County Articles

   Ballston Spa, NY – On Tuesday, November 17, 2009 the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors accepted a New York State Homeland Security Grant on behalf of the Saratoga, Warren and Washington County Animal Rescue Teams (CART). This grant will provide companion animal response equipment that will enhance the teams’ capabilities to respond to all hazards and events. The over $47,000 grant consists of three elements: the establishment of an Emergency Animal Sheltering Equipment Cache featuring a mobile trailer that can be deployed to emergency sites; planning for pet and companion animal evacuation and sheltering during man-made or natural disasters; and training workshops for the teams on specific types of disaster handling protocols and on updating those protocols annually. Input on these protocols will be given by the counties’ health departments and by other towns with already established policies.  

    The focal point of the grant is the Equipment Cache, which will be housed in a mobile trailer located at the Saratoga County Animal Shelter and is capable of serving 125 to 150 cats and dogs plus other companion animals. The trailer will be deployed as needed across the three-county region. After group training, each team will be able to respond to an emergency in any of the three counties. In the event of an emergency, this cooperative relationship will ease local responders of the animal care burden.

        Learning from the hurricanes that devastated Louisiana and Mississippi, and the Northeast’s potential for ice storms resulting in a loss of power, like the ones recently experienced by Saratoga County, the CARTs recognize that one of the greatest challenges in a disaster is managing both pets and their human companions. The CARTs and the counties’ Emergency Management Offices have long-sought funding to implement their mission and all three committees actively supported the process, contributing to the equipment needed in the mobile trailer.

        Saratoga County’s Office of Emergency Management, Animal Shelter and Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) program took the lead in developing the region’s grant application, which was one of only eight funded throughout the state. Supervisor Alan Grattidge (Charlton), the Board’s liaison to CCE, said “This is another example of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors working together with different departments and neighboring Counties to provide vital shared services in times of disasters for our pets.”