The key to an effective Emergency Animal Relief (EAR) program is a rapid and well-coordinated response plan that meets the needs of animals in very specific disaster scenarios. For more than 85 years, the American Humane Association (AHA) h as responded to and coordinated disaster relief for animals, making the agency a storehouse of information on disaster preparedness for pets and a valuable training resource for those interested in responding to animals in disasters.
Over the years, AHA has handled disasters ranging from hurricanes and floods, to tornadoes, wildfires, and mudslides. Each of those disasters required specific equipment and skills. All the equipment necessary to rescue animals in any s i tuation is onboard AHA’s Animal Planet Rescue rig. However, moving the 18-wheeler across the country, along with a handful of disaster teams, can take days. With experts predicting that the number of disasters could increase in t he coming years, it has become even more imperative to find new and faster ways to respond to animal disasters.
To achieve that end, AHA has restructured its EAR program to allow regional responder teams to form and serve in 10 regions around the country. These regions are based on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) regional disaster sites . The goal is for each of these regions to feature technical animal rescue training sites, regional response teams, and small rescue trucks equipped to handle the disasters that most affect that particular region. This National Disaster Respon s e Plan is a regionally structured program that will enable us to respond to disasters much faster and with more expertise.
Additionally, AHA is “practicing what we preach.” For years, AHA has advised local animal shelters to form cooperative relationships with other agencies in their communities. Only together, we told them, will your response be as eff e ctive as it can be. These are things easy to say. They are even more important to do.
Following the devastation of the Carolinas in the wake of Hurricane Floyd, former Under Secretary of the USDA Michael Dunn toured the affected areas and saw the effect the disaster had on both agriculture and companion animals. His question, “ W ho’s doing something for these animals?” led to a meeting between the USDA and a number of animal welfare groups active in disaster relief for animals.
That initial meeting led to more meetings that bore the fruit of cooperation, collaboration, and communication and, thus, the creation of the National Animal Disaster Coalition (NADC). The groups involved in the NADC have agreed to try a common inc i dent command structure, to standardize forms and paperwork where possible, and to agree to minimum training standards for disaster responders. Included in this coalition are the American Humane Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, American Academy on Veterinary Disaster Medicine, Code 3 and Associates, FEMA, The Humane Society of the United State s , the International Fund for Animal Welfare, United Animal Nations, the USDA, National Emergency Management Association, and the coalition continues to grow.
AHA believes that the delivery of a unified response from national animal welfare groups to animals affected by disasters is a tremendous move forward, and anticipates that local animal welfare groups will benefit from the streamlined response from the n a tional groups.
For more information on AHA’s National Disaster Response Plan or to receive training information: phone: 1-800-227-4645, e-mail: ear@americanhumane.org or Web: http://www.americanhumane.org
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The Animal Welfare Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Ave.
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
Phone: (301) 504-6212
FAX: (301) 504-7125
E-mail: awic@nal.usda.gov
