ABSTRACT
In reaction to the ineffective efforts to induce people to evacuate without their animals when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States Congress enacted the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2006 (PetS Act). this act and similar acts passed by various states, while touted as being important to animals, were intended to protect the human companions of household pets and service animals. The language of the statutes and the limited legislative history of the federal act indicate that the law’s focus was on the value of human beings rather than the value of the animals themselves. this essay briefly describes the legal status and treatment of companion animals in the United States during disasters, focusing on Hurricane Katrina, and comments upon the impact of statutes such as the PetS Act of 2006 on nonhuman animals.
