Disaster Planning

Disaster Preparedness: Are You and Your Animals Ready?

It is important that sanctuaries and individuals that keep exotic animals in captivity are familiar with the special challenges that occur during the occurrence of a disaster. It is equally important that sanctuaries such as ours are involved with other animal rescue organizations, federal agencies and veterinarians to continue to educate themselves and others and ensure that we are prepared for disaster.

As part of being prepared for the hurricanes this year and as part of ongoing training and development of our staff, someof our volutneers attended United Animal Nations’ Emergency Animal Rescue Services (EARS) volunteer training in Tampa. When disaster strikes, humans can depend on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Red Cross or National Guard for aid and assistance, but who is there to help the animals? In addition to the VMAT teams, United Animal Nations (UAN) began filling this void nearly 20 years ago, responding to wild fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes to care for the animals. Trained EARS volunteers rescue, shelter, feed, groom, exercise and provide TLC for any displaced companion animals, wildlife and livestock during the duration of a disaster with no charge to the community. Learn more about UAN and EARS at www.uan.org.

UAN also provides domestic pet owners with useful disaster preparedness information and materials. It is important that all pet owners prepare and have an evacuation plan and disaster kit ready to keep their pets safe. For more information and tips on how to keep your pet safe, go to http://www.uan.org/ears/disaster_tips.html to find some very valuable information.

Please take a moment to read the tips to prepare yourself for the next disaster. We always think that it will never happen to us but for the sake of your animals, please get your supplies ready so that they do not suffer unnecessarily during a disaster. In Florida it's wild fires or hurricanes, in other states and countries disasters can be anything from an earthquake, tsunami to a flash flood or extreme drought.

So please, where ever you live, whether you own a domestic or exotic animal, sit down with your family and friends ahead of time and map out your own personal disaster plan for your family and your pets.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

VMAT-1

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Home > Training > 2003

Florida

The Florida Field Training was a highlight for us for the year. Although it was designed and run by VMAT-1, the training was open to and attended by representatives from all four teams. The exercise was designed with two distinct missions in mind.

First, it was to be a full field deployment, which required moving staff and equipment to a remote sight and to set up and operate housing for all members as well as set up, and operate a full field hospital.
The second mission was to teach Remote Drug Immobilization and actually put the principals and techniques to use. This was done under the direction of Dr Mark Lloyd, a world-renowned Exotic Animal Veterinarian and the Deputy Team Leader of VMAT-1. Hurricane Andrew, with the destruction of the Miami Zoo and release of a large number of its inhabitants, served as a great lesson on the need for those capabilities.

The Training was conducted in Zolfo Springs Florida at Peace River Refuge and Ranch which is a location that provides housing and care for large cats and exotic animals that have been abandoned or relinquished to their care for a variety of reasons. They provided the actual animals that had some veterinary needs and we were able to provide the veterinary care at no cost so that it was a win-win situation.

Although we have trained extensively and accumulated our equipment and supplies with the intent of being able to set up and operate a field hospital, we had (until now) never done that. Just the logistics of packing, categorizing and finding a way to move our cache proved to be a challenge. We now have in a plan in place and a backup plan to move it in the event of a disaster. We were also able to identify those items that we needed to add to our cache to allow us to actually function and do anesthesia and surgery in the field as a field hospital. Until you actually do surgery and anesthesia in a field hospital environment, you are not positive that you can. We now know that we can.

Photos by: Lyn T. Garson

The actual animal procedures accomplished included darting and remote tranquilization of several animals (including a 383 pound Tiger and several Mountain Lions); the subsequent surgical sterilization of several of those animals; blood drawing for routine laboratory testing; TB testing of a variety of Primates; Micro Chip Implantation of all animals worked on; Sample gathering and submission for some special research studies; fecal examination for parasites; and dental evaluation and care for anesthetized animals and appropriate vaccinations. Various vendors donated the majority of the consumable veterinary supplies utilized as well as the laboratory work provided. Much thanks to Henry Schein, Inc. for their generous donation of supplies. A big thank you to Antech Diagnostics for all the laboratory work and supplies. Much appreciation to Schering-Plough for the microchips they provided.