Utah wildlife management and pet rescue agencies stress the importance of planning for animals in an emergency. 

• Cover art by Jakie Dawes

In January 2025, multiple wildfires across the greater Los Angeles area in southern California brought death and destruction on a horrifying scale, leaving survivors with long-term health risks, housing shortages and evacuation orders.

While support efforts are ongoing, a particularly vulnerable population of the Golden State—its animals—has been receiving care and aid from neighbors. Rescue groups like Best Friends and the Utah Humane Society are working with their partners to transfer affected pets to facilities here in Utah for adoption and re-homing.

"The process has been running smoothly," reports Guinnevere Shuster, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Utah Humane Society. "While these transfers have been coordinated very quickly and on short notice, the staff are handling it well. They were thrilled to see so many cats adopted so quickly and felt grateful that their efforts not only helped these animals directly but also provided some relief to the dedicated shelter workers on the front lines in Los Angeles."

Amber Henry, the Humane Society's Senior Manager of Admissions and Pet Resources, concurred. "Our team is happy to have an option to bring [them] in," she told City Weekly.

Out-of-state pet transfers were a "fairly regular" occurrence before the fires, Henry said, whether to free up space at a distant shelter or vice versa.

An animal's experience of a disaster situation, plus the transportation involved in relocating them, can be highly stressful. But Henry said that she is pleased by the rate of their improvement.

"Overall, they're doing well," Henry says. "They bounce back pretty quickly."

Indeed, animals of every size and shape—be they wild, domestic companions, farming stock or test subjects—can recover and thrive following a disaster situation, if given support by their human neighbors.

As James Sawyer and Gerardo Huertas wrote for Animal Management and Welfare in Natural Disasters (2018), animals provide everything from food and draft power to social and emotional wellbeing, yet the "silent disaster" of their suffering is often kept apart from our human systems of preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery in times of crisis.

This, write Sawyer and Huertas, would be a mistake, for if ongoing world conditions are any indication, times of crisis are to rise in their frequency and reach.

"As population growth, climate change, political instability, displacement of people and natural disasters all collide, we see more marginalized people and more extreme events," they observed. "Aid alone cannot solve such a complex problem as the longer-term outcomes on development, welfare and prosperity, for human survivors are often intrinsically linked to the welfare of animals and yet, while the relationship is understood in principle, the prioritization and deployment of measures to assist remain poorly resourced."

To this end, City Weekly undertook a general check-up of the animal-centric dimensions of Utah's disaster management efforts, in hopes that the diagnosis may help all to be better positioned to bounce back in the event of a disaster.

Wilderness Survival
With more than 600 species of wildlife, hundreds of thousands of farm animals and nearly 60% of households owning a pet, Utah's animal population is vast and complex, their needs differing from one another even in the best of times.

For the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR), four major kinds of disasters are considered within the scope of their operations. In the case of wildfires, the DWR's Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative focuses on re-seeding impacted areas and preventing erosion of local habitats.

For droughts, they set population objectives for game animals as well as provide collected rain and snow water to local wildlife.

When severe winters descend, the DWR follows an emergency feeding policy for big game animals and turkey.

And then there's that trickiest of disasters: disease. DWR spokeswoman Faith Jolley told City Weekly that this last type of disaster situation is one that is jointly monitored by the DWR, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food and the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.

"Our departments meet together monthly to discuss any new and emerging diseases in Utah and what, if anything, needs to be done about it," Jolley stated by email. "Working to prevent disease in wildlife is much harder to do since they are not contained to one environment, and there is no way to monitor every animal from each species."

Monitoring disease outbreaks among animals also occupies much of the time for Utah's Assistant Veterinarian, who prefers to be referred to as Dr. Sabo.

Working from the State Veterinarian's Office within the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, Sabo noted how stretched for resources and personnel her department is, which consequently leaves other aspects of the broader animal preparedness effort on the backburner.

"We in the State Veterinary Office have five people and we are responsible for the health and wellbeing of every domestic animal in this state," Sabo says. "That means we rely a lot on partnerships."

Utah is often referred to as a "blue sky" state, meaning that emergencies are generally infrequent. But Sabo observed that such a state has a tendency to produce "a less-practiced populace" in terms of readiness and a less vigorous management plan across local municipalities, which devote varying levels of attention and resources to the issue.

"About 15 years ago," Sabo related, "there used to be a much more robust and centralized animal response network. Since that time, most involved personnel have moved on and the initiatives have subsequently fizzled. At the moment we are in an assessing and rebuilding era."

Sabo also coordinates Utah's Community Animal Response Program (or CARP), which educates animal owners and governmental/non-governmental entities about disaster preparedness and provides guidance in implementing operation plans.

Another major function of CARP is to register Community Animal Response Teams (CART, or alternatively DART), which are community-based disaster response teams composed of trained and vetted volunteers who assist animal control and the public before, during and after a crisis.

"Besides getting the OK from your town or county, there does not have to be any [ongoing] town or county participation," Sabo said of the CART process. "If a local group of families wants to put together a CART program for their community, that's totally cool."

She did, however, stress the advantage of having a CART registered with the state, as they have a better chance of aiding in coordinated response efforts rather than complicating or impeding them.

There are few known CART programs currently operating around the state, although Sabo noted the presence of "less formal response networks in the more rural counties."

Lisa Schwartz, Emergency Management program director for Weber County, acknowledged the existence of a current Weber-level animal response plan with a CART, although it too could use some bolstering.

"With the fire in California and the animals, livestock, [and] pets that have been affected, it has been on my mind to get our plan updated," Schwartz clarified in an email. "Our internal plan provides for the same type of response efforts as a CART has traditionally assisted in, but it has been a while since we have had state support or set up a CART in our own county using county vets and resources."

