The role of the equine practitioner in disasters.

he health and well-being of horses can be adversely affected during natural disasters such as severe storms, floods, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes. Equine practitioners are uniquely qualified to diagnose and treat injuries and stresses affecting horses during disasters and understand the logistics associated with rapid or planned evacuations of horses. Planning for disasters is often overlooked during the day-today operations of a busy equine practice; however , disaster planning is an important service that can benefit horse owners within a community. The purpose of this report is to briefly describe the important role equine practitioners have in disaster preparation, emergency response and rescue, and veterinary care of horses after a disaster has occurred. Disaster Preparation The most important role equine practitioners play is educating clients regarding disaster preparedness. Effective approaches to disaster preparedness save more lives than any type of disaster response. 1 Equine practitioners can educate local horse owners by giving seminars and presentations at pony clubs, 4-H, and other community equine forums. During these presentations , questions should be posed as to what each horse owner would do if they were without power for 3 days, had to evacuate all the horses on their premises , or if their structures were destroyed. Do they have resources available to evacuate all their horses quickly? Can they provide food and water for their horses for 3 days without power or outside help? Do they have adequate materials to securely identify evacuated and abandoned horses so that ownership cannot be chal-lenged? Horse owners should also be educated about the ways horses respond to different types of disasters and the most common injuries sustained. Distribution of pamphlets describing the essentials of disaster planning should be as much a routine part of equine practice as is distribution of information on vaccinations or parasite control. Prepared pamphlets can be accessed and printed from the California Department of Food and Agriculture website (www.cdfa.ca.gov/programs/ disasterprep/animals.html). Practitioners may also play a critical role in developing local disaster response plans and setting up volunteer disaster response teams. Key components of a county disaster plan include identification of alternate animal housing, feed and water supplies, sources of tack and animal housekeeping materials, and means of mass transport during evacuations. Housing options donors and stockpiling these materials in advance facilitates rapid distribution during times of need. Supplies practitioners may be best equipped to provide include common medications, intravenous fluids, …