Greater Manchester recognised for going extra mile to look after pets in times of emergency

Greater Manchester has once again been recognised by the RSPCA for going the extra mile to look out for animals and their welfare in times of emergency.

The RSPCA PawPrints Awards recognise good practice from local authorities, housing providers and contingency planners in relation to animal welfare.

The 2019 winners have today (September 2) been announced and the Greater Manchester local authorities have been awarded a Gold Contingency Planning Award.

Greater Manchester works to ensure that pets and animals are among the priority considerations during an emergency response and a Pet Evacuation Plan has been developed by all the different agencies involved in an emergency response. The plan gives guidance to all responding agencies on what they need to consider in relation to pets during a major emergency, including identifying space for pets in evacuation centres and giving guidance for dealing with lost and left pets.

Greater Manchester’s preparedness was recently brought into action during the emergency response to the Toddbrook Reservoir incident in Whaley Bridge.

To ensure people were prepared for potential flooding Greater Manchester Police officers, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service crews and officers and soldiers from the British Army went door-to-door in in the Marple area of Stockport to deliver important safety messages.

A list of residents was put together, as was information around who had pets, so planning could start as to what provisions or assistance may have been required. The emergency bag handed out to residents contained a worksheet around pets and information around pet evacuation to ensure people were properly prepared for any eventuality. 

Kathy Oldham, Greater Manchester’s Chief Resilience Officer said: “We are extremely pleased to have once again been recognised by the RSPCA for our efforts to ensure pets are properly considered as part of our resilience planning.

“We know how important people’s pets are to them and will always do as much as we can to keep them safe and ensure they are looked after at times of emergency.

“It was very encouraging recently to see that pets and animals were properly considered as part of Greater Manchester’s response to the Toddbrook Reservoir incident.”

Greater Manchester also picked up the Gold Contingency Planning Award in 2018 when it was named ‘Innovator of the Decade’ by the RSPCA for its work around animal welfare at times of emergency.

Rachel Williams, senior parliamentary advisor for the RSPCA, said: "It's great to see Greater Manchester achieving our prestigious Gold award, which they have held now for a number of years. This is a real testament to the hard work of local authority staff, their commitment to animal welfare and the health and happiness of their residents. Greater Manchester has long led the country in the field of animal welfare and contingency planning and I hope that they continue to maintain this high standard for years to come."

Notes to Editors

The Award was given to the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities Civil Contingencies Resilience Unit. The unit provides expert civil contingencies services to the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities including in the areas of health protection, disaster risk reduction, emergency management and recovery. The unit offers year round emergency response service, ensuring Greater Manchester’s local authorities always have access to disaster management expertise.

Article Published: 02/09/2019 14:43 PM