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]