Roscoe, a tan puggle, yelps plaintively from inside a crate, doing his best impersonation of a dog in need. He yips alongside a blue-eyed husky, a schnauzer named Scoobie and, across the room, a guinea pig and a ferret - all supposedly just rescued from a disaster.
For the first time ever in the state, if there would be a flood or a tornado or something that caused a mass evacuation in Baltimore County, people and their pets have a shelter where they can stay together: Eastern Technical High School in Essex.
On Monday the county's emergency management crews rehearsed opening the shelter to people and animals, filling the wood shop with animals, crates and all the food, pooper scoopers, kitty litter, leashes and bowls they would need to keep pets comfortable.
The idea is to prevent the mayhem of a Hurricane Katrina, where as many as 600,000 pets died or were left homeless, the Humane Society of the United States estimates.
Some people along the Gulf Coast refused to evacuate their homes and leave pets behind. Thousands of abandoned pets were rescued but sent to shelters across the country, never to be reunited with their original owners.
"It just made my heart sink, seeing all those animals on roofs," said Roscoe's owner, Carmen Christiana of Hunt Valley. "It's something dear to our hearts and we just wanted to help people prepare."
After Katrina, a federal law was passed requiring state and local governments to draft disaster plans involving shelter for animals. Baltimore County has worked on its plan for two years, said Lt. Mark F. Demski of the Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management.
A federal grant bought the county a $12,000 trailer outfitted with dozens of pet carriers, food, bowls, grooming equipment, leashes, capture poles and cleansers - most everything a dog or a cat would need.
The school, meanwhile, was equipped with a separate ventilation system so that pets and even those allergic to them could safely stay there together.
Inside the school on Monday, officials staffing the emergency drill were careful to document each pet coming in, taking a picture of the pets with their owners so no animals would be lost or allowed to leave with the wrong people.
In a disaster, people at the shelter would not be in the same area as the pets, but would be able to visit and walk them.
Other counties and the city have pet emergency plans, but this is the first shelter to accommodate pets and owners, Demski said. People from other areas would be allowed to use this shelter during a regional emergency, Demski added.
County officials say all pet owners should have an emergency plan and consider the shelter at 1100 Mace Ave. to be a backup.
"People's pets are family," said Charlotte Crenson, who works with county animal control. "This helps allay their fears and gives them an option."
