News
California Church Establishes Emergency Response Team for Animals
November 28, 2008, 8:25PM MT
By Sandi Cain
Organizer inspired by work with Best Friends
Organizer inspired by work with Best Friends
By Sandi Cain, Best Friends Network Volunteer
The annual Great California ShakeOut on November 13 saw more than five million people duck, cover and hold in the largest earthquake drill in the country organized through the Earthquake Country Alliance and sponsored in part by the California Office of Emergency Services. But in Orange County, it was Luther the Doberman, Bo, the French bulldog, Ed the beagle, Kismet the golden retriever and Tioga the guide dog who were the stars of the show. They were among the pioneering animals that participated in the first animal evacuation earthquake drill and shelter at Mariners Church in Irvine.
Canine volunteers
About 20 animals ‘volunteered,’ to come to the evacuation shelter, brought by members of the church’s pet therapy department, Therapy Dogs of Southern California (represented by Irish wolfhounds) and other church members. They were joined by other animal ‘victims’ of this faux 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The ragtag animals included a ‘feral’ cat that looked suspiciously like a toy raccoon, a (faux) boa who had the nerve to come without a cage, an injured (stuffed) owl and an over-active small (toy) dog that had to be reined in with a net by an Irvine Animal Control officer.
The church also had a human Red Cross evacuation center in another building. Mariners partnered with Surf City Animal Response Team (SCART) of Huntington Beach in the animal rescue effort. SCART was the brainchild of Susan Keyes who also volunteered after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and came back determined to avoid a similar scenario when a disaster might strikes in California.
Cooperative effort
The November 13 drill proved to be a masterful example of how local groups can work together to benefit both people and animals in an emergency. Representatives of Orange County Animal Control and the cities of Irvine, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach came to help, teach and observe with the goal of establishing better communication between the cities so they can more easily work together in a real emergency.
Volunteers from Mariners, SCART and this author played the role of distraught evacuees with injured or dying pets in their arms or who came seeking missing animals (including one who spoke only Spanish, clearly pointing out the omission of bi-lingual staff). Animals went through intake; some were referred for medical treatment and some—like the (toy) skunk—were put in isolation for obvious reasons. Access to the site was tightly controlled by Keyes, who had first-hand experience with unauthorized people trying to steal dogs during her own stint in New Orleans.
Inspired by Best Friends
The effort was the brainchild of Pat Murphy, a veteran Best Friends volunteer who worked at Tylertown in 2005 and who has been involved with Mariners Church—a nondenominational church of 15,000 members--for 20 years. It’s believed to be among the first faith-based disaster response team for animals in the country, Murphy said.
Murphy was inspired to start the animal disaster response team through her church by an article in Best Friends Magazine that urged churches to become involved in animal safety, sheltering and care. “The article sparked my desire for that ministry in my church,” Murphy said. When Mariners was designated a legal evacuation shelter for people this year, she went to bat on behalf of animals to include a Mariners Animal Response Team. It was approved and Murphy was named coordinator just months before the earthquake drill.
The church’s involvement in disaster preparedness was no surprise to some. “Church members have donated more than $1 million to disaster relief, so they’re involved,” said Matt Olthoff, director of communications for Therapy Dogs of Southern California.
The exercise taught some valuable lessons: how an intake form should be organized; how NOT to handle an owl; what to do with a baby mountain lion, and to have ice packs on hand for cats when it’s hot.
“It was a great opportunity to have our members see what the bare-bones of a field shelter look like, especially for those who have not worked a real world response yet,” said Joy Falk of Laguna Beach, who served as incident commander for the exercise. “Of course mistakes were made, which IS the point of these drills after all,” she said.
Falk said that many government and private animal welfare and rescue groups are realizing the need to prepare for large, regional disaster preparation for animals since Hurricane Katrina. “Many of these groups are making concrete steps to ensure an effective outcome,” she said. The fact that public and private groups came together for the earthquake drill could be beneficial in the future, she said.
The lessons learned nearly came in handy just a few days later when raging wildfires about 10 miles to the east drove hundreds of Orange County residents from their homes in Yorba Linda and Brea. The Mariners church was put on standby to serve as a real evacuation center, but firefighters gained enough of an upper hand that they weren’t needed. If they had been, they would have been better prepared as a result of the drill.
“There are usually a handful of people who make sense out of chaos” when something happens, Falk said. In the future, Mariners Animal Response Team will be among those that are better prepared.
For more information on disaster preparedness for pets
• Pets Ready: Pet Disaster Preparedness Checklist and Important Numbers
• FEMA: Caring for Animals
• Disaster, Safety, and First-Aid Websites
Photos by Sandi Cain
Photo: Irvine Animal control helps corral a stray dog at intake tent during earthquake drill
Bottom photo: ‘first aid’ volunteers try to figure out what to do with a stranded snake and a feral cat at the animal first aid station at Mariners Church.