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| 07 February 2007 Vol. 3 No. 1 |
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CONTENTS
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| | Message from the Executive Director
Leonard Bull |
The past month has been busy for NC SART, and there is not much chance that it will slow down soon. Here are the "going's on:”
a. We will be bringing Louisiana into the SART "fold" in March with its Summit to be held Thursda March 22 through Friday March 23, 2007 in Baton Rouge, LA. This will complete the efforts to set up SART programs in both of the states (Mississippi and Louisiana) so badly affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While we certainly hope that these states do not have an encore of Katrina anytime soon, we hope that we have been able to help them deal with the next disaster a little easier.
b. During upcoming months we will be adding Virginia and Michigan to the SART list, and there is a chance that we may do as many as 6-7 states in total during 2007! The PETSMART Charities grant supports our adding up to 5 states per year through 2010, so that number would keep us on track toward that goal.
c. We have seen the rollout of the first of the 5 mobile trailers that will be located in strategic points in North Carolina to significantly speed up the process of response to needs for pet-friendly sheltering. These trailers are equipped with capability to work with pets in emergencies. We are grateful to the efforts of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and especially Mr. Jim Howard in that group, for this success. We have already had inquiries from other states about these units, so it is possible that more than 5 may be built and equipped. We plan to display a trailer at the VA Summit to be held later this year. We are grateful to the Humane Society of the United States, Schering-Plough Animal Health, American Kennel Club and the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association for their financial support in this trailer effort.
d. NC SART is leading efforts to plan for and initiate a National alliance of SART and SART-like programs as a followup on the process of adding SART states, funded by the grant from PETSMART Charities. To that end, I met with the Committee on Disaster and Emergency Issues of AVMA in Chicago, February 12, seeking their active participation in securing the resources and bringing all of the stakeholders together to engage in the necessary planning effort to establish whatever structure those stakeholders deem is needed. We are seeking resource support from several sources, and I will keep you posted on the progress of those efforts.
e. To those of you who are CART coordinators, I am asking that you please provide any updated information that you may have to Ms. Amanda Chamberlin at: infonc@sartusa.org. This should include any emergency planning documents that you have developed as well as other information that you would like to share. As well, please make sure that information on your CART is posted to the SART website. The process for posting has been shared before, and we seek your help. If you have needs or news, please also let us know! SART is built on local volunteers, so you are at the top point of the pyramid in making this effort work!
Thanks again for all that you do!
Regards,
LEONARD BULL
 | | | 2007 National SART Summits Begin
Bill Gentry |
The 2007 national SART training initiative will be kicked off the third week of March in Louisiana. PETSMART Charities continues to fund and support NC SART to conduct national SART Summits that are designed to facilitate states bringing together all of their animal disaster response groups under one state system. PETSMART Charities has provided NC SART with grant funding for states to match over the next five years to encourage a consistent approach to animal planning and response utilizing NIMS and the Incident Command System. The Louisiana Summit will be conducted March 22nd and 23rd in Baton Rouge in conjunction with Louisiana SART (LSART) who has already been active post-Katrina in their planning, exercising and coordination meetings. LSART is planning for over 100 participants attending representing over 30 different government, non-profit, and volunteer agencies. The summit is being used to promote collaboration amongst these groups and to facilitate the coordination of animal response activities in the state by LSART.
Training continues this Spring and Summer for the PETSMART Charities initiative as summits are scheduled for Michigan, Virginia and Delaware. This will bring the total of national SART Summits facilitated by NC SART to 15. Steering committees are already active in these states as they discuss planning initiatives, partnerships and other pre-summit activities that will lay the groundwork for a successful summit. Pre-summit planning generally takes 4 – 6 months with the host state forming a multi-agency steering committee which facilitates the summit event. This steering committee formation is essential to begin the coordination and collaboration that the SART Summit builds upon.
