Animals' rescue as an essential essential factor of success of an evacuation process in disasters

Abstract

Factors that complicate the evacuation process include the presence of children, elders and animals – especially when there are many animals of different species. Owners often refuse to evacuate if their animals cannot be transported with them. This is becoming a growing problem, given that many people own animals, e.g. 50% of Americans own pets. In Poland, in the case of incidents or disaster, the evacuation operation is managed by the first-arriving emergency services or provincial crisis management centres. The obligation concern exclusively humans, but no animals. In the case of disasters, the state veterinary services are not obliged to protect the animals on site unless they pose a threat to human health. These services focus on food safety, preventing transmission of infectious diseases and attending to sick animals. However, it seems that veterinary services should be more involved in the planning and implementation of the emergency evacuation process. Help from veterinarians can increase the efficiency of the evacuation process and the number of people and animals evacuated. In recent years, this issue has become increasingly important because societies are threatened not only by natural disasters, but also by international terrorism.