If You’re an Animal Organization

By Michael Mountain, September 6, 2011

Animals at Ground Zero Heroes in all shapes, sizes, and breeds The dogs and their people who risked their lives to save others Meet One of the Dog Teams “We were a team, and if something wasn’t safe for the dogs, we would say.” Pier 40: Heart of the Operation How the animal rescue teams came together The Four-Legged Heroes How Dorado led his blind person to safety Search & Rescue, Canine Style The Suffolk Country crew sets up the MASH unit Where Are They Now? The dogs of 9/11 – 10 years later Pets in Peril Tweety-Pye gets left behind Diary of a K-9 Team Paul Morgan and Cody join the FEMA team Preparing for Animal Care in a Disaster A few quick tips to help keep you safe If You’re an Animal Organization Working together to build an emergency coalition A Snapshot of the E-mails “I am an active duty Marine. My 10 cats and 2 dogs will not have a home if we go to war…” Other Websites A Memorial Roster Many of the dogs who worked at Ground Zero suffered serious health problems and passed away in the years that followed. A Tribute A preview to radio talk-show host Steve Dale’s book called Dog Heroes of September 11th: A Tribute to America’s Search and Rescue Dogs.

Get together now and build an emergency coalition. In the New York disaster, the city’s Animal Care & Control took on most of the animal rescue and relocation side of things, the Suffolk SPCA took care of the search-and-rescue dogs, and the ASPCA handled emergency veterinary care. Decide who’s going to be doing what in your community.

Have one lead agency, which will act as the main communication and liaison point. In New York, the first animal organization to get on TV was not properly informed and failed to give out the emergency phone numbers of the big humane groups.

Although there was good cooperation between most of the groups in the New York situation, there were still reports of certain organizations trying to push themselves ahead of the others and claim credit for what others were doing. Bear in mind, if nothing else, that people tend to trust organizations that give credit more than those who simply claim it.

Next: The E-mails