Agricultural News
When Disaster Strikes on the Farm, Who You Gonna Call?
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 18:30:26 CDT
The Oklahoma Large Animal First Responders or OLAFR, was formed after disaster struck during the May 2013 tornado. Its members, made up of veterinarians from across the state, have been credentialed by the Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps, attended numerous trainings and have assisted with emergency events, involving large animal evacuations and sheltering. In fact, they recently signed a memorandum of understanding with animal welfare groups like Code 3 Associates and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). I spoke with Dr. Clayton Cook, a leader in OLAFR, to discuss the organization and their work.
McCook describes his first experience with emergency large animal response, tending to the livestock of some of his clients in the aftermath of the tornado that ripped through Moore in May of 2013.
"There wasn't much of a coordinated effort at the time," McCook said. "We really wanted to try after all the lessons that we learned, try to build an organization to try to sort of improve on large animal emergency response in Oklahoma - that's where it all kind of started with us."
McCook says during an emergency in the field, dealing with large animals, it can be a very chaotic scene that demands a lot of coordination and command. Unlike small household pets that can be easily restrained and transported to receive medical attention, livestock instinctually reverts to a 'flight or fight mode' when injured, a situation that can become dangerous to the animal and the responders.
"Really in the field at that moment, it's more of a triage effort and trying to coordinate trucks and trailers to get the animals out of there," McCook said. "It's particularly difficult in those larger disaster type scenarios, because obviously human life takes priority. You have to walk that fine line between doing everything you can to save whatever animals you can but also balance that- with the bigger need which again is primarily human life."
Dr. McCook strongly urges any and all veterinarians in the state to get involved. If you are interested, he says now is the time to start training.
"This work takes an incredible amount of preparation and training and time," McCook said. "I learned that in 2013. The time to learn about disaster response is not the night of the tornado, and show up on the scene.
If you are a veterinarian interested in getting involve with OLAFR, you can contact Dr. Rod Hall with the Oklahoma Agriculture Department, a major partner with the organization, or look them up on Facebook at their page, Oklahoma Large Animal First Responders. You can also email them at OLAFRTeam@gmail.com.
Listen to my full conversation with Dr. Clayton McCook about the Oklahoma Large Animal First Responders, by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
