Pet parents can rest easier in Clark County knowing that, if disaster strikes, there’s a new place to protect their furry friends.
Clark County Animal Control received a donation of a pet disaster relief trailer thanks to fundraising by the Greater Clark County Kennel Club, area chapters of breed clubs and a grant from the American Kennel Club’s Reunite program.
The 16-foot trailer can house 65 pets following a disaster, and is packed with food, leashes, litter, muzzles, microchips and wristbands that will help animal control staff identify pets’ proper owners. The trailer, which was unveiled at the Greater Clark County Kennel Club’s dog show Saturday, cost about $22,000.
“I hope I retire 20 years from now never having to put it to use,” said Paul Scarpelli, Clark County’s animal control manager.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, leaving an estimated 600,000 pets killed or stranded, a new federal law was approved. It requires local emergency providers to have readiness plans to help shelter people and their pets after a disaster. The local chapter of the kennel club began working with Clark County more recently to gauge the county’s interest and eventually to provide the shelter.
“It was because of those disasters that happened on the East Coast that this whole thing came to fruition,” said Don James, vice president of the Greater Clark County Kennel Club.
The trailer can be used as a central emergency shelter for displaced animals, or on location if people are being forced to leave their homes.
Even a small-scale disaster might prompt the county to deploy the trailer, Scarpelli said. For example, if an apartment building is evacuated in a flood, fire or mudslide, pet-owning families will often face having to sleep in a shelter that may not accept their animals.
“The idea is we would literally drive the trailer up to the site,” Scarpelli said.
Reunite launched its trailer effort in 2013 to support emergency programs across the country, matching up to $12,000 in funding to local kennel clubs to buy the trailers. So far, 36 trailers across the country have been donated, according to Reunite, with 10 more rolling out soon.
“As a dog owner in Clark County, I wanted to know that if I needed to evacuate that I had somewhere safe to take my pets,” said Karen Burgess, president of the Greater Clark County Kennel Club.
