It has been said that the only thing harder than explaining why you need to prepare for a disaster is having to explain why you didn’t prepare. Although New England has been somewhat insulated from major natural disasters in recent years, the need for preparedness remains critical. Indeed, if you consider that a disaster is any event that overwhelms existing resources, it becomes apparent what a key role planning serves in creating safer, disaster-resistant communities.
To support the need for trained responders who can address animal issues during disasters, NERO hosted an emergency animal sheltering class in early April. In a region that provided many volunteers for Hurricane Katrina’s animal rescue and sheltering efforts, the training elicited a strong response, with nearly 70 attendees from five New England states and as far away as Maryland.
The class was held in Waterville, Maine, an area that has begun to form its own county animal response team. Maine’s disaster planning for animals has come a long way in a relatively short period of time through the efforts of the State of Maine Animal Response Team and strong leadership from the Maine Emergency Management Agency. Against the backdrop of this renewed attention to animal concerns, the emergency animal sheltering workshop provided participants with a crash course on setting up and running temporary and pet-friendly animal shelters.
The curriculum spanned a wide variety of topics, from the physical and emotional needs of the animals to worker health and safety and liability issues. But the class was also hands-on. Students designed an emergency animal shelter and practiced using the Incident Command System in a mock scenario.
With another hurricane season on the horizon and storms predicted for New England, participants took the opportunity to re-energize their commitment to the mantra: “Think globally, act locally.”
Additional training classes are being scheduled for other New England states later this year. To find out more, contact our office at 802-368-2790 or nero@hsus.org.
