The City of Long Beach will celebrate Pet Preparedness Month throughout the month of June with a variety of outreach and educational activities for pet owners. Pet Preparedness Month encourages residents to incorporate the needs of their pets in family emergency plans, including providing pet supplies in emergency go-kits and registering pets with Long Beach Animal Care Services so they can be more easily identified if they are separated from the family during a disaster.

“Our goal is to make Long Beach a safe place for people and pets,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “I encourage residents to take advantage of all of the activities and information that is available during Pet Preparedness Month to ensure that our four-legged friends stay safe in the case of a disaster.”

During the month of June, the Department of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications in collaboration with other City departments, will conduct outreach to residents, which will include:

• What Goes in Your Pet’s Emergency Kit Facebook Live – This event will be hosted on Monday, June 11, at 12:30 p.m. on the City of Long Beach Facebook Page and will provide information on items to include in a pet’s emergency kit, and other pet-related disaster preparedness topics will be shared.

• Pet Centric Business Canvassing – On Thursday, June 7, representatives from the Departments of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications and Health and Human Services will visit businesses that cater to animals to pass out information about pet disaster preparedness. Information about mosquito-borne illness prevention for pets, including heartworm, which can cause illness and heart failure in dogs and cats, will also be distributed. Heartworm in pets is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, which was found for the first time in Long Beach last summer.

• Pet Preparedness Scavenger Hunt - On Friday, June 15, residents will have a chance to pick up free pet preparedness items that can be used in their pets’ emergency kits. Prize packs will be hidden around the city and can be found by following the Department of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications and the Department of Health and Human Services on social media.

“Pets are important members of many households in Long Beach,” said Reggie Harrison, Director of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications. “Like us, pets need to be ready for a disaster, but rely on their owners to be prepared.”

For more information about pet preparedness throughout the month of June, please visit: www.longbeach.gov/disasterpreparedness and follow the Disaster Preparedness Department on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications

The mission of the Department of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications is to protect the lives and property of the community and first responders through comprehensive planning, training and communication to ensure that daily requests for emergency services, as well as response, recovery, and mitigation for major emergencies and disasters is completed in an effective and efficient manner.