Last weekend, a group of New York State shelter staff and Cornell Shelter Medicine staff and veterinary students came together for a 2-day workshop on Responding to Animals in Disasters at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Hosted by Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell University and funded through Engaged Cornell, attendees got to hear from experts at the ASPCA Field Investigations and Response Team who gave talks on topics such as Innovations in Emergency Shelter Medicine, Planning Large Scale Operations, and Veterinary Medicine in Emergency Shelters on Saturday, and provided a hands-on pop-up shelter session on Sunday.
Twelve different regional humane organizations were represented, eight Cornell vet students, and four of our shelter medicine program staff also attended. Each attendee received a copy of the textbook, Veterinary Disaster Response, by Wingfield & Palmer. In a post-workshop survey, 100% of respondents would recommend this workshop to others and were happy they attended. A majority of respondents also found the workshop effective or helpful for networking and establishing new relationships and said they learned something new about the services offered by Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell University.
Georgie Taylor, President of the Humane Society of Schuyler County, said “the training was very worthwhile, so accessible, and provided a great opportunity to include so many from our organization, which would not have been possible otherwise.” She added that being able to come together with staff from other shelters in the area “also sparked some other ways we can support those in our community in need.” We hope this workshop is a starting place for a bigger conversation and broader involvement with our regional shelters and humane organization in the effort to save homeless animals and pets in our area were disaster to strike.
If you would like to read more about the ASPCA’s FIR team, please click here. If you’d like to hear more about this Responding to Animals in Disasters workshop, please see the article written by the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine by clicking here.
Thank you,
Sarah Nickerson, Program Coordinator
Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell
