What if disaster struck and you weren’t home, but your pet was? What would you do? The concept of needing to evacuate pets when disasters strikes isn’t something often thought about, but with the rise of natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, and other disasters, the pets can often be left behind.
The good news is a new tech-based nonprofit Animal Help Now launched an innovative neighbors-based messaging app called Pet Help & Rescue. This was developed as a direct result of one of the most destructive fires in Colorado history, the Marshall Fire of December 2021. This fire took the life of thousands of dogs, cats, and other beloved pets.
Neighbors can set up a basic profile for themselves and their pets and establish a few trusted contacts in the neighborhood. If a disaster strikes when you aren’t home, you can quickly and easily ask your contacts to evacuate your pets. Requests can include where pets may hide, where their meds and go-bags are, and how to access the home.
Here is how this technology can help:
- Evacuate pets when disasters strike.
- Provides a dedicated communications channel, independent of all other phone/text communication.
- Creates a disaster preparedness plan for pets.
Perhaps one of the most interesting things about technology is how it can help solve unique problems—and this is exactly what this solution does. Looking to the future, we will continue to see new technologies solve everyday problems.