The Animals in Disaster Summit held on 4/17/2010 at Animal Services was a success. Several animal welfare organizations were present and resolved to work together to prepare for a disaster.
As a first step, all participating organizations decided to work with the County Animal Response Team, and to send some of their volunteers to a DART training. Next, each organization will make sure that their emergency plan is updated and a handful have started to work on their plan. The next meeting will be in three months when the group will meet again to discuss who will do what during a disaster. Issues that will need to be resolved are (among others):
- Publicity and Fund Raising: we will designate our best fundraisers to this task
- Animal Search and Rescue: now that we know that the DARTs will focus on sheltering, we know we need people to specialize in animal search and rescue. They can rescue animals left behind by their owners, do welfare checks (water, feed) on animals etc.
- Animal Transport: This may include specialized units such as an Equine Evac unit, or a pot belly pig transport unit. Different species will need different modes of transport.
- Recovery Services: reuniting animals with their owners as soon as possible after a disaster, finding new homes for surrendered animals, establishing an emergency foster network to temporarily remove some of the pressure from the shelters.
Our next meeting is scheduled for July 18.
We will continue to reach out to all animal welfare organizations in Contra Costa. If you are interested, or if you want to make sure that we approach your organization, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
