ANIMAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE NETWORK FAQ
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You can register to foster displaced pets or volunteer to help by clicking on the “I Want to Foster or Volunteer” link and enter your information. Every offer of assistance is appreciated.
Help is usually needed in all areas of animal care. Whether you are a water-rescuer or a much-needed marathon pooper scooper, your help is appreciated. As response teams determine their need for volunteers they can consult the database and contact those who are listed. It may take several weeks before you will be contacted, if at all. Animal emergency responders first try to call in volunteers with previous disaster experience At times, disaster response initiatives need volunteers desperately, but there is no one coordinating volunteers at first, so organizing a volunteer response can be a challenging and slow process. Some disaster response officials are more “volunteer friendly” than others. This is very event specific. Because untrained volunteers may have unrealistic expectations of the disaster response experience, some incident commanders are uncomfortable with any and all uncertified/untrained responders. Others welcome untrained volunteers to help scoop poop, clean kennels, do record keeping and exercise pets – some of the most vital aspects of temporarily sheltering animals. Please remember, even if you are not contacted, your offer of help is much appreciated. It is not recommended that you just “show up” but we know that some of you will. If this is you, then to be effective and welcome you must understand and respect the chain of command that needs to exist in disaster response.
Each disaster is different. United Animal Nations (EARS) tells people that the best way to determine if animal disaster response is for them is to volunteer at their local shelter on the weekends. Most volunteers aren’t doing water rescue and breaking down doors to save pets. Most are doing the critical business of caring for the pets in temporary shelters. Each initiative will have an incident commander and the operation will be “military style.” The local incident commander will undoubtedly report to a government affiliated commander that is linked to the county or state emergency management committee (often affiliated with the state veterinarian’s office in the department of agriculture). During major disasters, these people work with the USDA, FEMA, and the Department of Homeland Security. If this sounds uncomfortable to you, you should consider the countless things you can do to help animals in disaster without having to leave home, like fund-raising, awareness raising, entering pet data into AERN, helping to reunite lost pets with owners, and more.
Yes. During the Foster/Volunteer registration process simply specify the ways in which you are able to help. People looking for foster or volunteers will take your specifications into consideration when seeking temporary placement of an animal.
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