The country recently marked 20 years since the heartbreak of Hurricane Katrina.

Back then, people were told to evacuate and leave their pets behind. It’s tough to say just how many pets were abandoned but estimates range from thousands to hundreds of thousands. Rescue vehicles and shelters often refused pets, so nearly half of the 200,000 people who stayed behind did it for an animal. There’s no telling how many of them perished.

Since then, Congress passed the Pet Evacuation and Transportation Safety Act, which authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide rescue, care, shelter and essential needs for household pets and service animals following major disasters.

Since Katrina, the dynamic has changed: if you evacuate, take your pet with you.