ABSTRACT
While the physical ailments cats suffered due to the earthquakes differed in kind and severity, the less visible psychological impacts of the earthquakes on cats were just as dire. The damage the earthquakes caused ran much deeper than the cracks and crevices left in roads and paddocks. Other charities and community organisations such as Cat Rescue Christchurch, Cat Help and Cats' Protection League were inundated with displaced and abandoned cats from the city. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people and their cats were separated as a direct consequence of Christchurch city's two major earthquakes. Traditionally, shelters for humans have not accepted animals. The earthquakes affecting Christchurch and its environs provided many lessons for disaster-management planning for the nation as a whole, not least that animals matter greatly in times of emergency. Narratives and practices of animal advocacy change following disasters, as important lessons are often learned.
