The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos from California. He gets the award for sponsoring through the US House of Representatives a bill requiring state and local officials to take pets into consideration for evacuation plans.

Washington — The next time a disaster like Hurricane Katrina strikes, rescuers may have to take pets in as well as humans.

The Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act from Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., passed the House on Monday. It requires state and local preparedness offices take into account pet owners, household pets and service animals when drawing up evacuation plans. Offices that fail to do so would not qualify for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Humane Society of the United States cited a recent Zogby International poll that found that 49 percent of adults say they would refuse to evacuate if they couldn’t take their pets with them.

Sens. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., have introduced similar legislation in the Senate.

A television shot of a little boy losing his dog during Katrina rescue operations was the catalyst for the bill, Lantos said.

“The dog was taken away from this little boy, and to watch his face was a singularly revealing and tragic experience,” Lantos said. “This legislation was born at that moment.”

I blogged about this legislation last September. My opinion hasn't changed.

This is one of the dumber ideas to come out of Congress in a while. We all know how well Katrina evacuation of humans went last year, now pets have to be factored in too. Other than for a very few service animals, this is a waste of appropriations, time and resources when getting PEOPLE out should be the number one priority. Doesn't Congressman Lantos see that?

Don't call me hard hearted either. I live in an area hit by 3 hurricanes in the last 20 months and I'm a human owned by two cats.

For perhaps helping to make a birdbrained idea into law, Congressman Tom Lantos is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Jay at Wizbang and Professor Bainbridge also have some thoughts on this legislation
Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Bright & Early, Mudville Gazette, Basil's Blog, Cao's Blog, Third World County,
Cross posted to Bullwinkle Blog