How to Request a Welfare Check or Rescue for a Pet You Cannot Reach

Call the animal services agency for your county or city, and your county emergency management office as well. The agency that takes pet rescue requests in a disaster is set locally, so no national number exists. Have your name and a working phone number, the address, each animal’s description and name, where in the building the animal is, and how a responder can get in. Then ask for a reference number and a status number before you hang up.

If This Is Happening Tonight, Start Here

1. Call your county or city animal services agency. The function most often sits there, and its non-emergency line is the usual front door.
2. Call your county emergency management office too. In states with county animal response teams, the number may be on the emergency management site instead of the shelter site.
3. Check your county emergency website for a hotline made for this event. The City of Los Angeles published one during the January 2025 fires.
4. Say which of three things you are asking for: rescue and transport, a welfare check, or care in place. They are different jobs.
5. Have the nine request fields ready (listed below).
6. Ask three things before you hang up. Is the request logged, and under what reference? Will anyone contact you either way? What number do you use for a status check?

If you are told nobody is entering the zone tonight, that describes the perimeter, not your animal’s importance. Log the call and read on while you wait.

Access Versus a Request on Your Behalf

Asking to be let in yourself is a question about access, and it goes to whoever runs the closure. Asking someone with authorization to go in for you is a rescue request or a welfare check. That is usually a different agency, with a different phone number and queue.

This page covers the second. The first has its own page: re-entry access to reach a pet inside a closed zone covers closure types, escorted access and agricultural pass programs, and warns that an unescorted attempt can cost you the access you would otherwise be offered. If you do not know where your animal went, see what to do when a pet’s location is unknown.

A third situation is different again: a crew is already on your street working a fire. Our page on what gets a pet found during an active fire response covers that. There you tell the people in front of you. Here you are starting the contact from outside the perimeter, possibly days into the incident.

Who Holds Animal Rescue in a Disaster

The county and city pages cited here put the function in different places, and sometimes in more than one. None of the sources assigns it the same way everywhere. These are the arrangements that appear on agency pages, so you know what to look for on your own county’s.

The county or city animal services agency

This is the most common home. In an ordinary week the agency licenses dogs and answers stray calls. In a disaster its field officers are the people authorized to retrieve animals.

Summit County, Colorado’s Sheriff’s Office Animal Control page describes an evacuation hotline that does not answer all year: “This phone line will be activated once an evacuation is ordered.” The page says the request goes to an Animal Control Officer or a Summit County Animal Response Team volunteer, who will make every effort to remove the animal and take it to a designated safe area where you can reclaim it. A request goes to a named role, that role attempts the removal, and you collect the animal afterward.

The sheriff’s or police dispatch

In smaller counties the animal control division may answer through the same dispatch center as everything else. Mariposa County, California tells evacuated residents who cannot move their own animals to contact dispatch for its Sheriff’s Office Animal Control Division. The page says the county will transport animals out of the area once an evacuation order is in effect.

The same page sends displaced owners who can take their animals but have nowhere to put them to a regional animal disaster team and the county SPCA. One county page, three bodies, and which one you want depends on whether the animal is still in the zone.

If animal control answers through sheriff’s dispatch, the emergency and non-emergency numbers are two queues at the same building, not two agencies. Ask which number an animal request should use.

A county animal response team under emergency management

Some states have a trained volunteer structure under the county’s emergency management office rather than under animal control. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture describes a County Animal Response Team (CART) as a group of volunteers and other entities, such as government agencies and the private sector, with resources and personnel to respond to animal issues in disasters. It says each CART is organized under the County Office of Emergency Management and follows the Incident Command System principles developed by FEMA.

Dallas County, Texas describes the same structure under its Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, focused on training, recruiting and retaining volunteers through the county’s Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster association.

If your county has one, the number you need may be on the emergency management site, not the shelter site.

A humane society under contract

In some places animal control is contracted to a private nonprofit, so the body answering for your address is not a government department. Los Angeles County’s Department of Animal Care and Control posts a notice that the Cities of Azusa and Baldwin Park are now served by the Inland Valley Humane Society. A resident who assumed the county department covered them would call the wrong place.

