Red Paw Emergency Relief Team
Red Paw Emergency Relief Team is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit emergency service dedicated to helping pets displaced by house fires and other residential disasters. Their goal is to reunite pets with their families once they have recovered and reduce the number of animals surrendered to shelters due to sudden hardship. The team works with local chapters of the American Red Cross, fire departments, and other disaster relief organizations to provide search and rescue, emergency transport, veterinary care, shelter and supplies for affected pets, at no cost to their owners. History Red Paw Emergency Relief Team was conceived as a pilot program to develop a new kind of emergency response resource for animals. In 2006, the United States Congress recognized the importance of including pets in mass disaster planning with the passage of the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, but no similar provision exists for victims of smaller scale disasters at the household level. Founder Jennifer Leary states that she was inspired to start Red Paw while a firefighter with the Philadelphia Fire Department after seeing how little help was available to pet owners in the aftermath of devastating house fires. Many local relief organizations offer temporary housing assistance for displaced