Providing Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery for Emergencies Affecting Animals
In today’s world, we all worry about the threat of a natural or man-made disaster. Animals are especially vulnerable when a disaster strikes because they must rely on us for help. In 1998, Hurricane Floyd claimed the lives of millions of animals in North Carolina, and thousands more were separated from their owners. Many of these animals could have been saved by a coordinated response plan. From this tragedy, the State Animal Response Team (SART) concept was born. In 2006, Virginia adopted this concept to address its animal-related disaster response needs.
Any Animal, Any Disaster, Anywhere
The Virginia State Animal Response Team (VASART) was created through a private-public partnership to serve as a unifying network of organizations, businesses, federal and state government agencies, and individuals that supports the prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery for emergencies affecting animals. Because disaster response needs to happen at a local level, VASART will build County Animal Response Teams (CARTs) across the state. County coordinators will be selected to lead the development of county teams consisting of volunteers who will respond to emergencies at the local level. Join your county’s state animal response team or if one is not created yet, help us get a CART started in your county.
For more information on CARTs (Community Animal Response Teams) please go to: http://virginiasart.org/cart/cart-resources/How You Can Help
VASART website http://virginiasart.org/Resources for veterinarians and licensed veterinary technicians, please visit http://virginiasart.org/resources/for-veterinarians-lvts/