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Conducting Disaster Rescues - Fri. 3:30pm
Preparing and conducting effective animal rescues during national disasters

Presenters: Garrison, Gorski, Shoss, Zeman

Tim Gorski
Rattle the Cage, www.RattleTheCage.org

Four Rules of Thumb:

1. Don’t Become A Victim
2. Expect the Unexpected
3. Communication Always Fails
4. Plans Always Fail but Are Essential Nonetheless

► Get all your shots – Hepatitis, rabies, tetanus, etc.
► Know your strengths, weaknesses, and talents.
► Do NOT go in without proper rescue or shelter training!

Get EARS (United Animal Nations) or DART (HSUS) Certified! AES (American Humane Association) has classes as well.

Get FEMA certified http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/crslist.asp

http://virtualcampus.fema.gov/learningspace5/program/UI/Main/Themes/Kendall/Main.asp

Ask yourself questions like, can you handle harsh environments (extreme heat or cold)? Can you handle being dirty all the time? Can you handle being around death?

More Rules

► Do NOT attempt to enter a disaster zone without fully understanding what you are getting into.

► Know the area (good maps)

► Understand the extent of damage

► Be physically and emotionally prepared for the harshest situations

You Will encounter death. That’s why it’s called a disaster.

Be completely self sufficient

• Food, water, petrol, medical supplies for you AND the animals
• GOOD VEHICLE! (SUV), enough petrol to last a week, Spare tire, repair kit, flares.
• Boat – lightweight, small engine, zodiac
• Gear – tent, waders, catch poles, traps, crates, first aid kits, disinfectants, muzzles, leashes, collars, flashlights, walkie talkies, batteries, rope, sledgehammer, crowbar, hacksaw, knife, gerber, gloves, spray paint, notebook, camera, gas cans, maps, vehicle magnets, etc.

Is there a State Animal Response Team (SART) or Incident Command System (ICS) in effect that you can play a role in?

ICS - Dynamic yet predictable Chain of Command
► FEMA (NIMS) National Incident Management System
► HSUS, AHA, and ASPCA are key players in this system

• Organized system of roles and responsibilities
• Enhanced accountability
• Added bureaucracy and red tape
• Can be easily overwhelmed
• Can be slow to mobilize
  ► If FEMA says no entry then your hands are tied

“Rogue” Rescuers and Shelters

The Heart and Soul of animal rescues, Volunteers risking their own lives, using their own vehicles and equipment without the support of larger organizations, military, or police

• Grassroots teams typically working under the radar
• If you are not going in with HSUS, AHA, or another large NGO realize that you are entering at your own risk. The military may try and turn you away. In which case you need to be intuitive. Look official, act official, be confident, and know where you are going.
• Coordinate with someone like Brenda ahead of time.
• Chances are once you are in the disaster area you will be cut off from the rest of the world
• Do NOT go in Alone.

Four Rules of Thumb:

1. Don’t Become A Victim
2. Expect the Unexpected
3. Communication Always Fails
4. Plans Always Fail but Are Essential Nonetheless

Camp Chaos – Winn Dixie Shelter

Command Center – Director of Operations and the PIO

► The Director of Operations oversees each department within the shelter.

► The Public Information Officer (PIO) has the latest up to date information for the press including, phone numbers, address, how many animals housed, and supplies needed. The PIO conducts interviews and or press conferences relaying key messages to the public.

Intake

► Each animal brought in by rescue workers must pass through intake. The animal should already be tagged with location of rescue.

Triage

Baths

Housing

► Animals must be separated by species, size, and disposition. Never put cats and dogs in the same area. Never put large and small dogs together.

► Each crate must be labeled with an animal intake form including information regarding the rescue location, species, breed, color, disposition, feeding, and walking schedule.
Supplies/distribution

► The supply area must be inventoried and organized.

► Must be easily accessible by large trucks

Camps

► Camps should be kept clean, neat, and away from animals. Keep an inventory of your own supplies and keep them secure while away from camp.

► Tent, tarps, lights, sleeping bags, cots, air mattresses, chairs, cooler, food, water, power bars, towels, toilet paper, stove, etc.

Rescues – The Disaster Zone

• Techniques
  ► Safety comes first
• Don’t get los
• Bring a good map
  ► Numbers and signs may be missing
• Use landmarks

Rescues – Don’t Get Hurt

Techniques
► Check your surroundings

• Water depth
• Open manholes
• Downed power lines
• Structures

► Test roofs and floors before walking

Rescues – Don’t get bitten!

