Once the last of Isabel's storm clouds had finally passed, The HSUS Disaster Animal Response Teams (DART) found themselves in an odd position for a hurricane that had caused so much damage: While they performed damage assessment 'til near exhaustion, they were needed only sporadically for rescue services.

The HSUS's Phil Snyder, director for The HSUS Central States Regional Office (CSRO), had two words to explain the unusual situation: "luck" and "preparation."

Not to discount the real-life tragedies that occurred during Hurricane Isabel, but from an animal perspective, the storm could have been much worse, noted Snyder, who as Branch Chief coordinated the search-and-rescue teams for North Carolina's State Animal Response Team (SART) during the storm. The fast-moving Isabel dumped less water than expected and its winds were less forceful than the 100-mph-plus furies that threatened off the coast of North Carolina. A less forgiving hurricane could have wreaked far more havoc than the estimated $1 billion in insured property losses that Isabel caused.

Perhaps more to the point, though, state, county and local governments were much better prepared in advance of Hurricane Isabel than for Hurricane Floyd, the 1999 storm that became the worst disaster in North Carolina's history. Ninety-nine percent of the credit goes to those state agencies, county animal control officers, and local shelters on the ground, but The HSUS has also played a significant role over the years in laying the groundwork and raising awareness, both at local and state levels, of animal issues during disasters.

"The idea is not that we get the call to go in and do the rescue," said Anne Culver, director of The HSUS's Disaster Services, "but that we educate people so that they can do it themselves. Of course, if the situation becomes too much for them to handle, then we can send in teams to assist."

Case in point: In 1999, shortly after Hurricane Floyd left thousands of residents and their pets stranded (and killed hundreds of thousands of commercial hogs and chickens), Snyder of CSRO arranged a meeting with North Carolina's Department of Agriculture, as well as key animal control officers and various veterinary associations, to discuss emergency preparedness and rescue responses for animals. The meeting eventually led to the creation of SART, of which Snyder is a member.

Four years later, when Hurricane Isabel poked her angry head through the clouds, SART was ready, Snyder says. The years of trainings and networking and coordination between agencies had paid off. North Carolina was poised take care of its own.

As an example, Snyder points to the 13 temporary animal shelters set up in advance of Isabel by SART. The shelters were located near 13 temporary Red Cross shelters, which allowed stranded North Carolinians to keep their animals close by until the storm waters receded and they could return to their homes. This kind of teamwork never occurred during previous disasters in North Carolina, Snyder notes.

Almost 400 animals found temporary homes in those 13 shelters after Isabel roared through North Carolina, Snyder says. If not for those makeshift shelters, he adds, "more people and more animals would have been in harm's way."

North Carolina is not alone in developing a disaster plan for animals. In fact, The HSUS has been integral in the creation of other organizations similar to SART.

In Maryland (as in many states around the country), The HSUS is a sponsor and a partner in the Animal Disaster Planning Advisory Committee (ADPAC), along with the state departments of agriculture and emergency management. Likewise, in Florida, The HSUS has partnered with the state departments of agriculture and emergency management to develop county and state plans, as well as the development of Disaster Animal Response Teams.

In Virginia, The HSUS began a series of discussions this year to launch the Disaster Animal Care Committee, which would include animal control officers, other humane groups, and various state agencies such as the Department of Emergency Management and the Agriculture Department. And in West Virginia, The HSUS has conducted several trainings with emergency managers to raise awareness about animal issues during disasters.

All of these organizations and trainings have several goals: to create a strong communication network in which local authorities talk to state authorities when their needs exceed their own capabilities; to train local and state emergency managers to consider animals when planning for disasters and when staging rescues during actual disasters; to train animal control officers to plan for disasters as a routine part of their job; to inform everyone, from local to state authorities, where the animal-rescue resources are available during disasters.

"I think all the work and preparation paid off during Hurricane Isabel," says Melissa Seide Rubin, HSUS Vice President of Field Services. "For the most part, local officials were able to take care of their own needs. There was a lot of self-help going on."

Not that The HSUS's DART teams were just standing idly. Far from it. Prior to Isabel's landfall, members of the National DART team were split into two full field-response units, one based in Raleigh, N.C., and the other in Maryland. Once the "all clear" signal was given from every state except North Carolina and Virginia, all DART team members converged on the staging area in Greenville, N.C., where they met teams from other humane organizations and collectively worked under the direction of SART's emergency command center. SART directed the teams to conduct assessments of 12 counties identified as critical concerns. Nine of those counties were visited by HSUS DART teams and sub-teams.

Among the situations encountered by the DART teams or DART managers back in The HSUS's Maryland headquarters:

• On Saturday, September 20, a DART team led by The HSUS's Melissa Forberg visited Gates County, N.C., where members talked to the sheriff and animal control officers at the local emergency command center. Apparently the first response unit to visit the county and assess damage, the DART team forwarded a request to state emergency authorities for two generators to run Gates' water treatment plant (which at the time was powered by a tractor generator). Animal control officers also told the team that they were no longer picking up stray animals because the nearest shelter, in Chowan County, was full and wouldn't accept any more. A day later, another DART team confirmed that Chowan's facility had available room and that Gates could indeed take strays to the shelter.
• The following day, Sunday, September 21, as it was traveling back to Raleigh, a DART team led by The HSUS's Laura Bevan noticed several chickens wandering aimlessly near two commercial chicken houses. The crew immediately made a U-turn and discovered that the houses had suffered extensive damage, their protective roofs blown far afield, victims to Isabel's fury. DART members also found about 300-400 young chickens still alive, although some were clearly injured or near death, as well as many more who had died during the storm or sometime thereafter. The stench of rotting animals was overwhelming. There was no food or water available for the surviving chickens.

  The DART team found a grain silo with feed and promptly distributed it to the chickens. Members also dug shallow trenches, lined them with plastic bags, and filled them with water for the animals. They then notified SART so that the state could take control of the situation.

  The DART teams' work did not escape SART's attention. "The HSUS played an essential role in the effectiveness of SART during Hurricane Isabel," noted Jodi Jackson, SART's executive director. "They provided leadership throughout our assessments and animal search and rescue efforts. Their contributions were invaluable."

• Back in The HSUS's main administrative offices in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Kate Pullen, director of Animal Sheltering Issues, and Betsy McFarland, Outreach Coordinator in the same department, were working the phones constantly. At first, they called to prep state agencies, city managers and local shelters in Virginia and Maryland for the coming storm, and then, post-Isabel, they phoned again to assess the damage in those two states.

  Only one of the many shelters Pullen contacted in Virginia needed assistance. It was in Northumberland County, where a lack of water forced the shelter to place its animals in foster homes because workers couldn't clean the kennels and keep them free of bacteria.

  Pullen found a company in California, Animal Health and Sanitary Supply, to provide a free shipment of special disinfectant to the Northumberland shelter, so that the facility could relieve the foster homes of their extra guests. The disinfectant, which doesn't strictly require rinsing, arrived a day later, and the shelter was back in business, water or not.

• While the DART teams delivered pet food (some of which was donated by PETsMART) or were prepared to build makeshift shelter cages (some of which were donated by Petco), what the crew members mostly provided was moral support to the victims of Hurricane Isabel.

  "Quite often, when we arrived at the scene, people didn't necessarily need our assistance," notes The HSUS's Snyder. "They already had matters well in hand. But what they appreciated was our mere presence. They felt like someone was on their side. That kind of support is invaluable."