Florida Animal Disaster Plan: Phase 4

Phase Four

Phase four, or the recovery period, begins 97 hours after the hurricane occurs and extends to 180 days following the disaster. It includes an animal care emergency operations plan. The county Disaster Animal Relief Committee (DARC) will be staffed by representatives of each of the animal interest groups in the county. The identified committee leader will be responsible to the EMA at the county emergency operations center.

Objectives

Develop a list of registered veterinary service volunteers.
Provide EMA coordinator a list of animal clinics and shelters and their supervisors.
Develop maps of areas affected and prepare overlays that plot locations of veterinary hospitals and clinics, animal shelters, animal control facilities, and supply distribution points.
Establish work schedules.
Form mobile veterinary response teams and assign areas of responsibility. Response teams may be organized by the city, county, or multi- county region, depending on the extent of the disaster and the number of veterinary personnel participating.
Coordinate the veterinary logistical supply system: determine requirements, identify supply sources, method of acquisition, fund requirements, shipping methods, storage, and method of distribution.
Involve veterinary, humane society, and animal control personnel in emergency exercises and training.
Determine high density animal populations at high risk in the event a disaster should occur.
Establish procedures for requesting military veterinary service assistance through the state veterinarian, if necessary.
Assist in apprehension of animals that have escaped confinement.
Establish a local animal retrieval plan in conjunction with animal control and humane society personnel.
Establish a foster/adoption procedure in the event that lost animals cannot be reclaimed by their owners in a reasonable period of time. Agreements must be legally written to protect the rights of the original animal owners.
Recommend methods of proper disposal of dead animals; coordinate with Departments of Agriculture and/or Environmental Protection.
Recommend methods of proper disposal for, and supervise prevention and control of, zoonotic and food-borne diseases in coordination with the county department of health.
Provide health care for injured animals including priority care for search and/or rescue dogs.
Temporarily arrange for or provide food, water, and shelter for displaced animals.
Provide documentation of injuries and deaths of animals for insurance purposes.
Establish methods and procedures for the appropriate use and accountability of donated funds.
Maintain frequent communications with Florida Veterinary Medical Association (VMA).
Establish procedures for debriefing participants and for preparing after-action reports.
Identify special crisis support groups.

Organization of Animal Disaster
Relief Effort

We assume a period of time elapsed after the disaster when personnel and public assessments have been made, yet local services are still out of order.

Chain of Command

Determining who is in charge of animal relief efforts is a difficult and delicate question because the answer depends on how severe and extensive the disaster is. Normally, the lines of authority in a local area extend from city government, county government, federal government, Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), and military and volunteer organizations such as Red Cross, Humane Societies, and veterinary services.

The ultimate goal of this chain of command is to serve the people of the affected area and to provide care to the animals in the area. Depending on the extent of the disaster, the chain of command will reflect the existing structure of agencies and organizations available to provide these services. A clearly defined chain of command is necessary to coordinate immediate animal relief effort.

Each county should have a qualified individual appointed as a Disaster Animal Relief Director (DARD) for all animal species; there should also be an assistant in the event the DARD is incapacitated. There should also be a veterinarian responsible to this coordinator who is in charge of large animals and another veterinarian in charge of small animals.
Each district should have a coordinator who is responsible for each county in his or her district.
The state veterinarian should be the state official coordinating relief at the state level and working with district and county coordinators.
To limit the confusion immediately after the hurricane, all organizations and individuals able to offer assistance should work within this chain of command when possible.

Duties and responsibilities of the disaster animal relief director

Appoint all coordinators.
Coordinate veterinary relief efforts.
Hold meetings to coordinate all sections as required.
Make sure coordinators are following through with duties.
Provide a budget, and seek relief funds from private sector.
Adjust personnel as needed to accomplish relief mission.
Coordinate relief efforts with local animal services, and animal welfare groups.

Duties and responsibilities of the personnel coordinator

Provide and assign personnel to properly staff all clerical, professional, and lay personnel for all sections.
Make provisions with the transportation coordinator to provide necessary transportation.
Provide a telephone list of available personnel and contact as needed.
Supply a list of personnel needs to veterinary relief director and communications coordinator for assistance in filling needs.
Contact the Dean, University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine to help provide professional experts for disaster relief.
Provide director with a written report detailing all activities performed, including recommendations for improvements.

Duties and responsibilities of the facilities coordinator

Coordinate with the director in selecting proper sites for relief facilities for small, large, and wild animals.
Establish adequate facilities to provide emergency medical care, hospitalization, and safe storage of medical supplies and equipment.
Provide power, a communication system, sanitation system, and security of facility.
Coordinate with animal services for deceased animal disposal.
Coordinate with animal welfare groups for strays and fostering activities.
Provide director with a written report detailing all activities performed, including recommendations for improvements.

Communication

A central command center should be established to handle and direct all inquiries. Phone numbers need to be passed to the media and phones must be manned constantly, even at night. Volunteers who have the ability can serve as excellent personnel for these tasks. Relief rescue units, lost and found locations, and veterinary care centers will be established and can be used to disseminate and collect information.