Techniques

► Check the animal

• Even the nicest animal may bite when injured
• Read animal’s body language
• Approach slowly
• Turn sideways
• Do not stare into dog’s eyes
• Speak softly
• First Aid and CPR (Dehydration, Heat Stroke, Drowning,

Rescues – Don’t get bitten!

• Tools
• Sledge Hammers, crow bars
• Catch poles
  ► using a catch pole
• Traps
• Collars

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Brenda Shoss
Kinship Circle, www.KinshipCircle.org

Click here for Brenda's printable handout (pdf).

They were left behind, by the hundreds of thousands...

• Chained to doorposts, locked inside carriers, marooned in attics, trapped on rooftops, roaming the streets.
• Category 5 Katrina created a situation never before witnessed in modern history: With its mass evacuations, it left
  entire ghost towns — filled with people’s companion animals.
  * An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 animals stranded in New Orleans alone.
  * Doesn’t include surrounding parishes or Mississippi — 40,000 - 90,000 died.
  * Up to 15,000 thought to be saved by relative handful of 5,000+ volunteers dispersed among 400+ groups.
  Large operations (HSUS, Noah’s Wish, EARS, IDA, Pasado, Alley Cat Allies) or the many independent missions (Winn Dixie, MuttShack, ARNO) sometimes referred to as the renegade groups... or, groups with no red tape.

Kinship Circle & Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) form Grassroots Effort For Animals of the Storm

• To move independent rescue missions into overlooked areas of Mississippi — Pascagoula, Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, etc.
• We wound up mobilizing volunteers/supplies to some 80 relief missions across LA, MS, AL and TX.
• Established drop/distribution site for supplies in centralized Mobile, until we got transporters past security checkpoints.
  * By mid-October, we’d dispensed: * truckloads of hay, cages and live traps * 20,000+ pounds of animal food *
  1,000 pounds of kitty litter * 500 crates * $5,000 worth of vaccines * $10,000 in veterinary supplies *
  20 pallets of water * more than 5,000 bowls, leashes, collars, and toys... And it was only October!

My perspective, as enduring GRASSROOTS effort in the Gulf Coast...

• Missing component in animal disaster plan: Fluid strategy between animal protection groups.
• No organized aid from: White House / Defense Dept. / Depart. of Homeland Security / states of LA and MS.
• Many animals left to mercy of soldiers, independent rescuers, coordinators who became clearinghouses of information.
  * Among those animals: 11-yr-old Yorkie named Spike cowered under child’s bed in evacuee Brenda Johnson’s flooded New Orleans East apartment... SPIKE’S STORY.

ARNO: Group formed under Jane Garrison, Pia Salk, David Meyer. I was an ARNO founding coordinator.

• Animal Rescue New Orleans a direct response to what we saw in front of us. Though lease up for HSUS at Lamar Dixon, still possessed list of thousands of evacuee requests to search for lost pets.
• Oct - Feb, ARNO on the ground. KATRINA STRUCK AND AS A RESULT:
  * Backyard animals swam or fled over broken fences.
  * Rescuers broke into homes, got SOME animals. Others weren’t found & escaped through open doors.
  * Friendly strays, fed by people now gone, have no food source.
  * Before Katrina, Louisiana already had one of worst spay/neuter records in country.
• SO YOU’VE GOT: 1000s of animals stranded by 2 hurricanes * 1000s more were pre-hurricane strays (most of them unsterilized and still generating litters)

ARNO developed protocol to adapt to the “crisis AFTER the crisis”

• I compiled ARNO’s 50-page manual of instructions/forms: Volunteer recruitment and fundraising * Food/water orientation/how to setup station * Data entry for animal sightings * Emergency medical for animals * Communication with returning residents * Animal abuse situations... MAX -CAT ALIVE WITH ARROW SHOT THROUGH BODY.

As ARNO National Volunteer Coordinator, recruited out-of-town and returning residents for:

• Food/Water Teams * On-Site Animal Caregivers * Trapping & Rescue Teams * Administrative * Transports * Veterinary

As ARNO Food/Water Assignments Director

• Maintained Master Feeding Schedule, dispatching volunteers to 50 mapped section in NOLA + surrounding areas.
  * Serviced 2,800 food/water stations over 650sq. miles in Orleans, St. Bernard, Plaquemine Parishes.

