MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- Officials making hurricane preparations along the Gulf Coast say they are trying to make sure pets and other animals have shelter during a storm.
Officials at the Alabama/Mississippi hurricane conference said they had organized networks of shelters and veterinarians, and that they are more prepared than when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. The disaster taught them to expect thousands of storm evacuees with pets - everything from gerbils to potbellied pigs - they refused to abandon. Many evacuees then had no idea where to shelter their pets.
In Alabama, officials are working on creating a network that includes a "disaster veterinarian" in each of the state's 67 counties. Mississippi has planned to handle about 1,200 evacuated animals of all sizes and can open agriculture centers with large barns to shelter horses and cattle. Louisiana is testing refrigerated trucks to haul animals.
Dr. Brigid Elchos, Mississippi's public health veterinarian, says Hurricane Katrina, which devastated Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of Alabama, killed countless animals and brought new state and federal laws to protect them during a storm.
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