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Pet Smart Manager Ellen personally delivers much needed small kitty litter pans and supplies to CDART coordinator Fran Cameron at ESS Reception Centre (Photo submitted).
Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team press release/edited
The Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team (CDART) was called out to the Glenrosa Fire on Saturday, July 18th by local authorities. The initial response team included many Summerlanders (Laura Dean, Sue George, Jane Curtin, Paula Rains, Morgan Rowley, Patrick Rains, Laura Pomerleau and Deb Silk). Some of the volunteers reported to ESS/PEP at the Royal Lepage Centre in West Kelowna while the rest remained with the evacuation team to assist with removing horses, goats, sheep and donkeys from the Glenrosa area. In fact, one of the team members was being evacuated herself. The CDART convoy of 14 horse trailers was escorted by the RCMP and included members of the B.C. Interior Horse Rescue Society. It was a well choreographed mission that resulted in the safe evacuation of many farm animals.
Meanwhile, back at the ESS Reception Centre, Jane Curtin set up the animal intake facility, and with the help of convergent volunteers including her son Jesse, they began receiving animals brought in by registering evacuees as well as processing requests for rescue. Those requests, for the most part, resulted in evacuees not being home when the roadblocks went up and they could not get home to get their animals out of harm’s way. CDART called in the Noah’s Wish Canadian Coordinator, Donna Wackerbauer of Summerland and she and volunteers from the lower mainland and as far away as Quesnel assisted in a unified response. CDART also called in the Kelowna SPCA to assist with Rescue Requests.
With the winding down of the Glenrosa Fire and the onset of evacuations for the Terrace Mountain Fire on July 23rd, the volunteers were outstanding and many took holiday time or leave without pay to assist in the response. Other CDART volunteers from Delta, Penticton and Kelowna joined the team along with convergent volunteers who worked tirelessly to ensure that the animals in our care were comfortable and exercised. With the transfer of the animal intake facility to the Jim Lind Arena, CDART volunteers transitioned the animals well and used every opportunity to mentor those volunteers with less experience. The ESS team and the staff at the facilities we used were simply amazing and welcoming. The corporate donors providing pet food and supplies (WalMart, Pet Smart, Safeway, Canadian Tire, Buckerfields, Staples) and the individuals who supported our efforts by providing us with the use of their large pet crates made our tasks easy and provided much calm. The owners of Canine Campus in West Kelowna provided us with a satellite animal intake facility and a quiet refuge for some of the animals. Offers of assistance were inspiring including Boucherie Animal Hospital and Fairfield Animal Hospital. TriLake Animal Hospital provided complimentary service for one feline patient. Telus provided CDART Coordinators with complimentary cell phones during the response. That was absolutely invaluable to us.
CDART follows Incident Command when responding to disasters and the support and assistance we received from the RCMP was simply the best. We were able to access homes expeditiously which allowed families to reunite with their pets quickly. CDART volunteers are trained to respect evacuation protocol and security and our search and rescue volunteers got animals out in record time. Our maintenance teams fed and watered elusive outside cats, watered and fed 171 chickens and other fowl, started fish tank pumps and fed fish including two piranhas, fed/watered chinchillas and an assortment of family characters that are all special. Since our first disaster response in 1994 (Garnet Fire, Penticton), our 100% volunteer team has steadily increased and they take their responsibility seriously and without fanfare. They are men and women whom I admire greatly and I know the emergency responders and evacuees value their efforts and accomplishments tremendously.
Ten days later, CDART volunteers were trailering horses, donkeys and goats back to upper Glenrosa. Families were so appreciative of the emergency response efforts to keep their animals safe. Leftover food donations were delivered to the West Kelowna Food Bank on Hebert Road for easy access to those evacuees who require it.
Thank-you to CDART Coordinators Cheryl Rogers and Fran Cameron who dropped everything to lend their support and to each and every responder from CDART and Noah’s Wish who got the job done. Thanks also to the friends, family and colleagues of our volunteer responders who minded our responsibilities while we were absent, including the feeding and watering and care of refugee animals from the fires. Volunteers for both CDART and Noah’s Wish will remain on alert throughout the summer. For more information about CDART’s response, visit their website at www.cdart.org
