An Inside Look and Disaster Preparedness Tips from an ASPCA Disaster Response Expert

Emergencies and natural disasters come in many forms, and often, they don’t leave much time, if any, for you to prepare. They may even require you to vacate your home for days, weeks or months. Each type of disaster requires different measures to keep your pets safe, so the best thing you can do for yourself, and your pets is to be prepared. No one knows this better than Susan Anderson, the ASPCA’s senior director of disaster response.

Susan has deployed to countless natural disasters, helping to reunite displaced pets with their families, and rescue animals that have been lost, left behind or need to be relocated from local shelters. In her work, she has seen the importance of disaster preparedness firsthand.

In honor of Disaster Preparedness Month this September, we asked Susan to give our supporters an inside look at what it’s like to be part of the ASPCA’s disaster response team and to share lifesaving preparedness tips for pet parents. Here’s what she said.

What’s an average day like during a disaster response?

A day in the life of a responder during a disaster response can vary greatly depending on your assignment. You may be caring for animals in an emergency shelter, completing animal search and rescue missions, distributing pet food and supplies to displaced pet owners, coordinating response efforts in the emergency operations center, managing our base camp or carrying out other duties as needed.

Personally, as a disaster liaison, my first priority is meeting with the agency that requested our help and working with them to assess unmet animal needs in the community. From there, I communicate those needs to other members of our leadership team so we can quickly mobilize the necessary resources to provide support.

While this might sound straightforward, we often encounter a variety of challenges along the way, like widespread power outages, road closures and hazardous conditions. We must bring satellite communication devices and backup power supplies to enable field communications and ensure personnel safety.

Additionally, many communities do not have adequate resources available for people to evacuate and shelter with their pets. The ASPCA frequently donates basic pet sheltering supplies to local animal welfare agencies to help keep people and pets together while they are displaced.

To ensure displaced pets are safe and cared for during a disaster, we house them temporarily at local animal shelters, pet-friendly human emergency shelters or emergency animal shelters. My team deploys to support all types of animal shelters, where pets and their people are given whatever support they need.

In addition to hands-on care such as feeding, cleaning, walking and enrichment, the teams help the shelter staff with animal intake and reunifying pets with their owners. We also donate pet food and supplies like carriers, leashes and litter boxes to affected community members to ensure that families and their beloved pets can stay safely together until they are finally able to return home.

For 160 years, we’ve supported animals in their most vulnerable moments. Toward disasters and across state lines, we go there for animals. The days are grueling and the conditions are tough, but facilitating a joyful family reunion is incredibly rewarding.

How can people stay prepared and keep their pets safe?

When a crisis hits, every second counts. As pet parents, our animals rely on us entirely for survival. Failing to plan ahead doesn’t just cause stress, it forces families to make heartbreaking choices. Losing a pet or having to abandon them takes a devastating emotional toll. Keeping your pet safe is the best way to protect your own mental wellbeing during a crisis.

A survey conducted by the ASPCA revealed that 83% of pet owners live in communities susceptible to severe weather hazards, but less than half (46%) of these households have created an emergency plan that includes their pets.

Don't wait for an active warning to start planning! Dedicate time this weekend to build your pet's go-kit, check their microchip registration online, share your plan with family members or friends and identify two pet-friendly evacuation spots outside your immediate area. Your pet gives you unconditional love, so being prepared is the best way to return the favor.

If there was one preparedness tip that I wish every pet parent knew, it would be to practice crate training under pressure before a crisis hits. Scared pets tend to hide under a bed or behind a couch. If you only have five minutes to evacuate, wrestling a panicked, scratching animal out of a hiding spot can be dangerous for both of you.

A crate is your pet’s passport during an evacuation. Most emergency shelters, hotels and transport vehicles require animals to be crated. An emergency go-kit full of supplies is useless if you cannot catch and crate your pet when it is time to leave. Train them to love their crate today, so you can save their life tomorrow.

Proactive planning eliminates evacuation panic, protects local animal shelters from being instantly overwhelmed by lost pets and safeguards your own mental health by avoiding the trauma of forced abandonment. Ultimately, pet emergency planning is a critical public safety duty that ensures humans and animals survive together.

How can people get started today?

The most important thing to understand is that disaster response work begins long before a crisis hits and continues long after the headlines fade. Supporting this lifesaving work effectively requires a shift from reactive panic to proactive, sustained preparation. If you want to make the greatest possible impact for animals in crisis, consider these suggestions:

1. Anchor Your Local Community First: True disaster response starts at home. You can dramatically alleviate the burden on national response teams by building your own pet go-kit today, updating your pet's microchip and helping your neighbors create their own evacuation plans. Download and share the ASPCA's disaster preparedness checklist to get started [PDF].
2. Advocate for Stronger Emergency Planning for Pets: Urge Congress to pass the PETSAFE Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that would expand funding for animal emergency preparedness and require disaster plans to better address the needs of pets and animal shelters. Learn more about how you can help.
3. Become a Certified Volunteer Now: You cannot safely deploy to a disaster zone on a whim; spend the quiet months completing required emergency management and animal handling certifications so you are fully vetted and ready to hit the ground when the call comes. Learn more about volunteering for the ASPCA’s disaster response team.
4. Prioritize Financial Giving Over Physical Items: While donating old blankets or bags of food is well-intentioned, sorting and storing physical goods during a crisis overwhelms local logistics. Monetary donations allow response teams to buy specific, critical supplies and food exactly when and where they are needed.