Helping Animals in Disasters
by Michelle Buckalew, Best Friends Network A new chapter of SART is now dedicated to helping Michigan animals caught in disasters.
The group will help save animals during emergency situations. Several teams will be trained for various rescue methods for animals.
Dr. Cathy Theisen, Exec. Dir. Michigan SART: "We now know we need to provide evacuation plans for animals as well as people, so when we tell people to leave, we're going to want to provide something so they can take their animals with them."
Michigan now joins 22 other states that already have animal response teams in place.
State Animal Response Teams (SART) are interagency state organizations dedicated to preparing, planning, responding and recovering during animal emergencies in the United States. SART is a public private partnership, joining government agencies with the private concerns around the common goal of animal issues during disasters. SART programs train participants to facilitate a safe, environmentally sound and efficient response to animal emergencies on the local, county, state and federal level. The teams are organized under the auspices of state and local emergency management utilizing the principles of the Incident Command System (ICS). What You Can Do:
The Michigan SART Summit registration for May 14-15 has reached capacity, however, your interest in being a part of Michigan SART is important to the development of the organization. Please contact jen_bucholtz@yahoo.com for information on becoming a volunteer.
Visit SART Michigan website:
http://www.michigansart.org/