Lawrence ahead of curve in helping animals when disaster strikes

Helping animals

Lawrence is one of only a few communities in Kansas prepared to help animals during a large-scale disaster, a Lawrence Humane Society official said.

“We’re the only shelter in the state that actually deploys to emergencies,” said Midge Grinstead, executive director.

Grinstead got a good look at the state’s disaster animal response planning – or lack thereof – during a training conference in Wichita over the weekend. About 100 veterinarians, animal control officers and emergency responders met to learn more about pets and other animals that are often overlooked during disasters.

“I’ve been to numerous disasters,” Grinstead said. “It amazes me that nobody takes the time to think about the animals.”

It was the first time members of the Kansas State Animal Response Team, created in 2004, met. The group is working to expand the 13 animal response teams already at work in Kansas. An animal control representative from Baldwin City also attended the conference.

Douglas County is one of a handful of Kansas communities with a working animal disaster response plan, said Grinstead, who was appointed to the state’s SART board this year. But, it’s a work in progress.

If a major disaster were to hit the Lawrence area now, outside agencies like the Humane Society of the United States would be called in to help with animal recovery and assistance, Grinstead said. But as the community works toward self-sustainability, it has a good head start.

The Lawrence Humane Society has 540 crates that workers can use to house animals in, plus other equipment. The organization is looking for large equipment, like horse trailers and cattle panels, as well as FEMA certified volunteers to serve on the County Animal Response Team, Grinstead said.

“Right now I have about 25 people in the CART; we need about 60,” she said.

Grinstead responded to Louisiana for a week after Hurricane Katrina, as well as to Greensburg after a tornado devastated the Kansas town, to help animals.

She got goose bumps Monday as she recalled her time in Greensburg, where about 350 animals were displaced by the storm and many got sick and died. She recalled children playing with stressed animals and recovered animals being given away to other people.

“When you’ve lost everything you own and you think your animals are safe and then you find out that you’re never going to get them back, it’s heart wrenching,” Grinstead said.

As the state moves ahead with planning, she’ll use her experience from those disasters to help educate other communities on how they can help themselves.

Lawrence will host a mock disaster in March 2009, when animal leaders from across Kansas will practice responding to scenes and sheltering helpless critters, Grinstead said.

She and other state animal leaders hope the training and planning will help take a load off emergency managers, who said in the past they’ve largely ignored the animal component of disasters.