Resources
Animal Shelter Emergency Preparedness Resources
Practical guides, checklists, and planning resources to help animal shelters prepare for disasters, facility failures, severe weather, evacuations, staffing challenges, and other emergencies.
Pet Safe SOP resources are designed to help animal-welfare organizations think through emergency decisions before they are needed. Explore preparedness guides, planning tools, and practical resources for protecting people, animals, facilities, and essential shelter operations.
Featured Emergency Preparedness Resources
Animal Shelter Emergency Plan: What Should Be Included?
Animal Shelter Disaster Preparedness Checklist
Animal Shelter Hurricane Preparedness Guide
Coming SoonAnimal Shelter Evacuation Planning Guide
Coming SoonAnimal Shelter Power Outage Emergency Plan
Coming SoonEmergency Foster Planning for Animal Shelters
Coming SoonAnimal Shelter Emergency Staffing & Communication Plan
Coming SoonAfter-Action Review Guide for Animal Shelters
Coming Soon
Browse by Topic
Emergency Planning
Build the foundation of an animal shelter emergency plan, including leadership, emergency contacts, responsibilities, critical operations, and plan maintenance.
Planned resources
- Animal Shelter Emergency Plan: What Should Be Included?
- Animal Shelter Disaster Preparedness Checklist
- Emergency Leadership Planning
- Emergency Decision Authority
Severe Weather & Natural Disasters
Preparedness resources for weather and natural hazards that can affect animal shelter operations.
Planned resources
- Hurricane Preparedness for Animal Shelters
- Tornado & Severe Weather Preparedness
- Flood Preparedness
- Extreme Heat Planning
- Extreme Cold & Winter Weather Planning
- Wildfire & Smoke Preparedness
Facility Emergencies
Planning resources for failures or hazards involving the shelter building and essential systems.
Planned resources
- Power Failure Planning
- HVAC Failure Planning
- Water & Sewer Loss
- Fire & Smoke
- Building Damage
- Communications & IT Outages
Evacuation & Sheltering
Resources for deciding when animals should remain in place, relocate within a facility, or evacuate to another location.
Planned resources
- Animal Shelter Evacuation Planning Guide
- Receiving Destination Planning
- Emergency Transportation Planning
- Shelter-in-Place Planning
- Animal Movement & Accountability
Animal Operations
Emergency planning resources focused on maintaining animal care and safely managing shelter populations during disruptions.
Planned resources
- Emergency Foster Planning
- Population Reduction Before a Disaster
- Mass Intake Planning
- Animal Escape & Containment Planning
- Essential Animal Care During Emergencies
Staffing & Continuity
Resources for maintaining essential shelter operations when normal staffing, communications, supplies, or services are disrupted.
Planned resources
- Emergency Staffing Planning
- Emergency Communications
- Supply Disruptions
- Continuity of Essential Animal Care
Recovery & Improvement
Resources to help shelters recover from emergencies, document what happened, identify lessons learned, and update their plans.
Planned resources
- Animal Shelter Emergency Recovery Checklist
- After-Action Review Guide
- Plan Review & Maintenance
- Turning Lessons Learned Into Plan Improvements
Free Emergency Planning Tools
Simple resources shelter teams can use while building, reviewing and maintaining their emergency plans.
Guidance & Sources We Follow
Pet Safe SOP's planning framework was informed by real-world shelter experience and by published guidance from established animal-welfare and emergency-management organizations, including Best Friends Animal Society, ASPCApro and FEMA. These organizations do not sponsor or endorse Pet Safe SOP.
Learn About Our Research & Approach