Volunteer Assisting Animal Search and Rescue

During disasters, there are always animal issues in regards to mass care evacuation, animals unable to evacuate that need to be rescued, and pets in shelters waiting to be reunified with their owners. To date, there has been no standardized way to create transparency for animal response teams and emergency management on animal-related metrics. Code 3 Associates is a national technical animal response team that provides field response during disasters along with awareness and operations training. In addition, Animal Search and Rescue (ASAR) Training and Response is a specialized team that works with state and federal partners to provide rescue teams with resources for animal rescue.

Three years ago, ASAR started working with ESRI, NAPSG, Red Cross, and other organizations to develop a Survey123 form for ASAR teams dispatched during disasters to submit field data. Roger Jelinek, a volunteer from Wisconsin, was selected to assist ASAR with developing an ArcGIS Dashboard to display the collected data for emergency management partners.

Work was recently completed assisting ASAR to respond more effectively in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Roger collaborated with Eric Thompson, Senior Director of ASAR Training and Response, to design a survey through Survey123 for first responders and an accompanying ArcGIS Dashboard to assist ASAR in responding to animals in need. The survey and dashboard will assist ASAR with communication efforts, data collection, and response times while providing a foundation for future partnerships with state and federal agencies. Several versions of the dashboard and survey forms were created by Roger with Eric providing feedback and requested changes. Final versions of the survey and dashboard were approved by Eric with the goal of field deployment for the 2021 hurricane season.

“Working with GISCorps and the assigned GIS specialist was a great experience. We collaborated together to capture a product to be used in a wide variety of ways to gather animal related metrics during a disaster. The process was easy, and everyone involved was incredibly helpful in providing a deliverable we can be proud to use and promote!”

– Eric Thompson, Senior Director of Animal Search and Rescue Training and Response