"I would imagine," she added, "what we have had in place needs updating, as per vets and volunteers with trailers and other response equipment."

• courtesy photo

Practice and Partnerships
If the condition of municipal and state-level training and preparedness plans are varied and in flux, other animal-centric institutions in Utah provide illustrative examples of teamwork and planning.

Utah's Hogle Zoo, for instance, in order to maintain accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), must follow its standards and run zoo-wide emergency drills at least six times each year.

"We play it like it's real," said Jeff Landry, Hogle's zoological risk director. "For every drill, you learn something."

Landry stated that Hogle Zoo prepares for such all-hands-on-deck situations as earthquakes, wildfires, flood and COVID, using a complex procedure that takes the needs of its varied exotic species into account when alternately sheltering in place or relocating its expansive population—everything "from rhinos to brine shrimp."

Not being a receiving institution for local animals—due to disease transmission concerns—Landry said that Hogle Zoo tries to be a good neighbor in any event while also utilizing its AZA connections with state facilities across the country.

"It's good that AZA has that network in place," Landry said. "We just hope we never have to use it."

For facilities like Animal Care of Davis County, an updated plan and regular drills are likewise a must. Holding anywhere from 60 animals in the winter to even triple that number in the summer (not to mention the hundreds in foster care), Davis County's shelter tries to be cognizant of both earthquakes and wildfire.

Deputy Director Sydney Larrabee recounted an outbreak of fire from a couple of years back that really drove home the importance of being prepared and of assessing access points from their Fruit Heights location.

"We luckily didn't have any damage to actual property," she recalled. "We did have fire response planes dropping fire retardant around us. It was a little too close for comfort."

Since that time, Larrabee has sought to run drills at least once a year for her facility's updated disaster plan, although she admits that it's "something I need to get better at." She noted how engaged neighboring rescues and shelters were in the wake of their own brush with disaster, which was something that others in the state remarked upon as well.

"The animal community has a pretty good network amongst each other," said Ryan DeGrey of Salt Lake County Animal Services, who noted that national rescues like Best Friends and the Humane Society provide additional channels of support on top of the local groups.

"The best situation is when we don't have to move [our animals]," DeGrey added. "But there are a lot of different pieces that play into it. There's a lot of agencies that have plans to work together."

An incident commander from the fire or police department will often coordinate the overall response to a local disaster situation, but seeing as their priority is generally "human safety first," considerations for affected animals become complicated, assuming that they are integrated into the response efforts at all.

Depending on the season, DeGrey's facility typically holds around 70 dogs and 70 cats. He gave credit to the many "fosters and rescues as part of our program willing to give their time or home space to help."

Being Prepared
Guinnevere Shuster, of Utah Humane Society, acknowledged the great need and varying states of preparedness that exist for humans and animals alike across Utah.

As a facility that can house up to 200 animals on site, as well as provide more than 100 homes for fostering purposes, she appreciates the efforts involved in running regular drills, providing support to affected neighbors and especially in having a detailed plan in place.

"Being prepared is a testament for us and what we say about caring for animals," she stressed. "My guess is that the majority of the general public does not plan ahead for these events or plan as well as they probably should."

Shuster said it's important for planners and policymakers to study what animal organizations have gone through in other states.

"The local government needs to be more prepared to help with certain situations," she said, "especially if it's requiring people to evacuate with their pets."

While federal law first touched upon these issues to a limited extent after Hurricane Katrina, Shuster pointed out that local government has not put the thought that it could upon animal considerations, down to the question of allowing evacuees' pets into shelters and temporary housing.

"What people have shown in the past is that they're not willing to give up their pets; they're willing to put their lives at risk," Shuster observed. "If you want to help people, you really do need to help the pets as well."

Beyond legislative action, there were a host of other suggestions that those interviewed for this story recommended. From setting up a local CART program to boning up on animal-treatment webinars from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the level of preparedness—whether crisis-related or not—can always use improvement. Number one among the recommendations for pet owners was having a prepared "go-bag" for both their children and for their animals (see sidebar).

"Slowly, people are understanding that not factoring in the animals into their response and plans can hinder evacuation, prolong PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) and stays in temporary shelters, and permanently damage economies," James Sawyer and Gerardo Huertas wrote.

They hope to see a time when our human vision of concern extends beyond its current level to one that more fully encompasses animals as well.

"Animals are sentient beings," Sawyer and Huertas concluded, "they suffer in the same way as people and as civilized populations, it should be part of our responsibility to ensure the well-being of the creatures we so depend upon."

Put more succinctly are the sentiments of Caleb Moulton of Orem, who has been involved with animal welfare efforts for years on top of preparedness education.

Moulton acknowledged that natural disasters are a "hard sell," despite most Utahns' affection for animals. But seeing as fires are seasonal, floods are common and an earthquake is overdue, he invited all to think of the future and look for opportunities to help in whatever capacity that they can manage.

"No one is exempt from natural disasters," he declared. "We're all in it together."

What's in your go-bag?
Universal among the recommendations for pet owners is the preparation of a "go-bag," which generally would include documentation of ownership and laminated vaccination records, bandages and containers of non-perishable food.

Experts stressed that the "go-bag" contents and carrying container should be clearly labeled with names and phone numbers. For the purposes of reuniting owners with their lost pets, it would be wise to ensure ahead of time that said pets have been microchipped.

"Emergency preparedness does not have to be daunting," says Dr. Sabo. "Just think about what you would take with you on a three-day weekend and that's what we recommend you put aside for your pets."