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DESCRIPTION
Pre-Incident Planning
Pet-Friendly Shelter Organizers
Pet-friendly shelters are most frequently organized by
either local animal control offices or county/state animal
response teams. Animal control offices typically run a
jurisdiction’s public shelter for un-owned animals and
have staffs with extensive animal-handling experience.
Animal control staff members are employees of the local
government. Animal response teams, on the other
hand, are public-private partnerships of government
agencies (e.g. animal control offices, emergency
management agencies), non-profit organizations (e.g.
humane societies, animal rescue groups), businesses
(e.g. kennels, dog clubs), and concerned citizens (volunteers). Some states do not have
animal response teams, other states have statewide teams, and still other states have
statewide, local, and/or autonomous teams.
Establishing Partnerships
Pet-friendly shelters are established and operated only as a result of partnerships between
the pet-friendly shelter organizer and the local mass care provider, the local emergency
management agency, and the owner of the shelter facility. Pet-friendly shelter organizers
should also coordinate with animal care organizations, private businesses, the media, and
non-profit organizations that can provide valuable expertise, resources, and visibility for the
shelter. For assistance identifying potential partners in your community, refer to the Florida
State Agricultural Response Team’s training course on Pets and Disasters: Identifying
Community Needs and Resources.
Shelter organizers must establish strong relationships
with the local mass care provider since the pet section
and the human section of a pet-friendly shelter are
typically operated and funded independently of one
another. Depending on the jurisdiction, the primary
mass care provider may be the American Red Cross,
social services, a church, or a school board. Since the
mass care provider will often be concerned that the pet shelter staff will rely on them for
assistance during an emergency, the pet shelter organizer should be able to clearly
demonstrate that it will be able to operate independently. To this end, the pet shelter
organizer and the mass care provider should consider
developing a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of
each participating organization. Strong support from
local emergency management agencies can also help
shelter organizers win the cooperation of reluctant
mass care providers.
Creating Operating Procedures
Shelter organizers must develop standard operating
procedures (SOP) for pet shelter operations in order to
win support from mass care providers and other
potential partners. These SOPs will allow shelter
organizers to demonstrate that they have established
Animal response teams can also
be known as:
Animal and Agricultural
Response Teams;
County Animal Response
Teams (CART);
Disaster Animal Response
Teams (DART); and
State Animal Response Teams
(SART).
For information on how to gain
support for a pet-friendly shelter
proposal, see North Carolina’s
guidance document on Finding,
Staffing, and Operating a Co-
Located Companion Animal Shelter.
For a sample MOU, see the Big
Bend Disaster Animal Response
Team’s statement of understanding
with the Red Cross.
See the American Red Cross
publication, Pet Sheltering: Building
Community Response, for some
suggestions regarding the Red
Cross’s role in emergency pet
sheltering.