As several tropical storms and hurricanes approach the U.S., it is important to know what shelters are pet friendly, as many will not allow pets unless they are a service animal.

According to Pet Friendly Travel, many new laws have been put in place for the survival of animals during storms in response to Hurricane Katrina, 12 years ago. One such law is the PETS Act, established in 2006, which requires the Local Emergency Management to prepare care for citizens as well as their pets.

However, many public shelters are not required to let a person bring their pet(s) with them. In fact, Red Cross shelters are not allowed to shelter pets because of possible health issues so it is important to plan ahead.

Many pet lovers are averse to leaving their pets behind,  “I would take them with me. It would be no question,” Brooke Childress, current Daphne High school student, said.

Pet Friendly Travel suggests looking up hotels or motels that allow pets or even contacting a veterinarian who would be willing to shelter your pet. Many times owners and pets will not be together during an evacuation or even in the same shelter, but planning ahead will allow you to know where you pet is and that they are being taken care of. Never leave your pet behind as they will most likely not survive, and if they do there is a very low chance of owner and pet being reunited again.

The local Daphne animal shelter has steps on their website people can take to assure their pets safety. These steps can be found here http://www.daphneanimalshelter.org/.