Okay, I am going to confuse people by saying that both groups are
right.

Now I am going to attempt to remove the confusion.

When people have time for an orderly evacuation then they have every
opportunity in the world to take all of their animals whom they can
fit with them, along with their animals' medicines, some food, and
some water.

BUT

Orderly evacuations do not always happen. Sometimes people get short
warnings or are elsewhere and get none, or simply have too many animals
to remove. One thing that happens after major disasters is that some
people try to get in to help their animals and are lost or injured, so
we know that at least some of the people in that situation love their
animals. They risk everything for them. Some examples of things that
can occur without warning: earthquake, mudslide, fire, flood, and there
are more. Some people ignore warnings or worry that they have too many
or too much to protect so stay until there is no choice. It is true
that rescue boats and rescue helicopters won't take non-service animals
unless there is safe going and a surplus of rescue boats. Yes, there
have been those lost who returned in those conditions, too, to help
their animals. Sad to say, but perhaps those who are in flood risk
areas should have not only emergency needs in the attic and an ax in
the attic to cut through the roof, but also an escape vessel that will
suffice for their critters and their escape route, then monitor the
airwaves IF there is a high chance of no warnings, or if they are
foolish enough to not get out right away when warned, or if they
take their lives and those of their critters into their own hands by
choosing not to leave when warned if the threat is a large enough one.
(And here I confess that I do NOT know if such an escape vessel is at
all possible.)

Before Dean hit I saw a reporter interviewing some young men who didn't
know who they could stay with inland on higher ground so were planning
to stay on the **beach** of the area that did get hit. The newsman
looked horrified and I hope the news team convinced them to not stay
there. What ran through my mind was, "They are walking around but I am
looking at dead young men, at deaths which will be a needless waste."
While I have never seen a hurricane or flood like those of Katrina I
have seen some decent hurricanes when I was a kid, with inlets created,
beaches removed along with everything on them (which is why beach
houses when I was young on that part of Long Island's North Shore
weren't a great deal more than shacks because no one insured them or
expected to be able to insure them). I've seen the third floor of a
large house sitting upturned in front of the home, like a misplaced
ship, and I've seen a good sized pleasure craft through the picture
window and walls of a home across from a sheltered harbor that didn't
usually have storm surge. Once is enough to do that, of course.

It is easy to imagine what a person would do, and that is a good
exercise when it leads to precautions being taken and knowledge gained,
BUT I have been around enough decades to see that "the best laid plans
of mice and men aft gang agley" (Robert Burns), and to know that while
what people insist they would do usually is what happens, there are
those times which are so out of control that anything except those
plans is what really happens. So, it is easy to judge from afar or
when considering hypotheticals, but when faced down by reality chaos
is often the result. Some lessons:

1. Don't assume that things will go the way you want them to go

2. Prepare for the worst by learning in places like:
http://www.ferretemergency.org/

3. If you have the opportunity follow wisdom like the old instruction
that said, "Plant low, live high." with your home and barns above the
flooding areas while your pastures and fields take advantage of the
hearty mud deposits floods can leave. Suit what safety advice you
follow to your area if you can (with some areas so highly built that
it is at times impossible). What advice suits for river flooding does
not suit for areas prone to forest fires or mud slides.

4. Having a geologist who specializes in studying such things check a
location -- for example one along a river -- before building there can
save lives. Some of that info can also be found by looking at where
floods have happened historically and lay of the land and river, for
example, a low parcel at a bend with narrowing of the channel ahead
and areas which can have sudden input upstream from you is downright
foolish, so is building a fancy home on a barrier island. Yet, I have
seen a fancy home put on just such a location by someone moving into
Montana, and others on Fire Island in the past.

5. Follow the news of your area to learn what is being done for
disaster prevention, learn and speak up, volunteer when possible. If
the people of New Orleans had a better idea of what they had for flood
walls would enough of them have spoken up in time to get better ones?
Can they do it now that the same level of protection is being rebuilt
in some locations according to some news sources?

6. Know that anything which can go wrong often will go wrong so just
prepare for it when you can and without judgement when it isn't
possible

7. Find out if your insurance company may be set up to short you
unexpectedly as with "Extended Full Coverage" or other ways to pay
you less than you expect
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/333/index.html

8. Know that it is not only for you that all could go wrong
unexpectedly.
9. Learn, learn, and learn again.
10. Be gentle. No matter where you turn you will find people who have
faced emergency tragedies that you can not accurately imagine unless
they are unwelcome memories.

I know there are others I have missed and am sure that those more
knowledgeable than I will use this opportunity to teach us all,
including me, and I welcome that. Learning is a good thing.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5708]