Iowa gets its first emergency trailer to care for pets during natural disasters [Video]

JASPER COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – Natural disasters can happen fast.

It’s something Iowans are familiar with after the flood of 2008 and the 2020 derecho, which wiped out more than 60% of the tree canopy in Cedar Rapids.

Brian Paul, the coordinator for the Poweshiek County Emergency Management, said pets can often be an afterthought during disasters — which he saw firsthand during the derecho.

“We found that there’s a significant amount of people who won’t go to a shelter, they won’t evacuate their home or anything if they can’t take their pets along,” Paul said.

He said he looked into resources for pets, but didn’t find any locally.

That’s when he came across AKC Reunite, an organization which works to get emergency trailers for pets to local counties across the United States.

“I started talking about it to Jasper County because they were kind of in the same boat …