When disaster strikes, emergency responders are trained to protect people. Beginning this week in Portugal, they’ll also be expected to protect animals.
Portugal has enacted legislation requiring animal rescue and welfare to be integrated into civil protection and emergency response planning. Municipal emergency plans must now account for the evacuation, rescue, sheltering, and care of animals during disasters such as wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and other emergencies. The move follows years of advocacy and legislative efforts led by Portugal’s People–Animals–Nature (PAN) Party and animal protection organizations.
For many advocates, this is a significant shift in how governments think about emergency preparedness. Animals are often among the forgotten victims of natural disasters, leaving families forced to make heartbreaking decisions or rescuers scrambling without clear protocols. By making animal rescue part of official emergency planning, Portugal is recognizing that protecting communities also means protecting the animals who depend on them.
The legislation also calls for stronger coordination between government agencies, municipalities, civil protection authorities, animal protection organizations, and official shelters. It includes provisions for emergency veterinary care, temporary field hospitals, financial support for affected rescue organizations, and national guidance to ensure animals are explicitly included in emergency response plans across the country.
This development reflects a broader understanding of what it means to build resilient communities. Disaster planning has traditionally focused almost exclusively on human needs, but experience around the world has shown that people often risk their own safety rather than abandon companion animals or livestock. Planning for both from the outset can save lives on every front.
Portugal’s approach offers an example that other nations may wish to study. As climate-related disasters become more frequent and severe, comprehensive emergency planning will increasingly require governments to consider the wellbeing of all those affected—not only people, but the animals who share our homes, farms, and ecosystems.
Compassion doesn’t begin after a disaster. It begins with the decision to prepare for everyone before one ever happens.
The Humane Herald 