As a lifelong pet owner and fire officer I do hope everyone takes a step back and thinks about what they are about to ask our nations fire, EMS and emergency managers to do when it comes to our “pet”. I am not only talking about grandmas mean cat who dislikes everyone and can show the bites on her grandchildren arms to prove it but the nice gentleman who lives next door with a 200 pound snake that he lets playfully wrap around his small child as they sit on the couch watching TV. Now add the trauma of a disaster and the good intentions everyone is having with this feel good amendment to save the lives of our pets.
At first glance this might not be a bad bill, however, take the time to place yourselves in the place of the fire chief, safety director, emergency manager or even the rescuer who must deal with it first hand. Can anyone imagine the impact this requirement will have?
Let’s take a couple of examples and play the devil’s advocate to make sure we have thought this thing through a little bit.
Now that we have grandmothers mean cat (that hasn’t been declawed or teeth pulled) how about a cage? What about a litter box? I know what happened when my wife took her cat to the vet and it had a normal kidney reaction when traumatized. The car never did smelled the same again.
The expense of purchasing car carriers, medical care, etc has not even been thought of yet. I know the paperwork I had to produce when I boarded my cat for a week, just to make sure I didn’t introduce anything harmful to the other animals. Nobody will have access to all of the medical records of their pets so now what do we do?
This is a feel good bill and we need to think it through BEFORE it is enacted, not after.
I have always considered my pets as pets and that human life should always come before theirs and it should here, too.
Commenting by HaloScan