A hotline that did not exist last week

Sometimes the correct number is created for the disaster. During the January 2025 Los Angeles fires, LA Animal Services published a fire evacuation animal services hotline. It said callers would be prompted with key questions about the pet, possible locations and needs, that a care team of certified Animal Control Officers from LA Animal Services and surrounding municipal jurisdictions would be dispatched, and that the owner would be notified once the team had visited.

After Hurricane Helene, the ASPCA announced an animal assistance hotline for Western North Carolina on October 9, 2024. It said residents could report the need for companion animal search and rescue support, and it kept the ordinary route in place: to report a found or missing animal, contact the local animal service agency. The National Weather Service in Tallahassee dates the Big Bend landfall to September 26-27, 2024.

You cannot pre-load an event hotline. You can pre-load your county animal services line, your county emergency management line, and the habit of checking the county emergency site for a number that appeared this week.

Some state agriculture departments run a standing animal-emergency program that gathers active local contacts during a response. California’s is the Animal Response Emergency Support program in the Department of Food and Agriculture’s Animal Health Branch, whose shelter resources page carried city and county lost-pet and hotline contacts during the wildfire response. If your state has an equivalent, bookmark it.

One metro, two agencies

In a big metro, identifying the right agency is a real risk. Los Angeles County’s animal department says it provides animal care and control for all County unincorporated areas, 43 of the 88 incorporated cities in the county, and the City of Thousand Oaks in Ventura County. The City of Los Angeles runs its own Department of Animal Services with its own shelters and officers. If both a city and a county agency exist where you live, find out which holds your address while nothing is on fire.

Should You Call 911? It Depends on Your County

There is no single rule on calling 911 for an animal. Two county agencies publish guidance that points in different directions, and each is written for its own jurisdiction.

Multnomah County Animal Services in Oregon opens its emergency page with the rule everyone agrees on: “If your emergency involves a life-threatening situation for a human being, call 911.” It then states a capacity limit: “MCAS does not currently have the ability to respond to after hours animal emergencies from 5 pm to 8 am.” It lists domestic animal emergencies that go to 911 in those hours, including a pet confined in a motor vehicle in extreme heat or cold. For potential abuse or neglect where the pet is not in an active situation, it tells readers to call the animal services line during open hours to request a welfare check.

Pinellas County, Florida gives the opposite instruction for after a storm: “Only call 911 in the case of a police, medical or fire emergency.” It directs residents with anything else to a separate county information line.

Neither is a rule you can carry across a state line. When you look up your county, write down what its animal line covers, its hours, and what it tells you to do outside those hours.

What an Actionable Request Contains

Three published request scripts, from two states and one city, overlap closely. Summit County asks callers for their address, phone number, animal descriptions and names, where the animals can be found, and how they would like responders to access the home. Mariposa County asks for your name, address, contact phone number, a description of the animals left behind, and the destination where you need them transported, or whether you would like them cared for at your home. Los Angeles told callers in January 2025 they would be prompted with key questions about their pet, its possible locations and its needs.

Together they make nine parts:

1. Your name and a phone number that will be answered. If you evacuated to a relative’s house and your cell is dying, give the number that will last. A request nobody can call back on dies quietly.
2. The exact address, and how to find it. A numbered gate, a long driveway, a second structure, or a unit number inside a complex all need saying. Officers work an unfamiliar grid, often at night.
3. Species, number and names. Summit County asks for names. A name is what an officer can call out in an empty house.
4. A description that survives a bad photo. Color, size, coat, collar color, and any marking that would show under a flashlight.
5. Where in the building the animal will be. People underuse this field, and it decides whether a short visit works.
6. Whether the animal is confined. A crated dog and a loose cat are different jobs. Say which.
7. Medical facts that change urgency or handling. Name the condition, medication need, bite history, or deafness or blindness, plainly and without exaggeration. Mariposa County says the queue is ordered by danger and need.
8. How responders get in. See the next section.
9. Where you want the animal taken. Mariposa County asks for the destination and offers care at your home as an alternative.

