Years ago I saw a video of an animal rescue gone wrong. A dog thrashed about in icy water as firefighters raced to save her. As a rescuer knelt on the ice and bent down to her, the dog leapt forward and bit him in the face. Ouch!
While upsetting and graphic, this is a helpful reminder about assessing situations from animals' perspectives.
Us humans often bring our anthropocentric goggles to the table. After all, we know our version of this tale well: the humans band together to rescue the cold, struggling dog. The rescuer saves the dog from a probable death, and the dog is either reunited with her owners or adopted by a family that “couldn’t be happier with their new best friend!” There's a short piece about the heroic rescuer and the “grateful” dog in the local newspaper. The End.
Us humans often bring our anthropocentric goggles to the table. After all, we know our version of this tale well: the humans band together to rescue the cold, struggling dog. The rescuer saves the dog from a probable death, and the dog is either reunited with her owners or adopted by a family that “couldn’t be happier with their new best friend!” There's a short piece about the heroic rescuer and the “grateful” dog in the local newspaper. The End.
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| How humans typically perceive animal rescue |
In many situations, the animal didn’t get this memo. For example, the dog in the video was in an incredibly stressed, frightened and possibly pained state. She could have resorted to fight-or-flight behavior, either increasing distance, or in this case, attacking.
This video made me wonder whether more animal bites occur during natural disasters, a situation that is incredibly stressful, frightening and painful for humans and non-humans alike.
During natural disasters, animals can confront new and scary situations, such as quickly being put in a weird small box (aka crate or carrier), hanging out with unfamiliar people (rescuers) or interacting with an owner who is incredibly scared, stressed and exhibiting atypical body movements. Natural disasters create a situation where much can go wrong between animals and their human companions.
A recent study* examined the prevalence of domestic animal bites following Hurricane Ike in September 2008. It turns out that bites from domestic animals were one of the top three trauma complaints at disaster medical facilities.
- Bites were inflicted by non-rabid pets
- 55% were from dogs, 40% from cats and 5% from snakes
- 80% were bitten by their own dog or cat
- 100% knew the dog or cat who bit them
- Most of the bites were severe and occurred within the first 72 hours after the hurricane
- Most bites involved the hands
According to the study, people described their bites as being “unprovoked and unanticipated from a pet that typically was non-aggressive.”
Really? During natural disasters, typically well-behaved dogs and cats suddenly bite owners in the hand for seemingly no reason? What is up with that? Most likely, in a stressful situation, humans are trying to grab or manipulate animals in atypical ways (probably to get them to safety) and animals are “freaking out” and “acting out of character.”
Today, we are not going to address whether or not the people could have examined the animal’s behavior to anticipate or prevent the bite. Since people believe that animals’ “normal” behavior goes out the window during natural disasters, here are some ways to prevent companion animal aggression, even during an incredibly stressful event:
1) Prepare animals for a natural disaster! Do not simply explain to them that the elementary school gymnasium will be their new home during the storm -- show them what to expect! You can do this by getting animals accustomed to storm materials such as a crate or carrier.
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| Possible crates! |
Shoving an animal into a box does not qualify as “getting them accustomed.” Training an animal to enter a crate/carrier is easy peasy, and here are some wonderful instructional videos.
- Introducing dog to crate (Click on the top video with 4 stars)
- Introducing cat to carrier
- Introducing dog to crate (Click on the top video with 4 stars)
- Introducing cat to carrier
Main point: teach animals what to expect before the need arises! When emergency sirens blow, you point to the crate, Fido goes in, gets a cong to chew on and you both leave the house in peace!
2) Think about your behavior!
When interacting with an animal during a natural disaster, you might be freaking out -- it’s an emergency after all! Customarily a-okay interactions could be problematic during this stressful event. GO SLOW!
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| Maybe don't respond this way... |
Veterinarian Sophia Yin reminds us How to Prevent a Bite and How to Greet a Dog. You might not think this is relevant for you and your own dog; after all, you know your dog! But hurricanes change things, and it's important to be aware of how your behavior can impact your pet's behavior.
While most emergency preparation focuses on getting animals to safety, how you handle animals while getting them to safety is just as important.
This weekend, I and the rest of north Brooklyn were relatively unscathed by Hurricane Irene. This time, the storm turned out to have more bark than bite.
10/30/12 Post Sandy Update: My thoughts are with the humans and non-humans impacted by Sandy. I hope human kindness prevailed.
*Warner, G.S., 2010. Increased Incidence of Domestic Animal Bites following a Disaster Due to Natural Hazards. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine.10/30/12 Post Sandy Update: My thoughts are with the humans and non-humans impacted by Sandy. I hope human kindness prevailed.
Thanks to Kristen Collins of the ASPCA for input on this post!
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