Being Better Prepared

Being Better Prepared

Being Better Prepared. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. In times of disasters one group of family members are usually forgotten or at least left to fend for themselves. A lot of manpower and finances are put into rescue shelters for the human survivors but what about our pets? Oregon State has taken on this challenge and is now better prepared to take care of pets in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency. Whether it is something like Hurricane Katrina or a flood event closer to home, the impact reaches beyond people. HANSEN: When those natural disasters affect animals- that is pets and livestock- that puts an additional burden on the emergency response teams to find a way to take care of those animals. State Veterinarian Dr. Don Hansen says the Oregon Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with Oregon Emergency Management, has secured a 52-thousand dollar homeland security grant. HANSEN: To equip four trailers which are designed to carry cages, pens, watering, feeding- all kinds of animal needs for dogs and cats. Later this month, these four cargo trailers will be strategically deployed to Multnomah, Linn, Douglas, and Jackson counties but will be accessible to all counties during disasters. The equipment inside can help emergency responders set up temporary animal shelters for evacuated pets until those companion animals can be reunited with their owners. In the past, such a situation might take days to adequately respond. Now it can be done in a matter of hours. Hansen says the new trailers will be equipped to handle pets displaced by disasters or other emergencies. HANSEN: We have pretty much everything that you could imagine you would need to set up an animal shelter for a short term, very quickly set it up using a school house or a tent or whatever, so you could immediately begin go house pet animals. He says taking care of animals in disasters has become an important objective ever since Hurricane Katrina displaced thousands of pets in 2005. HANSEN: We are still under its shadow. Katrina kicked off a whole conversation about emergency response preparedness for all the states. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
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