If you are interested in attending any of the currently scheduled state summits, keep checking the national SART website at www.sartusa.org for times and locations. Summit registration is accomplished online through the sartusa website as well. RFP’s for the 2008 National Summit Grants will be advertised later this summer on the website. If you are interested in a 2008 summit, and would like more information on the RFP’s, please contact Dr. Len Bull, Executive Director, NCSART.
| | | PETs Act Information
Sharron Stewart & Joanne Walsh Weeks |
Recently President Bush signed into law the PETS Act. The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (Pets) amends the Stafford Act. It requires the director of FEMA, in approving standards for state and local disaster preparedness plans, to ensure that the plans take into account the needs of individuals with household pets and service animals. It also allows the Director of FEMA to make financial contributions to state and local authorities for animal emergency preparedness purposes, including establishing shelters to accommodate people with pets and service animals.
In North Carolina efforts to prepare for animal sheltering began increasing in this area in April, 2006. Co-located or “pet friendly” shelters have been successful in some counties during Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and with Katrina evacuees to our State. After attending a conference on Animals in Disasters in May, several SART partners set a goal to provide encouragement and assistance to counties for developing some type of co-located shelter.
Marion County, Florida (Ocala) was in the path of 4 storms in 2004. The State of North Carolina will be using a modified version of their plan to co-locate animals with their owners. The idea is to have animals housed in wire type collapsible crates with removable trays for easy cleaning. The animals would be in one building and their owners would take shelter either in another building or another area of the building. They would not be in the same room. Animals would be registered, tagged with some form of identification (either microchip or collar), vaccination history certified, photograph taken of pet and owner and placed in a cage. Only one person/owner would be allowed to be in the animal area of the shelter to care for their animal. Owners are responsible for walking, feeding, watering and cleaning for their pet. Owners will be encouraged to bring their own collapsible type crate, food, water, and medicine. At registration, owners would sign an agreement that they will follow the rules of the shelter. If a pet owner is found in violation of the rules, they and their pets will be removed from the shelter.
In the event of a hurricane, the Eastern counties of North Carolina will have to evacuate inland. Emergency Management has gotten a commitment from 7 of 10 “host” counties along the I 95 / I 40 corridors to allow co-location sheltering of evacuated pets and their owners. Trainings have taken place in these “host” counties and will continue throughout the State until all 100 counties have been visited.
An animal sheltering task force with Emergency Management, Public Health, NC Department of Agriculture, and Red Cross, all partners with the State Animal Response Team (SART) has been formed. With the help of State EM, SART partners have developed CAMET’s (Companion Animal Mobile Equipment Trailers) that are similar in concept to Red Cross sheltees. These trailers will be able to support 50 animal cages, bowls, generator, cleaning supplies etc. CAMETS will not have any perishables like food, water or medication. Four of the trailers were funded with private donations and the goal is to have 40 in the State. Each of these trailers can be pulled by a pickup truck and deployable to other states through an EMAC agreement.
Along with the trainings in each county, we are developing a website that will have this information as well as recommended forms to be used across the state of North Carolina. Links to established preparedness websites such as ReadyNC.org will be made. Brochures have been developed and will be distributed to all animal shelters, kennels, pet shops, grooming shops and veterinarians. In educating the public, recommendations are made for evacuation to a friend or family member first and providing a list of pet friendly hotels and boarding facilities available. Through this educational effort, the goal is for co-located shelters to be a last resort.
By forming agreements with several of the partners, SART is taking great strides in being better prepared for our pets and their owners in North Carolina. Visit http://www.ncagrgis.com/sheltering/
| | | Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue Course
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On May 11-13th, Harnett County will be hosting a Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue Course. Please visit the SART website News and Events page for additional information. Registration Deadline is April 15th, 2007.
http://sartusa.org/news-events/
| | | Update Your County Plans!
Amanda Chamberlin |
CART Coordinators, Hello, and thank you to many of you who have already responded to my emails and phone calls. As you all know, we are continuing our effort to ensure we have everyone's most recent information available. This includes not only contact information, but as well as the most up-to-date county plans--many on the website are over 5 years old! Please contact me if you need any help or want help in learning how to update your county's information. I appreciate everyone's committment to keeping our records current; it is critical that we have the most recent information for a cohesive response capability in the future!
Thank you,
Amanda Chamberlin
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