Disasters and emergency situations happen every day. Katrina made everyone sit up and take notice, and everyone wants to be the person who pulls the half-starved dog out of floodwaters.

But what about the everyday disasters? Lots of county and rural shelters have only a handful of people to deal with any situation that comes up.

If there is a local flood or propane explosion, the UAN and other groups might not be going to the scene -- but the animals are facing a real disaster and need help.

If you want to make a difference in your community, be sure your county shelters know who you are and have your contact information.

This past winter a contractor error caused a propane gas explosion at a rural shelter in West Virginia. The shelter workers did what they could to get the animals out of the building, but then they needed help rounding up the dogs, getting the animals into warm foster homes and/or temporary pens, providing for the ones who were injured and, of course, rebuilding. They had to come up with a way to help the animals in the cold of winter with all their supplies gone.

Things like this happen all the time.

If you are trained, if you are going to be trained, if you just want to do what you can, let the county shelters know who you are and how you can help them in an emergency.

You can read more about the West Virginia shelter at: http://network.bestfriends.org/nmhp/news/144.html

NOTE: Disasters happen in the winter too, so while you are registering with your county shelters learn where you can buy straw (feed stores, Lowes) and check out the fleece remnants at fabric stores. They make warm and comfortable beds for carriers and crates. Have a stash available. You can even cut up your old sweatshirts and just sew a seam around the edges.