Sheltering Plan For Large Animals Being Developed

Fayette County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security is partnering with the Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team to develop a plan for sheltering large animals and domestic pets in the event of a disaster.

Fayette County’s Agrilife Agent Scott Wiley recommended to reach out to Dr. Deb Zoran, who leads the team, during a discussion on animal sheltering. It became apparent during Hurricane Harvey as well as other events that the county needs a plan to provide for sheltering for pets and large animals for residents as well as stranded evacuees.

“We know that people will not evacuate without their fourlegged friends and it’s important that we can support our local AgriLife agents and others with this issue,’ said Craig Moreau, Fayette County’s Chief of Emergency Management.

The Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team (VET) has developed an outreach program directed at sharing emergency preparedness and response knowledge with the citizens, veterinarians, and emergency response officials in the state of Texas. Veterinary students are required to take a fourth-year clinical rotation in disaster preparedness and response to learn to work with emergency management, he said.

“We met with the A&M team as well as members of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Animal Health Commission, our Agrilife agents, and Gardenia Animal Shelter personnel Wednesday to begin the process of developing an animal sheltering plan for Fayette County. We looked at a couple of sites that could house both large and domestic animals, including the Fayette County Fairgrounds, the Wolters Park Complex in Schulenburg and the Colorado River Cowboy Church grounds in Smithville,” Moreau said.

“This is a great partnership with some amazing people and resources which will allow us to provide safe sheltering for our residents’ large and domestic animals in the event of a disaster. I truly appreciate everyone who is working with us on this project,” he said.