Animal Shelter Emergency Plan: What Should Be Included?

Emergency planning works best when it starts with realistic hazards instead of one generic response for everything. Hazards a shelter may face include:

Weather and natural hazards

• Hurricane / tropical storm
• Tornado / severe storm
• Flood / flash flood
• Wildfire / external smoke
• Extreme heat
• Extreme cold / winter storm

Facility and operational emergencies

• Fire / smoke in building
• Power failure
• HVAC failure
• Water / sewer failure
• Structural damage
• Hazardous material / gas leak
• Communications or IT outage
• Staffing shortage
• Transportation failure
• Supply disruption

Animal-welfare and security emergencies

• Infectious disease / biosecurity emergency
• Animal escape / containment failure
• Mass intake / sudden population surge
• Security threat / violence

Prioritize hazards according to your location, facility, operations, animal population and local conditions. FEMA's emergency-planning principles and animal-emergency planning resources both emphasize identifying the hazards that are relevant to you and planning around realistic risks.

Planning question: Which three or four hazards are most likely to disrupt our shelter?

In an emergency, uncertainty about who is in charge costs time. Your plan should assign clear authority. Roles might include:

• Incident Lead
• Backup Incident Lead
• Facilities Lead
• Animal Care Lead
• Communications / Public Information Lead
• Veterinary / Medical Lead, where applicable
• Transportation Lead
• Other organization-specific roles

The plan should answer:

• Who can activate the emergency plan?
• Who decides whether operations change?
• Who can order an evacuation?
• Who coordinates animal movement?
• Who communicates with staff?
• Who communicates with outside organizations?
• Who takes over when the primary leader is unavailable?

Titles matter less than knowing who has authority and who serves as backup. FEMA emergency-management resources use Incident Command System concepts to establish clear responsibilities during incidents — but a small shelter does not need a complicated command structure. In a small organization, one person may hold several of these responsibilities.

Contacts that should be readily accessible may include:

• 911
• Fire department
• Police / law enforcement
• Animal control
• Local emergency management
• Veterinarian / emergency veterinary hospital
• Utilities
• Generator service
• HVAC service
• Plumbing / water service
• Transportation providers
• Receiving shelters
• Rescue partners
• Foster coordinators
• Suppliers
• Facility owner / maintenance
• Insurance contacts, where appropriate

Keep these contacts in more than one place. A contact list that lives only on one computer or in one person's phone may be unavailable when it matters. Maintain an accessible printed or offline copy in addition to your online information.

Shelter emergency planning begins with protecting staff, volunteers, visitors and responders. The plan should identify:

• Emergency exits
• Assembly locations
• Tornado / severe-weather safe areas
• Shelter-in-place areas
• Fire procedures
• Evacuation routes
• Accountability for people
• When to contact 911 or emergency services

Not every emergency calls for evacuation. In some situations, moving animals is more dangerous than keeping them where they are. A plan should address both options.

Shelter in place

• Appropriate areas
• Capacity
• Ventilation
• Animal separation needs
• Food and water access
• Sanitation
• Backup power
• Staff access

Evacuation

• Who can order evacuation
• Primary destination
• Alternate destination
• Destination contact
• Capacity
• Species accepted
• Routes and alternate routes
• Transportation
• Crates and carriers
• Medications and records
• Accountability

Receiving destinations should ideally be discussed and arranged before an emergency, not assumed to be available.

Planning question: If we had to leave today, where would the animals go — and does that place know it?

Moving animals can create identification and accountability problems very quickly. Consider:

• Animal identification
• Kennel / cage identification
• Medical information
• Medications
• Ownership / custody status
• Destination
• Transport assignment
• Foster placement
• Transfers
• Animals remaining on site
• Intake during the emergency
• Reunification, when applicable

FEMA planning guidance for animal sheltering includes intake, registration and recordkeeping considerations. Many shelters will use their normal animal-management system for these records, with a paper backup if systems are unavailable.

• Available vehicles
• Drivers
• Fuel
• Crates and carriers
• Species-specific transport
• Loading locations
• Safe loading procedures
• Destination capacity
• Primary and alternate routes
• Agreements with partners
• What happens if normal vehicles are unavailable

An evacuation destination without a realistic way to move the animals is not a complete evacuation plan.

Many shelter emergencies become animal-care emergencies because normal building systems stop working.

Power

• Generator availability
• Generator capacity
• Fuel
• Operator
• Essential circuits
• Refrigeration
• Charging and communications

HVAC

Plan for temperature control and ventilation when heating or cooling fails.

Water

• Normal source
• Emergency drinking water
• Sanitation needs
• Alternate water source

Sewer and sanitation

Plan for cleaning and waste management when normal systems are unavailable.

Communications and IT

• Internet failure
• Phone failure
• Shelter software outage
• Paper / offline workarounds

Cold storage

Where applicable, protect medications, vaccines, food and other temperature-sensitive materials.

AVMA disaster planning materials emphasize continuity issues including backup power, refrigeration, communications, alternate food and water sources, suppliers and alternate locations.

