Steve Apatow

__________________________________________________

Here is the latest Sitrep on the animals and Florida Fires. As you can see, the HSUS office there is really geared up. We really apprecaite the HHS and FEMA support.

Ollie Davidson

***************************************
MESSAGE:

I have insomnia and just saw the Santa Rosa DART team off, along with my Program Coordinator Kim Staton, to Flagler County to join the existing DART team there. Here is a full report as of Friday night:

FLAGLER COUNTY:

In the morning, Alachua Humane, Hernando Emergency Animal Response Team (HEART) and Jacksonville Humane were to go assist Flagler County with its temporary animal shelter at the Fairgrounds. However, soon things changed quickly. Those teams were stopped and Disaster Animal Response Teams (DART) from Sumter and Orange Counties entered Flagler County with 12 trucks and horse trailers with the state assigned task of evacuating the Flagler Fairgrounds of all the animals who had been evacuated there from danger areas over the past week. Unfortunately, the fires were starting to get out of control. The teams went prepared to move 300 animals, but there were only 140. They were almost all in crates. Four of the trucks with trailers than moved all those animals to Alachua County Animal Services, where the Alachua Humane and Gainesville Pet Rescue are providing back up support. The animals were off-loaded and secured at the animal shelter and nearby fairgounds (there were several large pigs). That facility is at carrying capacity now, though. Jacksonville Humane had been put on alert to get the other estimated 150 animals, so they have geared up that community by asking for donations of crates, pet supplies, etc. They are getting tremendous response. Since they did not get the Flagler Fairgrounds animals, they will focus on providing housing for animals of people currently evacuating Flagler (I-95 was reopened for the express purpose of getting these folks out of there). They will also take in any rescued small animals from Flagler.

The remaining trucks with trailers stayed behind to assist Shelby Wolfe, ESF-17 coordinator for that county, with rescues. I know they evacuated a large number of horses (one place had 25 horse alone), and a large number of pigs. 18 dogs, some cats, and their owner were also rescued and one of the trailers moved them to Jax Humane.

The rest of the trucks filled with large animals were then relocated to an AG arena in Putman County just west of Flagler. The DART teams off loaded the animals and secured them for the evening. Shelby is to decide if they will be moved again later to a more secure location. The problem encountered in Putnam involved a self-deployed group who was at the arena. DART teams members later saw the group doing an interview with the media implying they had rescued the horses and pigs.

Shelby has requested DART return today (Saturday) to do more rescues of large and small animals. We will only know in the morning if they will be able to return with the current fire situation. Sumter DART spent Friday night housed in Hawthorne (about 45 minutes west of Palatka in a trailer owned by Kim Staton of HSUS / SERO (its for sale, but we are thankful its not sold yet). We will be able to use that home as a remote sleeping facility (at least it has air conditioning and hot showers).

Santa Rosa DART with three vehicles and six people arrived at The HSUS - Southeast Regional Office in Tallahasse in the afternoon. They left Saturday morning at 4 to drive to Bunnell in Flagler to hook up with Sumter DART. They are accompanied by Kim Staton, who is a vet tech with extensive animal handling experience. They will be met in Bunnell by Kathy Milani and crew from HSUS headquarters. They will all be in Bunnell Emergency Operations Center for a 8:30 briefing. They are small animal handlers, the Sumter group has large animal handlers. They should make a good team.

Clay County Humane (south of Jax) has made arrangements with a local church to take overflow of pets in crates from Alachua or Jacksonville. They have a spay / neuter clinic and can provide some vet assistance.

VOLUSIA:

Volusia Fairgrounds is housing the pet friendly shelter, Halifax Humane (which had to evacuate its shelter - fate unknown at this time), and a local boarding kennel which apparently did burn down. They have now requested the state send up to 10 DART members and animal shelter workers to relieve some of their exhausted workers. The Humane Society of North

Pinellas is sending its DART trained staff, plus some shelter staff and volunteers. They will arrive Saturday and stay for several days. They will then need to be relieved by others. No word on rescues taking place in that county at this time.

BREVARD:

The SPCA of North Brevard requested through its Emergency Manager at least 10 DART and or experienced shelter workers. Cindy Ferguson, HSUS Disaster Consultant and primary DART instructor, moved 10 DART members from Sarasota County, including members of Sarasota County Emergency Management. They have the DART emergency response vehicle, as well as some emergency management vehicles and a truck and trailer.

More members of the self-deployed group mentioned earlier in the Flagler County report showed up at this facility, but were turned away because they did not have a state tasking number to be in that area. The counties and the state are being very strict with requiring that assistance coming in have state tasking numbers and authority. It is too confusing and dangerous for groups to self-deploy.

As the Sarsota DART was en route, the call came through that the SPCA may have to evacuate sometime soon with fires heading its way, though still far off. The SPCA is currently housing up to 600 animals, including 150 cats, 100 dogs, and to quote Sherri Wanda of that shelter, "tons of chickens, ducks, rabbits, 2 horses, emus, pigs and goats". Orange County Animal Services and Orlando Humane arranged for transport with local horse and cattle groups, and set up facilities within their own shelters and at the Orange County Fairgrounds. Fortunately, the fires eased up and the SPCA is safe for now. SPCA staff went home late in the evening for some much needed rest and the Sarasota DART crew was sent to a Red Cross shelter for a good night's sleep. They will regroup this morning and plan strategies for possible future evacuation and rescue of any animals in the Brevard fire areas.

There are two shelters in South and Central Brevard. Director Clare Gunde has requested Humane Society of Vero Beach to give some relief for workers who are exahusted from taking care of the extra animals from evacuees. We will be checking today to see if other help is needed.

Those are the primary fire areas at this time. Seminole County, through its animal control department, has taken in a large number of horses.

Ken Johnson, my former program coordinator, was drafted back into helping out. He has coordinated with national PetsMart for the stores in Jacksonville, Ocala, and Gainesville to accept donations of money, food and pet supplies for those local efforts. He did a press release into Florida to let people know that is one avenue for donations.

We are currently working with a major airline to bring carriers into
Jacksonville (thanks to Jax Humane) that can be distributed throughout the fire areas or used by DART teams.

Nick Gilman called to say that he will be flying into Orlando on
Saturday and will be met with American Humane Association's 18 wheeler that will be driving in from St. Louis. He is putting himself and the truck at the State of Florida's beck and call. It is unknown where they will be activated, but we will be working with Nick once they all get together in Florida.

The Ocala horse industry is opening its stables in a big way. We could currently house thousands of horses in Marion County. Some of the evacuated horses may be moved to those more secure locations. We also have received offers of assistance from Pompano Rack Track in Fort Lauderdale and many others offers from horse lovers all over the Southeast.

That's the big news for now. Joe Kight and Ernie Mayo have been doing a great job at the State EOC in their role of ESF - 17 State coordinators.

Ken Johnson is volunteering at the State EOC on Saturday, and I have pulled in local volunteers to assist me at the office. I will be remaining at The HSUS / SERO for now to help coordinate efforts throughout the area and keep everyone up to date. Please forgive me if I forgot any major points, I will add them later. Everyone is doing a great job beyond the call of duty.

Laura Bevan
The Humane Society of the United States
Southeast Regional Office