Amen, many people think of their pets as family and I am one of those folks that could never ever be convinced to leave my pets behind in a disaster. I know the law looks at them differently as just plain old property, but my mutt is going with me or I will stay and perish with him. Non pet owners don't understand this, but most parents would never dream of leaving their kids behind so they could be rescued without them. I don't know why rescuers think that pets should be sacrificial and stress out the survivors even further. Hats off to those forward thinking rescuers.
Rambling and roaming in my little old wheel estate
During my career, I worked on several national level studies/evacuation plans that always included recommendation to include pets. Sadly FEMA never adopted that part of our recommendations. Bad to know it took a Katrina situation to bring that home but very happy to know it is now beginning to be put in practice in all sorts of situations.
The only major handicap in life is a bad attitude!