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provides for the material, facility, medical/sur- gical, shelter, and personnel needs before the
event, thus facilitating a much more rapid re-
covery and a more likely means of saving lives.
fi Additional opportunities include local, state,
regional, and national Veterinary Medical
Associations, such as: AAEP Emergency
Guidelines, http://www.aaep.org/emergency
_prep.htm; AVMA VMAT, https://www.avma.
org/kb/resources/reference/disaster/pages/
default.aspx; AWIC/USDA, http://awic.nal.
usda.gov/companion-animals/emergencies-
and-disaster-planning; APHIS/USDA–join
NAEHRC, http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/
usda/usdahome?contentidonly \4
true&content
id \4
Emergency_Preparedness_and_Response.
html.
3. Development of an Animal Issues Plan
The major components of such a plan include the
following:
fi Development of a Memorandum of Under-
standing with the jurisdiction.
fi Understanding and using the Incident Com-
mand System (provided by the county/jurisdic-
tion’s Emergency Management office) to
understand how information, requests for re-
sources, ability to work with associated re-
sponders, authority management, and
ultimately reimbursement is managed.
fi Development of a communication system to
alert and inform animal owners before, during,
and after the event.
fi Development of an animal evacuation plan
(where and when to congregate, assisting evac-
uations for those unable, routes, what to bring,
previously agreed upon sites, etc).
fi Development of a temporary Animal Shelter
(3–5 days) for those animals left behind that
emerge or are rescued.
fi Development of a temporary (3–5 days) Veter-
inary Medical Operations facility (making the
assumption that existing practices are unable)
to include assessing and managing large ani-
mals that were not evacuated.
fi Development of a plan for carcass removal,
disposal, and public health concerns.
fi Development of a plan to ultimately reunite
owners and animals.
It is important to point out that veterinarians are
essential in developing the plans but that does not
imply that those veterinarians are necessarily those
who implement. Thus, the need for volunteers, an-
imal expertise, and commitment from a variety of
individuals from the community is a requirement. A Memorandum of Understanding is developed
and agreed on with the jurisdiction to provide and
have in place the required elements (resources) and
to ensure that the cost of materials, and so forth, is borne by the appropriate jurisdiction. Thus, such a
memorandum states clearly that the jurisdiction
provides a variety of resources (drugs, generators,
tents, buildings, the necessary non-veterinary person-
nel and associated human needs); the absence of such
an agreement means there will be no remuneration. A clear understanding of how the Incident Com-
mand System works can be provided through mul-
tiple sources, the easiest of which to obtain would be
through the local Emergency Operation Office for
the jurisdiction. The system is based on past expe-
riences in combination with best business practices
and is logical, useful, and a means to track resources
and communications. A carefully constructed communications plan/net-
work is a necessity. This should involve expertise
from the local media (TV, radio, newspapers), social
media, and list serves (client lists, for example).
It involves knowing the local population and thus
how best to communicate information to a variety of
ethnic and cultural groups who otherwise would not
have access. Many of the animals left behind are
likely to be owned by those who are unaware. An Animal Evacuation plan is developed to assist
three major groups of the animal owning population:
those individuals needing assistance (lack of trans-
portation, people with special needs, etc.); those who
have the means but need accurate information as to
how and perhaps where to evacuate to; and those
who own/manage animals that are likely to not be
evacuated, which often includes large animals (live-
stock and horses). Specifically, the last group re-
quires information about how to “shelter in place” in
the face of an impending event (this might mean
getting them to high ground with probable flooding,
cutting fences in the face of a prairie fire, closing
questionable housing structures that might fail in
high winds, etc). This plan would include defining
a means of identifying animals that are likely to be
displaced and separated from their respective
owners. A temporary Animal Shelter Plan is developed to
manage animals that were left behind but are not in
need of significant medical care; a good plan calls for
such a facility to be in place for 3 to 5 days, after
which the permanent facilities/operations (such as
local/regional humane associations) would take the
lead through prior arrangement and assume the
burden of reuniting or adopting out the remaining
animals. A temporary (3–5 days) Veterinary Medical Oper-
ation (VMO) plan is developed, making the assump-
tion that the local veterinary operations are unable
to operate and assist with the mission of managing
the animal victims within the practical parameters
defined by the participating veterinarians. Thus, it
will require developing triage protocols and defining
limits of care (basically to stabilize individuals so
they can be successfully and humanely transported
to animal shelters or facilities that are functioning),
on the basis of available resources. Euthanasia,
AAEP PROCEEDINGS fiVol. 59fi2013 133
LESSONS LEARNED: AN INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH THE AAEP PAST PRESIDENTS

Link
https://pubs.aaep.org/0A4370h/59thAnnCon2013/html/index.html?page=155