw pictures
from Hurricane Katrina, and the nation came to a consensus that this
can’t happen again.”
She said while SART is in its planning stages, information
is available for pet owners to help prepare for a disaster. The information
can be obtained through DEMA at (302) 659-3362, at various animal shelters
for those who adopt animals and will soon be available at vet offices.
“We really can get the word out in a very proactive way
to let people know what they can be doing in advance of a disaster,”
McCann said. “We must have ways of accommodating people’s animals in
a disaster or people themselves won’t evacuate. The key message is that
if it’s not safe for you to remain in your house, it’s not safe for
your pets.”
Paws and People Too
Overbey established another way to make sure local pets
aren’t forgotten on a regular basis, not just during disasters.
She didn’t want to put her Italian Greyhound, Shaman,
in a kennel when she went on vacation several years ago, so she hired
a pet sitter instead. Overbey realized then that other pet owners might
want to keep their pets in the comfort of their own home while on vacation.
When she moved to Delaware in 2000, she decided to take her idea and
start a business so she could stay home with her foster children.
Now, Paws and People Too is thriving with clients who
want to make sure their pets are taken care of.
“The first client I got was a lady who needed her puppy
taken out during the day,” Overbey said. “The business has grown and
now I have four employees.”
She said she has about 175 clients who use her services
either a few times a year for vacation, or on a regular basis.
Overbey’s employees make house calls to feed animals,
administer medicine, let pets outside to use the bathroom, change litter
in the case of cats, and will even take dogs for a walk.
“We make sure the house is OK and the dogs didn’t have
any accidents,” she said. “We put trash out for people. We bring in
the mail and newspapers. It’s a personal service.”
Overbey said she has several customers who use her services
on a regular basis while at work.
“A lot of them are people who have puppies that can’t
wait long to go to the bathroom,” she said. “It helps with house training,
too.”
The majority of the animals her business cares for are
dogs and cats, but she’s dealt with ferrets, birds and even llamas.
Paws and People Too offers daily dog walks, and a pet
taxi to and from a groomer or veterinarian.
“It’s a wonderful service because when we take care of
pets, we are taking care of people,” she said. “They don’t worry because
they know their pets will be taken care of in the safety and comfort
of their own home.”
She plans to expand her business to include pet grooming
in the near future.
For more information, go to www.pawsandpeopletoo. com,
email the102000@yahoo.com or call (302) 838-5140.
ISSUE DATE 11/29/07 Copyright 2007© The Dover Post Co.
All Rights Reserved.
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