Duties and responsibilities of the communications coordinator

Responsible for all communication facilities between veterinary disaster relief director and related sections.
Provide telephones, radios, CB's, couriers, machines, computers, beepers, cellular phones, printers, and typewriters to all sections as needed.
Install equipment and provide security.
Provide equipment operators from personnel coordinator.
Prepare news releases and distribute where appropriate.
Provide daily update of key personnel phone list and phone numbers.
Prepare information sheet for phone operators to direct calls or provide specific answers to questions.
Provide list of needs from other sections to be given to director.
Provide photographs and videos of relief efforts for documentation purposes.
Provide director with a written report detailing all activities performed, including recommendations for improvements.

Duties and responsibilities of animal care coordinator

Provide emergency medical care for all injured animals.
Coordinate with supply, personnel, and facilities coordinators to provide veterinarians and assistants to accomplish the mission.
Make sure medical supplies are available as needed.
Provide adequate facility to accomplish mission.
Identify and track injured animals and coordinate boarding or fostering with appropriate animal welfare and/or humane society groups.
Provide proper handling of medical waste and controlled drugs as related to veterinary relief efforts.
Provide food, water, and shelter as needed for animal care section relief personnel.
Provide director with written report of all activities performed, including recommendations for improvement.

Animal identification

If animals have already been permanently identified by a tattoo or other method, animal identification should not be a problem. Many animals, however, will be without identification. It is imperative that some identification system be established as soon as possible to avoid the mass confusion that will occur when owners return to claim their animals.

Although owners should have been told how to identify their animals before the disaster occurs, many animals will not have any type of identification. As they are moved from location to location, their records must be duplicated with one copy accompanying the animal and the other remaining with the central headquarters.

If no record is left with central headquarters, all contact is lost with that animal as well as records of its treatment and ownership. Dead animals found and disposed of by municipal or other services are usually not identified or otherwise noted before disposal. Animals may die and could be disposed of several days after a disaster without accurate and accessible records.

Identification of dead animals may never be possible, but assistance should be given to municipal or sanitation workers in this process. If animals are disposed of without identification records, many owners will never know the fate of their animals.

Supplies

Food and water are usually the first supplies to arrive. A central location capable of accommodating large 18 wheel trucks, i.e. fairgrounds, athletic fields, shopping centers, etc. will usually be selected as a reception and distribution point for supplies. Supplies will usually be given freely to those willing to pick them up. Food and water will be transported as soon as possible to those not able to travel to the distribution points.

Veterinary supplies will also arrive quickly and probably in the same general area. If not, these general distribution points should have directions to and information about the veterinary supplies and clinics. Emergency services are given freely to owners of animals and to the unclaimed animals.

For large animals, hay and bags of feed will also arrive at distribution points. Hay and other bagged feed is perishable and may require special facilities for proper storage. Quantities sufficient for all animals may be difficult to stock if such facilities are not available. Ownership of all these supplies must be clearly established early in the disaster plan.

Generators, both large and small, are important equipment to have available. In the disaster area, generators can provide electricity for phones, security lights, and other equipment. Each county should have generators available and quickly accessible. A front- end loader would also be a valuable piece of equipment to have in the supply warehouse.

Duties and responsibilities of the supply coordinator

Search for and secure a centrally located building that can be used as a supply depot for related activities. Building must be secure and have limited access.
Provide an inventory list of all donated supplies and give receipts to donors. Keep a copy of all receipts.
Provide a list of supplies on hand and supplies needed to the director and all section coordinators.
Provide daily distribution of supplies through coordination with transportation section.
Provide water and food for animals and relief personnel.
Provide non-medical supplies such as office supplies.

Records

Two types of records are needed and will accumulate quickly. Lost and found records indicating ownership and the location where the animal was found should accompany every animal. The records will be completed and maintained by volunteers. A polaroid photograph should be taken when possible and should accompany the paperwork of each animal.

To protect these records from misuse and theft, it is extremely important for the coordinator to monitor and secure them. If records are properly maintained and secured, a permanent mark on the animal that corresponds with an identical mark on the animal's records will provide a safeguard against improper animal identification.

The animal's medical record should be filed with those animals requiring veterinary attention. Some animals accumulate several sheets of medical records if they have sustained severe or multiple injuries.

Because everyone's first priority is to treat injured animals, an inventory of records, supplies, drugs, and equipment is seldom accomplished before the treatment process has transpired. Having a veterinary technician volunteer assigned to the central supply area that receives, inventories, and disburses these drugs and supplies will prevent daily problems that will occur as the treatment process continues.

Emergency treatment extends past a routine care schedule. Supplies are needed at various hours and cannot be locked up at night as they would under routine conditions. A volunteer to coordinate the central supply area frees veterinarians and technicians to focus on treating injured animals.

Transportation

Although transportation routes may be limited, volunteer drivers and vehicles must be available to transport animals to holding areas or animal hospitals. With larger animals such as horses, trailers and drivers from nearby horse clubs will probably provide most of the transportation. Humane society and animal control vehicles will be available from surrounding areas to help transport smaller animals.