The access answer is yours to give

Summit County’s script ends on the field that is hardest to fix from a hotel room: how you would like responders to access your home. This page does not say what an officer may lawfully do at a locked door. The agency pages show that they ask the owner to supply the route in, which makes access a preparation problem.

Workable answers are ordinary. A spare key held by a neighbor who is outside the zone or will meet an officer at a checkpoint. A gate code and the gate’s location. A lockbox and its combination. A specific door or window you know is unlocked, named precisely, since “the back is open” is not a location. A garage keypad. With a smart lock, say you can unlock it remotely, so the officer knows to phone you from the porch.

If a neighbor holds the key, put that neighbor’s name and number in the request. Whatever the arrangement, confirm it is still true this month. Our neighbor buddy system for apartment buildings covers the version that has to work through a locked lobby and a building manager.

The federal preparedness guidance points the same way from the prevention side. The CDC’s pet emergency page tells owners to “Create a buddy system in case you’re not home during an emergency” and to ask a trusted neighbor who can check on the animals and evacuate them if necessary. The ASPCA says of the temporary caregiver that “A set of keys should be given to this trusted individual.”

Where the animal hides

A responder in an evacuation zone has a list, a window of time, and a building they have never been inside. The CDC’s guidance, written for practicing an evacuation, says to know where your pet might hide when stressed or scared. That knowledge helps just as much when someone else does the retrieval. Say the cat’s usual spot behind the water heater, the dog that wedges under the far side of the bed, the parrot that will be silent in the corner of a covered cage, the rabbit under the sofa. Give a second spot. If the animal comes to a particular word or the sound of a treat container, say so, and say where the container is.

If several animals hide in different places, give each one separately. Our multi-pet emergency planning guide covers building that inventory, and our printable crate and kennel ID card covers the version that travels with a confined animal.

Large animals

Mariposa County asks large-animal owners who request transport assistance to leave halters, lead ropes and similar gear accessible and visible. A team that arrives with a trailer and no way to catch and lead the animal has half of what it needs.

The same county page tells owners preparing in advance to have several days of water on the property in appropriately sized troughs or bowls for the type and number of animals, and, where possible, to mark livestock with a phone number and address. Our horse and livestock evacuation basics covers the loading side.

Write the Request Before the Season

Every field above is knowable today, and none of it is easy to recall on a bad phone connection in a parking lot. Put it on one page: on paper in the go-bag, as a note on your phone that syncs, and as a copy with whoever holds your spare key.

In order, the page should carry: your name and two phone numbers; the address with access notes; each animal by name with species, description, microchip number, confinement status and hiding spots; medical facts; your veterinarian’s name and number; and the access instruction with the key holder’s name and number.

The veterinarian’s contact belongs there for a second reason. The ASPCA says the rescue alert sticker on your door should show the types and number of pets in the home and your veterinarian’s name and number. Our free printable pet rescue alert notice lays those fields out, and filling one in drafts the request at the same time. Our pet emergency binder guide covers the document set, and the pet emergency wallet card fits in a pocket when the binder is in the house you cannot reach.

What Happens After You Call

Your request becomes a record with a priority. Mariposa County says: “Please keep in mind that Animal Control will transport animals in greater danger/need first.” That is triage, which is why the medical and confinement fields matter.

It goes to a specific role. Summit County says the request goes to an Animal Control Officer or a Summit County Animal Response Team volunteer. In Los Angeles in January 2025, the city described a care team of certified animal control officers from its own department and surrounding jurisdictions.

Someone with credentials goes, or nobody goes. During the Palisades response, LA Animal Services published that law enforcement was allowing only certified Animal Control/Humane Officers from LA Animal Services into evacuation order zones. The same alert says law enforcement regulates where and when authorized personnel may enter, and that checkpoints were staffed by the LAPD, the Sheriff and the National Guard.