By 2/15/06, when Arno transitioned to locally run organization, we’d recovered almost 3,000 animals. Searched 5,000 homes where animals thought to be trapped.

• Resident-run ARNO still active in LA, MS: www.AnimalRescueNewOrleans.com
  * REUNION STORY: The Lores hadn’t seen their cat Reagan since they rode out Katrina at Loyola University. 4 days after the storm, they make the first of several trips to New Orleans in search of Reagan. They leave with an empty carrier each time...

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Bruce Zeman
Animal Rights Activist, NJ

A) Background

• When Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 storm slammed into Orleans last September, it wrought havoc not seen in modern America history.
  
• In spite of multiple warnings, many people and their companion animals, did not or could not, evacuate and created a logistical nightmare for rescue workers. A recent survey by the Louisiana ASPCA revealed 44% percent of the people who stayed behind when rescue workers arrived, did so because they refused to abandon their companion animals
  
• Entire communities were evacuated, leaving tens of thousands of animals to fend for themselves. For many of these animals, once their human companions left – it was a death sentence. The situation has been somewhat ameliorated by the recent passage in Congress of the PETS act, which will help prevent a recurrence should another Katrina hit, but the fact of the matter is that we were unprepared, and tens of thousands of animals paid for our lack of preparation with their lives.
  
• After the initial shock of the Hurricane’s human impact was realized people began to look at the impact this killer storm had on the animals who lived there. In both cases, the effects were staggering. Estimates range from 40,000 – 90,000 dead, and 50,000-100,000 stranded or missing.

B) Moved To Action

• As someone who is not a “professional” rescuer, I followed the happenings in New Orleans and Mississippi like everyone else – on television and on the internet.
  
• When I first heard of the devastation, I was saddened. My mood changed from one of sadness to one of profound anger, as the days went on. I listened to various media reports about the loss of life and what could have, or should have been done. It probably would have ended there, until one night on CNN, a news report detailed how people were being forced to leave their companion animals behind to face almost certain death. The report concluded with a poignant story of how a puppy was ripped from the hands of a small boy by a soldier – as the child screamed. At that moment, Katrina and her impact on the animals, became personal to me.

C) To New Orleans

• I spoke with Dr. Katz from IDA, who said I could be of use to his rescue team in New Orleans and Mississippi. I flew into Mississippi, and as I joined the IDA rescue team, I witnessed firsthand what they were up against. Even with my years of experience working to save animals, I was not prepared for what was to come.
  
• Upon reaching Lamar Dixon, I could see the incredible amount of disorganization, red-tape and bureaucracy the rescuers were up against.
  (Personal example.)
  
• For all practical purposes, my rescue group became one of the “renegade groups,” who went into the city to set up food and watering stations for the animals left behind. These animals, and rescue workers like myself, were left at the mercy of soldiers and other law enforcement agencies in the area. (Personal story of encounter with soldier.)
  
• As a member of the “entry teams” who went into the houses looking for pets left behind – we faced a sobering task. In the case of my team, all of the animals we found were dead – either drowned or melted. The images of pets who died in front of doors or windows waiting for someone to get them, continues to haunt me.

D) Helping Animals In Future Emergencies

• To say that the federal, state and local governments and agencies were unprepared for Katrina is an understatement. In fact, there was no organized response from many of the federal agencies until the situation was critical. This must change.
  
• Rescue / recovery plans among animal rights / animal rescue groups was sporadic and conflicting. A coordinated strategy must be developed for the future. Put aside conflicts and work for the animals!
  
• I helped a number of residents at Lamar Dixon search for their pets. In almost all cases, the people had multiple animals with no tags or markings. Most were not neutered or spayed. HSUS had an effective data-entry system to track animals who had been rescued, but this took time, and resources. Educate people to prepare for emergencies.
  
• Various animal groups should develop emergency response teams and provide members with adequate training and resources to handle situations in addition to rescue – i.e. – recording animal sightings, abuse situations, aggressive animals, etc. Some training (EARS, DART) does exist, but it needs to be consistent among animal rescue groups.
  
• Demand and expect accountability from federal, state and local agencies on behalf of animals. Many of the same people who were in office when Katrina hit just got reelected. How?