04:40 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Doug Simpson / Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, -- Creating a plan to rescue dogs, cats and other pets from hurricanes would also help prevent the loss of human life in storms, a Senate panel agreed on Tuesday, although it's unclear how the state would pay for such a plan.

The committee passed a bill by Sen. Heulette "Clo" Fontenot that would require creation of identification tags for pets, so they can be reunited with owners if they're separated during an evacuation.

It would also create a requirement that blind people be allowed to evacuate with their seeing-eye dogs, and force the state to identify suitable animal shelters near shelters expected to house evacuated people.

No one spoke in opposition to the bill, but several senators said it was vague on a key issue: how to pay for it.

"I think we need to pinpoint what the hard costs are, to prepare ourselves to do this," said Sen. Jay Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge.

The bill by Fontenot, R-Livingston, passed the Senate Judiciary "B" Committee without a vote. It will likely move to the Senate Finance Committee for approval before going to the full Senate, said Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Livonia, chairman of the judiciary committee.

The state agriculture department said it would cost about $2 million to tag animals and set up and run the database with information about each pet. Part of that cost could be borne by private animal groups that support the measure. Best Friends Animal Society, a rescue group based in Utah, has offered to provide free database help.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco's office said additional costs, for transporting animals to shelters, would fall on the transportation department. Blanco supports the idea of the bill but wants to make sure money could be found in the budget to pay for it, said Jeff Smith, the governor's head of emergency preparedness.

The committee passed the measure without objection after hearing testimony in support from senators, animal groups and pet owners who recounted sad tales from Katrina about being separated from their pets.

Sen. Walter Boasso testified that, while rescuing people after the storm, he encountered many people in St. Bernard Parish and New Orleans' Ninth Ward who refused to evacuate their flooded homes because rescuers insisted they leave their pets behind.

"The only way they were coming was with their dogs or their cats. Other than that, they were going to stay," said Boasso, R-Chalmette.

Pet owners and officials from several animal rights groups said the plan to evacuate pets would lessen the number of human deaths in future storms.

"In a nutshell, saving animals saves people," said Laura Maloney, head of the Louisiana SPCA, the nonprofit in charge of animal rescue in New Orleans.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)