You may be told what happened. Los Angeles said the owner would be notified once the care team had visited. Not every jurisdiction commits to that, so ask whether you will be contacted either way, and on what number.

The animal goes somewhere and you collect it. Summit County says the animal is taken to a designated safe area where you can reclaim it. Los Angeles County’s animal department lists among its stated emergency response goals a system for identifying and reuniting animals with their owners after an emergency event.

Reclaiming has its own proof requirements and clock. Our page on proving a pet is yours and getting it back covers what agencies publish about evidence, holding periods and fees. Whether a scan leads back to you depends on the database record behind the chip, covered in our microchip registration audit. The reporting side of a search is in the hub on reuniting with a pet after a disaster.

When Nobody Is Going In

A request with no response has not always been lost. Field response stops at certain times, and knowing them in advance separates a reasonable follow-up from a night spent convinced you were forgotten.

• During the storm. Pinellas County, Florida says once winds reach 40 to 50 mph, responders will not be able to respond to emergencies. Your county’s threshold may differ. File before the wind arrives.
• After hours, in some places. Multnomah County’s gap is 5 pm to 8 am. Assume your own agency has a gap until it tells you otherwise.
• While the perimeter is hard. The Los Angeles alert describes checkpoints staffed by three law enforcement bodies and access limited to certified officers. The constraint then is the incident’s access control, not the animal agency’s willingness.
• When capacity runs out. Summit County writes: “Do not leave your pet behind, and expect someone to go into your house to rescue them.” Its page adds that fire crews, law enforcement and animal control have very limited resources for rescuing pets.

That county statement is why this page is a fallback procedure, not a plan. Our guide to getting a pet out when the order arrives while you are at work spends its length on the hour before the perimeter closes.

National Groups and Mutual Aid Arrive Through the Agency

An owner’s call alone does not send a national animal charity. The two organizations cited here say deployment follows a request from an agency.

Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States, says in its Animal Rescue Team FAQ: “In order for us to deploy, an official request must be made through the appropriate emergency management or law enforcement official.” The FAQ says the team is typically called in for disasters or cruelty cases when animal needs exceed what local law enforcement or animal services can handle, and that its help comes at no cost to the requesting community.

The ASPCA’s press releases name the requesting agency each time. Its October 30, 2019 Kincade Fire release opens “At the request of Sonoma County Animal Services” and says the team fulfilled animal search and rescue requests and provided welfare checks for non-evacuated animals. Its October 9, 2024 North Carolina release says it mobilized at the request of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and coordinated with the North Carolina Emergency Operation Center. The ASPCA’s disaster page describes its National Field & Disaster Response team collaborating with disaster response groups, local animal welfare organizations and emergency management services.

Two consequences follow, in our reading. Calling a national charity directly is a detour, not a shortcut, because your request still has to enter the local system that can escalate it. And when a national team arrives, capacity has grown, so re-contact your local agency if your earlier request went unanswered. The Kincade release included the local agency’s dispatch line for residents whose pets needed emergency rescue.

Mutual aid between neighboring agencies works the same way and can arrive first. In January 2025, LA Animal Services credited field assistance from Riverside County Animal Services, the City and County of San Bernardino Animal Services, and Mission Viejo Animal Services. Los Angeles County’s animal department says it holds mutual assistance agreements with other animal care and control agencies inside and outside the county.

The Federal Layer

No federal hotline in the sources cited here sends a responder to an owner’s address. The federal authority is the Stafford Act, at 42 U.S.C. 5170b, titled Essential assistance. As of August 5, 2026, the preliminary edition on uscode.house.gov says federal agencies may, on the direction of the President, provide assistance essential to meeting immediate threats to life and property from a major disaster. Subsection (a)(3)(J) lists the provision of rescue, care, shelter, and essential needs for individuals with household pets and service animals, and for the animals themselves. It is an authority for federal agencies acting on presidential direction, not a service line for an owner.

