I am pleased to announce the receipt of support from Schering-Plough Animal Health in the form of $70,000 as part of an agreement to support the development of the website and national communication efforts to the SART programs. We are most appreciative of that support, and it has allowed us to make significant improvements in the website, which are noted elsewhere in this Newsletter.

NC SART continues to work at both the needs of the State of NC relative to animal responses in disasters, and in the management of the recruitment of new SART programs around the US. In addition, we are working on improved communications and methods for communication in emergencies, using the database that we are developing as part of the SARTUSA website.

Regarding the state recruitments, we are pleased that we are working with Maryland, Michigan, Kentucky, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi (completed) and Texas this year and early into 2007. We also expect to add 4-5 more states in 2007. This is the result of the PETSMART Charities funding that we have received and expect to receive in subsequent years. NC SART has developed a truly exceptional team of trainers for development of these programs in Sharron Stewart, Bill Gentry and Jimmy Tickel.

Communications in the face of a disaster that affects services of electricity and telephones (including cell phones) creates serious problems. As a result of the experiences of Hurricane Katrina last year, and with the help of Pfizer Animal Health, we were able to provide satellite telephone equipment to several of the VMAT teams. In addition, we are looking into the use of other techniques for rapid and effective web-based communication for large numbers of people that will be possible in remote areas without electric power.

We are working to update the County Animal Response Team (CART) coordinator list for NC, and also to facilitate the ability of volunteers and coordinators to update information on the website directly. As all of you are aware, keeping on top of changes in personnel in a volunteer-based organization is a challenge!

Thanks for your support and interest!

Len Bull, Board Chair and Executive Director

The County Animal Response Team (CART) in Bladen County, NC, sponsored a Hurricane Preparedness Expo on July 18, 2006. The Bladen County Extension Office hosted the Expo which had sixty three county residents and sponsors come through to look at displays and listen to three keynote speakers.

The Bladen County Manager was in attendance along with the county Extension Director. Displays were on hand to educate attendees on Animal Preparedness, Chainsaw Safety, First Aid, Generator Safety, Emergency Preparedness Plans / Kits and Disaster Supplies. The Bladen CART members passed out surveys and evaluations during the Expo and the surveys seem to indicate that many people were going to get a disaster plan and kit together. Filling out the surveys got attendees their name in the hat for one of the dozen or so door prizes that sponsors donated.

Keynote addresses were given by:
Bill Gentry, NC SART, on lessons learned from NC SART's deployment to Mississippi last summer in support of Hurricane Katrina animal sheltering.
Dan Allen, Four County Electric Coop, on generator safety.
Craig Carnesi, WECT Channel 6 Weather, on the 2006 Hurricane Season predictions.

Attendees were treated to hotdogs and deserts during the Expo, and attendees and sponsors alike, agreed that the Expo should become an annual event.

The Mississippi State Animal Response Team held their stakeholder summit June 13-14th in Tunica, Mississippi. Over 70 individuals came together to discuss the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina which devastated vast areas of the state's Gulf Coast. Individuals discussed how to build more capability by collaborating as partners, so the state could be in a better position to withstand future animal disaster events.

The end result of the two-day training, conducted by national trainers from NCSART, was the development of Mississippi's basic planning document, resource typing and a database of volunteers and interested parties to move the project forward. Dr. Jim Watson, State Veterinarian, announced the names the ICS functional leads for the team.

Sr. Watson stressed the importance of having a diverse group of stakeholders to assist in creating paths forward. He further stated that he and Dr. Brigid Echols will guide the stakeholders as they build more capability into the planning process by utilizing the information gained from the Summit. NC SART will assist, as needed over the next six months, to help MART with development of the organization.

Stakeholders who participated in the summit included the Mississippi Animal Health Board, Ms. Department of Agriculture, MSU College of Veterinary Medicine, MSU Cooperative Extension, USDA, Ms. Emergency Management, Animal Control, and various animal welfare groups.

Mississippi was the recipient of funding for the Summit which provided by PETsSMART Charities. PETsSMART Charities is a non-profit organization whose mission is improving the quality of life for all companion animals. PETsMART Charities creates and supports programs that save lives of homeless pets and promote healthy relationships between people and pets.

Maryland State Animal Response Team will hold their stakeholder conference on August 16-17, 2006. Click here to register for the Maryland Summit, or visit the SART homepage for more information (http://www.sartusa.org).

The new NCSART website is now complete — just in time for Hurricane season!

FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions), a training calendar and direct links to other SART state web sites are a few of the many enhancements. More importantly, a new-and-improved CART contact database and our ability to make more timely web site updates will make the new site a better resource for our volunteers, especially during emergencies.

Please visit the new site at http://www.ncsart.org and let us know what you think. Your feedback is always welcome and enables us to continue to provide you with an effective and useful communications tool.