An emergency does not eliminate animals' daily needs. Consider:

• Feeding
• Drinking water
• Medications
• Veterinary treatment
• Sanitation
• Disease control
• Isolation
• Temperature control
• Enrichment, where practical
• Behavioral needs
• Species-specific care
• Animals with medical or mobility needs
• Neonatal animals
• Animals requiring specialized equipment

Your plan should identify which of these functions cannot safely stop.

Think about emergency reserves and alternate sources for:

• Animal food
• Potable water
• Medications
• Cleaning supplies
• PPE
• Crates and carriers
• Leashes
• Litter
• Bedding
• Fuel
• Veterinary supplies
• Sanitation supplies

There is no single number of days of supplies that fits every shelter. Determine appropriate reserves based on your local hazards, how long disruptions might last, your storage capacity, and guidance from local emergency authorities.

Emergencies affect employees too. Plan for:

• Minimum essential staffing
• Backup personnel
• Staff call-down procedures
• Staff who cannot reach the shelter
• Road closures
• Overnight staffing
• Staff family and pet preparedness
• Lodging, where appropriate
• Relief rotations
• Fatigue
• Staff safety

A plan should not assume every scheduled employee will be able to report during a community-wide disaster. Focus on which essential functions must be covered, and by whom.

Planning question: What if half our staff cannot reach the shelter?

Before a forecast emergency, some shelters benefit from safely and appropriately reducing their population. Possible strategies include:

• Emergency foster activation
• Contacting existing foster homes
• Promoting adoption or placement, where appropriate
• Contacting rescue partners
• Transfers
• Local-media outreach
• Community messaging

This works best when it is planned in advance rather than improvised just before a storm. Not every shelter can or should move animals into foster homes — your plan should reflect what is realistic for your organization.

• Nearby shelters
• Rescues
• Veterinary hospitals
• Boarding facilities
• Foster networks
• Transport groups
• Local government
• Animal control
• Emergency management
• Suppliers
• Community organizations

For each partner, document:

• Contact information
• What assistance may be available
• Capacity
• Limitations
• How activation occurs

An informal relationship is not a guaranteed resource. Confirm what a partner can realistically provide, and plan for the possibility that they are affected too.

Staff

How will employees receive emergency instructions?

Volunteers and fosters

How will they receive updates?

Public

How will the organization communicate:

• Closures
• Changes to services
• Emergency foster requests
• Donation needs
• Animal intake limitations
• Evacuation information, where appropriate

Partners and responders

Who communicates with emergency management, law enforcement, veterinary partners, receiving organizations and other responders? Include backup communication methods in case phones or internet fail.

Emergencies frequently affect power, internet or cellular service. Important emergency information should not exist only in a cloud application. Consider keeping:

• A printed emergency binder
• A quick-action guide
• Locally saved / offline information
• Contact sheets
• Evacuation information
• Essential procedures

This principle is why Pet Safe SOP includes a printable emergency plan and an Offline Emergency Kit — but the idea applies whatever tools you use.

A simple incident record might capture:

• What happened
• When the incident began
• Conditions
• Major decisions
• Actions taken
• Animal movements
• Partner activations
• Injuries or impacts
• Operational changes
• Unresolved needs

Documentation supports continuity between shifts and makes later review far easier. It should never delay immediate protective action.

Emergency planning should not stop when the immediate danger passes. Plan for:

• Facility inspection
• Animal health assessment
• Utilities
• Sanitation
• Supply replacement
• Staff welfare
• Returning animals
• Reopening operations
• Unresolved follow-up work
• Documentation
• Lessons learned

An After-Action Review is a structured look back at an incident or exercise. Useful questions include:

• What worked?
• What did not work?
• What information was missing?
• Which procedures need to change?
• What follow-up remains?

A written plan that nobody knows how to use has limited value. Encourage your team to:

• Orient staff
• Review responsibilities
• Practice evacuation where appropriate
• Test communications
• Verify emergency contacts
• Review destinations
• Check emergency supplies
• Test generators
• Review the plan after staffing or facility changes
• Review after an actual incident or exercise
• Conduct a regular formal plan review

How often a formal review is required depends on your jurisdiction and organization; check any requirements that apply to you.

Pet Safe SOP was built to help animal shelters work through these planning questions systematically rather than starting with a blank document. It helps organizations record their own leadership, facility information, animal-care considerations, evacuation destinations, transportation, critical systems, emergency contacts, operating policies and hazard-specific information.

That information can then support a working emergency plan, emergency quick-action guidance, printable plan materials, an Offline Emergency Kit, incident response, recovery, After-Action Review and ongoing plan maintenance.

Pet Safe SOP assists with planning and organization. The shelter remains responsible for its emergency decisions, procedures, staff training and compliance with applicable requirements.

Want the product overview first? See Pet Safe SOP for Animal Shelters, or follow Preparedness Updates.

Pet Safe SOP is not endorsed by FEMA, ASPCA, Best Friends Animal Society, CDC, AVMA or any other organization referenced here.