No thanks Barney, Tom and Christopher

Three Congressmen have proposed new legislation in Congress. If passed the law would require that state and federal disaster preparedness plans have accomdotaions for evacuee's pets. This because some people stayed home with the hurricane approaching because they didn't want to abandon their pets.

I cannot help but wonder how many more people could have been saved had they been able to take their pets," Rep. Tom Lantos, D-California, said Thursday.

Lantos and Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Connecticut, and Barney Frank, D-Massaschusetts, are sponsoring a bill that would require that state and local disaster preparedness plans required for Federal Emergency Management Agency funding include provisions for household pets and service animals.

More than 6,000 pets have been saved in Mississippi and Louisiana, said Michael Markarian, executive vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, but tens of thousands more could still be in New Orleans alone. Texas, he said, has been better at allowing people to take their pets with them ahead of Hurricane Rita but a formal policy is still needed.

"We cannot rely on individual acts of compassion," Markarian said.

Holly Hazard, executive director of the Doris Day Animal League, said there are 4,000 outstanding requests to rescue pets more than three weeks after Katrina hit.

While the legislation may draw attention to the issue, it doesn't "have any real meat in it," said Sara Spaulding, a spokeswoman for the American Humane Association.

Fellow bloggers Kobayashi Maru and Jay at Wizbang also questions this legislation and I have to agree. I think there are three valid points.

1- Should Congress be micromanaging like this?
2- FEMA is burdened with enough to do in preperation for any disaster.
3- The first priority should be human not animal life. I'm a owner of two cats, they are like family. However in an emergency my spouse, children and any other family member's safety (as it should be for everyone) are my highest priority. Or as Jay wrote will a person have to give up a seat with the reason 'Granny needed my seat for Fluffy and Mittens and Mr. Froo-Froo'

No matter how much you warn people, some will do as they please. Like remain in a evacuation zone when a hurricane is coming. You can't protect every idiot and their pets from themselves.

Honestly I would think these Congressmen have better things to do.