The American Veterinary Medical Association’s PETS Act FAQ, which carries no publication date, describes escalation in steps. When local resources are overwhelmed the state helps, and when state resources are overwhelmed a request goes to the President for a federal response. It says the PETS Act “is operational when a federal disaster declaration has been made.” Treat the AVMA page as undated background from a professional association, and rely on the statute itself.

Ready.gov, last updated 03/20/2026, also offers no federal number. It says to contact your local emergency management office, animal shelter or animal control office. Money and surge capacity flow down through declarations, and your request flows up through your county.

Three Different Asks

“Go get my dog” is one of at least three requests an agency can receive about a property in a closed zone. Naming yours correctly gets a better answer.

Rescue and transport. Someone enters, retrieves the animal and moves it to a designated location. Summit County describes this, and Mariposa County asks for the destination you need the animals transported to.

A welfare check. Someone goes to the property, confirms the animal’s condition and reports back, without necessarily removing it. The ASPCA’s Kincade release lists welfare checks for non-evacuated animals as a distinct service. LA Animal Services published that by the end of January 19, 2025 it had conducted welfare checks for 114 animals in Pacific Palisades. This is often the realistic ask for an animal that is safe where it is, and for one that would fare worse in transit.

Care in place. Someone enters and provisions the animal without removing it. Mariposa County offers this in its request script, asking whether you want the animals transported or cared for at your home. Many owners do not know to ask for it. Say which of the three you want, give one sentence on why, and let the agency tell you what is possible.

A fourth ask is not a field response: supplies and information for an animal that is with you but stranded without provisions. The ASPCA’s Helene hotline announcement pairs the search and rescue reporting function with pet food and supply distribution, and Mariposa County routes displaced owners who have their animals but nowhere to put them to a regional animal disaster team and the county SPCA. Our checklist for emergency boarding during an evacuation covers the destination side.

Following Up Without Becoming Noise

No agency page cited here publishes a callback interval, so any number would be invented. These steps keep a follow-up useful.

• Keep a log. Record the date, time, number dialed, who you spoke to, what they said and any reference number. If the agency stood up an event hotline, log which line you used. A request on the general line and one on the fire hotline may sit in different systems.
• Ask three questions on the first call. Is the request logged, and under what reference? Will anyone contact you either way? What number do you use for a status check, and at what hours?
• Update the request when a fact changes. A neighbor who got in and found a broken window, a camera clip showing the dog moved rooms, or a new phone number are worth a short call because they change the job.
• Do not file the same request through five channels. Duplicate reports across a hotline, a social media account, a shelter inbox and a national organization’s form create work for the same small pool of people and can cause two visits to a property that needed one. Use the channel the agency names, and ask which channel is correct.
• Take the answer you get. If nobody is entering the zone tonight, driving to a checkpoint will not change it.

Find Your County’s Answer This Week

1. Open your county animal services page. Search it for evacuation, disaster and emergency. Write down what it says and what it leaves out. A page with no disaster section is itself an answer: look at emergency management instead.
2. Open your county emergency management page. Look for an animal response team, an animal annex to the emergency operations plan, or a named animal coordinator.
3. Confirm which agency covers your exact address. In a metro with both city and county agencies, or a city whose animal control is contracted to a humane society, this step decides the rest.
4. Write down the hours, and what happens outside them.
5. Ask in a normal week. Call the non-emergency line and ask what animal rescue requests they accept during an evacuation, from whom, and what they need from a caller.
6. Put the answers on the one-page request sheet and give a copy to whoever holds your key.
7. Check the emergency management site during an event, where an event-specific hotline appears if one is created.

Related Reading

If your animal is with you and the problem is where to put it, see our emergency boarding checklist for an evacuation and our guide to whether pet-friendly disaster shelters exist near you. If the order lands while you are at work and the perimeter has not closed, see getting home to the animal before the road shuts. The wider cluster hangs off our pet emergency playbooks pillar. Rules here are local and change, so take your own county’s page over anything you read on this site. EmergencyPetPrep is not a law firm and publishes no reading of any statute, ordinance or agency procedure.