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September 14, 2005, 1 p.m.: PETA to Grill Congress, Witnesses on Plight of Animals in Katrina’s Wake
PETA’s campaign to ensure that animals are included in future disaster plans, which began last Saturday with this ad in the Washington Post, continued this morning with our submission of powerful testimony and tough questions to the House of Representatives Government Reform Committee. The committee is scheduled to hold hearings tomorrow on the federal government’s response to Katrina.PETA’s testimony opens by asking committee members to reflect on whether our government truly knew the people who desperately needed help in Katrina’s wake. The testimony explains that many of Katrina’s human victims are Americans who consider their animals to be members of their families and would no sooner leave their dog or cat behind when evacuating than they would desert a defenseless child or an elderly parent. And, as animal companions now live in 63 percent of all American households—nearly 70 million homes—these people are the majority.
Our testimony recalls how tens of thousands of people, some under threat of arrest, were forced to abandon their animals. “These people were twice victimized: first by hurricanes and floods,” the testimony states, “and then by government and nonprofit agency officials who forced them to abandon cherished family members.”
“Can you explain to evacuated hurricane victims,” we ask, “already shattered by the trauma of leaving their animals behind, why rescuers were kept from saving their animals for nearly a week?” Congress will then be forced to remember Katrina’s animal victims and the human victims who, loving all of their family members and being willing to risk their lives to save their animal companions, were bullied into abandoning them because of officials’ failure to prepare for the evacuation of animals.
“It is too late for many of the families and their animals whose lives were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, but we now have an obligation to prevent similar tragedies in the future,” the testimony concludes.
Have you urged your federal representatives to consider the animals’ plight in disasters in their upcoming meetings yet? If not, your voice is still needed! Please ask the committee chair, Rep. Tom Davis, and its ranking minority member, Rep. Henry Waxman, to allow PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk to testify about the plight of animals affected by disasters such as Katrina during their hearings. These public servants should also hear from you.
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PETA's House Government Reform Committee Testimony
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Stars Urge Officials to Take Action to Protect Animals in Disasters in PETA Ad
Read the Latest News From the Gulf Coast
Listen to PETA's Reports From New Orleans
Watch Footage of PETA's Life-Saving Work
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