An identification system should be established by the Disaster Animal Relief Coordinator (DARC.) This system should serve to identify specific relief personnel. Signs such as "Disaster Relief Team" to identify vehicles should also be considered.

The most useful vehicles after a hurricane are those that are dependable and equipped with the following:

Emergency flashing lights on top of vehicle
Extra tire repair kits
Extra fuel capacity
High clearance
Four wheel drive
Extra capacity to carry people or supplies
A trailer hitch

Duties and responsibilities of the transportation coordinator

Provide transportation vehicles for all activities, including cares, buses, cans, trucks, livestock trailers, helicopters, emergency vehicles, etc.
Coordinate with personnel section to transport individuals.
Contact animal services, animal welfare groups, dog clubs, saddle clubs, etc. to secure assistance in providing necessary transportation.
Coordinate daily to transport supplies to relief facilities where and when needed.
Provide director with a written report detailing all activities performed, including recommendations for improvements.

The selected sites for the distribution of food, bedding, and medications will usually have working hours with security during the night. The hours of operation should be broadcast over various media.

Security

Theft of animals is prevented best by proper permanent identification. Animals that are loose and picked up after a disaster may either find their way into private foster homes or into makeshift holding areas managed by volunteers.

Both homes and holding areas have one primary function, to care for these animals until the owners come to claim them. For that reason, someone should be present 24 hours a day at each site housing animals.

Media

A volunteer assigned to work with the media provides relief for the veterinarians and technicians who are busy delivering medical care. Having someone to conduct tours of makeshift hospitals and assist in the animal identification process saves the practitioners' time.

Media volunteers should be familiar with animals, their treatment, and the overall operations of the hurricane relief effort currently offered for animals. The following information should be obtained by a media volunteer and communicated to the media:

Minor first aid that can be administered by animal and pet owners
Receiving and holding areas
Treatment centers
Request for veterinarians to visit injured animals on site

Funding

Two immediate funding problems will surface. The first problem to occur will be the need to inventory donated supplies that will begin to arrive. Boxes and sacks full of drugs will come in from nearby practitioners while cases and cartons will arrive form warehouses and drug companies. The supplies received need to be documented and inventoried.

The second problem is that checks written to unknown people or relief efforts will begin to arrive. All cash, accounts, grants, and endowments to provide support must be properly documented and handled by one group, person, or agency. There is no way to monitor how this money is used if it is deposited and spent by people outside the relief effort.

The animal control, animal protection, and humane groups will expect access to and support from this money. DVM's and veterinary relief efforts will also expect some support from these funds. Many volunteers spend much of their own money to help animals, and in some cases, they expect to be reimbursed when the disaster is over.

Carcass Disposal

Burying animal carcasses or parts of animals is the most common method of disposal. Ensuring that the burial site is not near any obvious food or water supplies, dig a grave deep enough to cover the carcass with at least two feet of dirt. If the soil is rocky or not deep enough, you may need to wait until burial can be handled by sanitation teams.

Most services may be restored within several days and will be able to handle carcasses that have been kept cool and/or in plastic bags. These animals will probably be taken to a sanitary landfill that has already been identified for such purposes. This is true for large animals such as horses and cattle. Small animals such as dogs and cats are usually disposed of in the same manner.

Farmers have been told to burn animal carcasses in some cases:

The soil was not deep enough to bury the animals.
It would be days before sanitation teams could arrive to collect the animals.
Feral carnivores were eating the carcasses.

If enough fuel (wood) is used, the carcasses can be completely burned with little ash remaining. Animal control units, police units, and the military will have mechanisms to remove and dispose of carcasses. Having and releasing information regarding carcass disposal is important because many animal owners will want advice so they can properly dispose of their animals.

Volunteers

Recruiting and managing volunteers is a tremendous effort which involves recruiting volunteers to clean stalls and cages and to transport wounded animals to clinical practitioners and veterinary technicians. The first organizations to recruit and place volunteers in a disaster area are usually the organizations already dealing with volunteers. These organizations may have the first available people and supplies on the scene.

Animal control units, animal protection units, and other animal welfare organizations will quickly follow with more supplies and willing volunteers. Because veterinary practices are small organizations, they will quickly become overrun and depleted of materials and supplies.

As the various veterinary organizations are contacted, a central organization area for treating large numbers of animals and receiving large volumes of supplies will be sought and identified. Once this central organization site is selected, then all volunteers have a common headquarters for communication, directions, and daily orders.

The Florida Association of Veterinary Medical Technicians already has a list of veterinary technicians to contact in case of emergency and can send emergency relief teams to any area in Florida. These technicians have permission from their employees to leave on short notices to assist the veterinarians in the disaster area.

Practitioners can make their greatest impact by releasing their trained technicians for extended periods to assist in the care of unclaimed and injured animals. In advance, secure housing, food, and supplies for the technicians. If possible, provide them with portable car phones to assure communication.

This document is Fact Sheet DH 32, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida< Gainesville, FL 32611. Publication date: June 1993.