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Editor's Notes

• #6: Veterinarians are among the most trusted professions in the country. This comes with tremendous responsibility. We play a key role in our communities and our clients look to us for guidance, support, and leadership. It is critical that the private practice veterinarian recognize this role and do our part to educate ourselves and our clients about emergency preparedness and response. Building relationships with key stakeholders is an important component in this responsibility.
• #17: The 2013 tornadoes resulted in over 200 horses being euthanized when several training facilities were directly hit by and F5 tornado. Some of our founder members – in particular our Veterinary Officer Dr. McCook – responded to the situation and quickly became aware that there was no organization within Oklahoma already in existence set up and ready to deal with such a catastrophe. Later that summer, the Oklahoma Large Animal First Responders group was formed. From the start, it was decided that it MUST be a professional organization which operated within the ICS, and in conjunction with existing respected groups. It was suggested that affiliating with the OKMRC would be sensible, owing to their background check and credentialing abilities, as well as for insurance and other legal benefits. The OKMRC have been very supportive, and we are a resource unit of that organization as well as the large animal component of the State Animal Response Team.
• #20: Our core group is based in Central Oklahoma, and we target that region for other services such as microchipping clinics. In the event of a disaster outside the central region, we will respond upon request to major disaster situations, although our response time is of course greater. As we expand as an organization, we are investigating the possibility of setting up “satellite groups” which will be available in regions within Oklahoma but outside the central area, and which can attend more rapidly a major disaster incident involving animals, calling in resources from the central region as are appropriate and required.
• #21: The critical message on this slide is that we DO NOT SELF-DEPLOY! While we typically monitor ongoing extreme weather or fire patterns, we will not deploy until the request is made through official channels.
• #22: We will typically deploy our main trailers to a staging area at the time of the initial request, so at least our basic equipment will be readily available. We can call in additional trailers as are required.
• #23: Depending upon the nature of the disaster scene and the injuries and types of animals involved, it may be preferable to perform minor treatments on those injured and allow them and uninjured animals to “shelter in place”. This may however not be practical depending upon a variety of reasons, for example loss of power, water or fencing. If sheltering in place is not possible, then we are able to evacuate small numbers of animals immediately, and arrange for additional transport to move larger numbers.
• #24: Here we can see an injured donkey being evacuated in our main trailer following a tornado in Wynnewood in 2016, and a horse being evacuated following the Elk City tornado of 2017.
• #25: For seriously injured animals, we like to transfer them if possible to OSU’s Veterinary University at Stillwater. Not only do they have excellent facilities there with an abundance of staff, but they also have a “Disaster Relief Fund” which will cover costs of treatment for affected animals. Another major consideration for someone who has perhaps just lost their home and everything in it is how they are going to pay for treatment of their injured animal. Perhaps the only thing they have left often takes on even greater significance for them, and can represent a source of considerable mental anguish. Our ability to assist them with the transport of the animal to a facility where adequate care can be provided at no cost can be an immense relief. Looking at it from the aspect of a local veterinarian – that individual may be more than willing to assist, but realistically, payment and resources may not be possible or available. This in turn can create s difficult situation for that person, so evacuating to Stillwater can be beneficial for them as well.
• #26: These are images from the Guthrie Fires several years ago. As can be seen, there was definite potential for large animal involvement, and we were “staged” by the AHJ and on standby to assist with evacuations if required. As it turned out, the winds were favorable and there was no need for our services. This is an example of our working with other first responder departments, and being ready to provide resources to assist.
• #27: Willingness to work with other teams, be they animal responders such as are shown here – the American Humane Association and Code 3 / EERU/ASAR (as well as a rapidTAG used by ICS in the Fort Gibson deployment) – or other teams such as a Fire Department is essential. While we are proud of our organization, we have no ego! The important aspect is the end goal – and everyone should be working towards that together! Preserving human safety while doing our best to assist animals and their owners in rescue, sheltering and long-term recovery.
• #28: Actual routing of request may very slightly – “boots on the ground” may notify IC of the need for OLAFR; IC may contact OEM/ODAFF which contacts us and then we must confirm with OKMRC as that is our official deployer.
• #30: While we may be active at an incident involving animals, the situation will typically continue long after the scene itself has been resolved. Facilities may be destroyed, animals may have been evacuated, and supplies of feed and bedding for those animals (as well as ongoing minor veterinary care) may be required. These images show some of the supplies which were donated following the 2013 tornadoes – all of which had to be suitably stored and distributed to locations in need. While OLAFR was not in existence at that time, the activities revolving about the managing of donated supplies now falls within the purview of the organization. “Recovery” is the fourth stage of a disaster, and we are ready to assist where we can.
• #31: The second stage of a disaster is preparedness. Public education is an important part of our program, with presentations being given to organizations such as 4H and other agricultural and horse clubs. We also operate a Facebook page which can be accessed through our website – www.olafr.org - that provides public information.
• #32: One major issue following a disaster is reunification of animal with owner. Imagine 5 owners and 5 sorrel horses all of which look more or less the same! How does one identify which is which? How can a Sheriff or Police Department be sure that someone who shows up to claim a horse is the legitimate owner? One good solution is microchipping, and we offer low-cost (currently $30) microchipping clinics in different locations. We have so far microchipped several hundred horses. To give an idea of the value of permanent identification, following Hurricane Katrina, there were 464 displaced horses with unidentified owners. 463 of those horses were reunited with their owners because Louisiana requires a permanent ID (microchip, unique brand or tattoo) in order to issue a Coggin's certificate. 
• #33: Team members – particularly core team members – all make an effort to continue maintaining and improving their skills with ongoing training. The upper image shows ropework being taught from a training held in Oklahoma City, and the lower image shows a live (sedated) horse which is secured to a rescue glide in the dark, enabling it to be moved safely – this training was at a dedicated training facility in Georgia. There are also more mundane trainings, such as that involving the upper right image – intake paperwork for evacuated animals!
• #34: As we noted earlier, we do not charge for our services, but of course we need to have funds to offset expenses. We have received donations and grants from a variety of sources, but these all need to be sought after, so fundraising is an important part of the operation!