When we talk about climate change and disasters, we often talk about people, homes, infrastructure, wildlife and communities.
We talk far less about the animals already living behind the gates of shelters.
Dogs in kennels cannot decide to leave when wildfire approaches. Cats cannot find another building when floodwater rises. An elderly dog cannot arrange transport when extreme heat becomes dangerous. A sick animal cannot make sure their medication and veterinary records travel with them during an evacuation.
They are entirely dependent on people having thought about these things before the emergency begins.
That is why Dog Desk Animal Action has published a new briefing, Animal Shelters In A Changing Climate, to coincide with COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye.
The question at its heart is simple:
Are shelter systems ready for extreme weather and disaster?
More Kennels Do Not Automatically Mean Greater Resilience
Across the world, governments, municipalities and animal welfare organisations operate facilities containing tens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of animals.
Much of the discussion around those facilities understandably focuses on capacity.
How many kennels are there? How many animals can the facility accommodate? Is there room for more?
But capacity to house animals is not necessarily capacity to protect them during an emergency.
A kennel space tells us where an animal can be housed. It doesn’t tell us whether that animal can be kept safe when temperatures soar, electricity fails, water stops, floodwater approaches or wildfire makes evacuation necessary.
What Happens When The Shelter Is Inside The Disaster?
Animal shelters can play an important role during emergencies. They may receive animals displaced by wildfire, flooding or evacuation.
But shelters themselves can also be inside the affected area. That changes everything.
The facility may simultaneously have to protect the animals already in its care while dealing with disrupted roads, reduced staffing, interruptions to utilities and potentially an influx of other animals needing somewhere safe to go.
An emergency plan therefore cannot simply say “evacuate.”
Could Every Animal Actually Be Moved?
Imagine a shelter containing hundreds of dogs that suddenly has to be evacuated.
How many vehicles are available?
How many suitable crates?
How many trained people are available to handle frightened animals?
Can the roads still be used?
Some dogs may panic. Some may freeze or resist handling. Some may be elderly or disabled. Others may already be receiving veterinary treatment.
And what happens if a frightened dog escapes during the evacuation? Every animal still needs to be identifiable and accounted for.
The larger the population, the more significant those practical questions become.
What If The Shelter Doesn’t Have To Evacuate?
Not every climate-related emergency will result in animals being moved.
Sometimes the challenge will be keeping them safe where they are.
Extreme heat may place animals at risk while simultaneously increasing dependence on ventilation, cooling and reliable water supplies.
A power failure can affect more than the lights. Water pumps, ventilation, refrigeration for medicines and clinical equipment may depend upon electricity.
A disrupted road network can prevent staff, veterinary professionals, food and other essential supplies from reaching the facility.
Emergency preparedness therefore has to consider how essential animal care continues when the systems normally supporting it no longer work as expected.
Five Questions Every Shelter System Should Be Able To Answer
Our briefing looks at shelter resilience through five practical tests:
KNOW THE RISK What emergencies could realistically affect the facility?
MAINTAIN ESSENTIAL CARE Can water, food, temperature control and veterinary care continue when normal services are disrupted?
HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO If animals must leave, has suitable alternative accommodation already been identified?
HAVE A WAY TO GET THERE Are there enough vehicles, crates, drivers and trained handlers to move the animals actually housed there?
TEST AND DISCLOSE THE PLAN Is the plan reviewed, exercised and sufficiently transparent for preparedness to be demonstrated?
These are not a certification system or a league table.
They are questions intended to help us examine what preparedness looks like in practice.
There Are Already Examples To Learn From
This is not an argument that shelter disaster planning does not exist.
It does.
Our research found different approaches that demonstrate parts of what preparedness can look like, from legal requirements for shelter disaster plans in Greece to emergency planning requirements for licensed kennels in England.
There are also real-world examples of shelter evacuations.
When the Hughes Fire threatened the Castaic Animal Care Center in Los Angeles County in January 2025, animals were evacuated to other county facilities. The wider emergency also required sheltering arrangements for animals displaced by the fires.
That illustrates an important pressure on animal care systems during major disasters: they may need to protect their existing shelter population at exactly the same time that the wider community needs them most.
And Then There Is Transparency
A shelter may have an excellent emergency plan. But can the public find out when it was last reviewed, what population it covers, whether evacuation arrangements have been tested or whether alternative accommodation has been identified?
That matters particularly where shelters are publicly funded or operated by public authorities. Transparency is not the same thing as publishing every operational detail. But the existence of preparedness, its scope and its regular review should not have to be taken entirely on trust.
What Dog Desk Animal Action Is Calling For
We believe every animal shelter should maintain an annually reviewed disaster and evacuation plan proportionate to the number and needs of animals in its care.
That plan should address foreseeable hazards; continuity of water, power and essential animal care; veterinary continuity; evacuation transport; predetermined alternative accommodation; staff responsibilities; regular exercises; and public disclosure of key preparedness information.
As COP31 brings governments and organisations together in Antalya to discuss a changing climate, we believe the animals already entirely dependent upon human care belong in that conversation too.
Climate resilience must include the animals already in our care.