Florida SART: Florida State Agricultural Response Team

2009 Florida SART Conference in Review

FSA's Tim Manning addresses the opening conference session. The 2009 Conference began with a get-to-know-you outdoor reception.

Here are capsule summaries or quick quotes from the 2009 Florida SART Conference Wednesday, March 25th – Friday, March 27th attended by about 125 people from practically all areas of the state. Co-chair for the Conference were Tim Manning, USDA (tim.manning@fl.usda.gov), and Dr. Joan Dusky, IFAS-UF (jadu@ufl.edu) with ESF-17 Coordinator Joe Kight, FDACS (kightj@doacs.state.fl.us). By presenting these brief notes, we hope that an idea or a direction may present itself for your location or situation – “all disasters are local” – and/or that a resource may be available to assist with plans and recommendations.

Wednesday Afternoon, March 25
Florida Animal Control Association
Bill Armstrong, Hillsborough County (armstrongw@hillsboroughcounty.org or hartt@hillsboroughcounty.org)

1. Discussion about Florida stance on exotic pets – counties must have plans to deal with exotics in emergency situations.
2. Discussion about standards (air flow and temperature controls) for animal movement during emergencies.
3. Seven MARE Trailers recently outfitted with small animal emergency supplies, one for each law enforcement region.

FEMA, ESF-11 (USDA) Programs
Dr. Kay Carter-Corker, APHIS-USDA (kay.a.carter-corker@aphis.usda.gov)
Dr. Suzan Loerzel, APHIS-USDA (suzan.m.loerzel@aphis.usda.gov)

• Discussion of structure of emergency planning.
• Responses to animal emergencies as varied as pods of dolphins washing up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and dealing with genetically altered mice at Tulane University.

Bill Armstrong

Kay Carter-Corker

Suzan Loerzel

Penny Burke

Neel Barnaby

DHS Citizen Corps, New Animal Responders
Penny Burke, FEMA Community Preparedness (penny­_burke@dhs.gov)

1. Promotes citizen preparedness – incorporating preparedness into daily lives.
2. www.ready.gov/america/getakit/pets.html “Keep in mind that what's best for you is typically what's best for your animals.”

Agroterrorism
Dr. Neel Barnaby, FBI Hazardous Material Response Unit

1. FBI is the lead investigative authority for terrorist attacks in the US.
2. Must keep the “chain of custody” intact and accounted for when evidence or samples are available.
3. When does the FBI take over a CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) crime? “We’re not. CBRN crimes require a multi-agency response, a multi-agency partnership.”

The Michael Vick Dog-Fighting Case
Tom Ackerman, Office of the Inspector General, USDA (thackerman@oig.usda.gov)

• A surprise presentation on “US vs. Michael Vick” (former quarterback, Atlanta Falcons) included first-hand and eye-witness accounts of Vick’s “Bad Newz Kennels.”
• Why the Department of Agriculture was involved.
• Notes that dog fighting is often associated with cock fighting.
• [Note: August 24, 2007: Vick signs a guilty plea to federal dog-fighting charges. Vick admitted to killing the dogs “by various methods, including hanging and drowning.” Find this information and copies of the signed indictment at http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/sports/usvick82407plea.html He has paid nearly a million dollars in penalties and, in December 2007, was sentenced in federal court to 23 months in jail.]

• [Special Note – Vick Drama Continues (Associated Press April 10, 2009) Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has sued the Jacksonville company behind a dog toy named for suspended NFL star Michael Vick. According to a lawsuit filed in Duval County Circuit Court on April 9, Showbiz Promotions claimed that some proceeds from sales of chew toy would be directed to animal shelters and organizations, but no contributions to the groups were made. The company's owner, Jaime Salcedo, is also named in the lawsuit. A telephone number could not be located for Salcedo or for the company.]

Tom Ackerman

Alan Hodges

Ashby Green

Dee Ellis

Matt Hersom

Thursday Morning, March 26
Agricultural Impact of Emergencies
Dr. Alan Hodges, IFAS-UF (awhodges@ufl.edu)

1. 47,000 commercial farms in Florida and agriculture here “tends to be” more corporate than in other states – 2/3 of Florida is in some type of agriculture!
2. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fe702 “Economic Contributions of Florida Agriculture, Natural Resources, Food and Kindred Product Manufacturing and Distribution, and Service Industries in 2006” (Alan W. Hodges, Mohammad Rahmani and W. David Mulkey)
3. With construction and tourism, agriculture is one of three pillars of the economy.
4. Agriculture is susceptible to a wide range of natural disasters, probably more so in Florida than any other state in the US.

Livestock Industry’s Concerns
Dr. Ashby Green, DVM, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association www.beef.org

1. Cattle industry is going through substantial changes – discusses euthanasia, carcass disposal, perception of product.
2. Emphasizes how rapidly cattle move around the US.
3. Herd size in Florida is about 60 head, but about 350 needed to support a family.

Dr. Dee Ellis, Assistant Executive Director, Texas Animal Health Commission
www.tahc.state.tx.us

1. Focusing on county planning and local preparedness.
2. The Texas structure is “different” with county judges very important.
3. Hurricane Ike: estimated 10,000 cattle drowned (buried up to 3,000 and the rest were inaccessible) “A dead animal is not a bio-hazard. Just put the carcass into the general debris. It is biodegradable. It died from drowning, not an infectious disease.”
4. Concern – stress between some of the humane groups and the industry.
5. Mention of “air-curtain incinerators” – not so good with a wet carcass, though.

Bio-security: Home-Ranch-Field
Dr. Matt Hersom, IFAS-UF (hersom@ufl.edu)

1. As many as 25 million people earn their living from agriculture in Florida.
2. Three Commandments: Prevent (Sanitation), Isolate, Minimize (Traffic Control)
3. “To us, it may just be a tomato, but in two days somebody is going to be putting that in their mouth.”

Thursday Afternoon, March 26
County ESF-17
Moderator – Bill Armstrong, Hillsborough County (armstrongw@hillsboroughcounty.org or hart@hillsboroughcounty.org)
Panelists – Richard Ziegler, Leon County (zieglerr@leoncountyfl.gov); Daisy Harsch, Palm Beach County (dharsch@pbcgov.com); David Cline, Glades County (dcline@myglades.com)

1. Extensive discussion about working with school boards for use of school buildings and school buses, and with public transportation agencies to allow supervised pet use during emergencies.
2. Finds that in situations thus far, the number of people who show up with pets during evacuation situations is much smaller than forecast – problem is that there is not much data yet (Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act was just passed in May 2006).
3. Leon is a “host county” and this presents a different matrix of problems than just evacuating people and animals – a local emergency is very different than serving the needs of many thousands of displaced people and animals
4. Daisy Harsch: the Palm Beach County school superintendent, Arthur Johnson, has said “absolutely not” to pets in buildings or on buses. “This is our biggest challenge.”

Richard Ziegler

Daisy Harsch

David Cline

Emily Meyer

Laura Bevan

Pet-Friendly Evacuation Sheltering
Moderator – Joe Kight, Florida ESF-17 Coordinator (kightj@doacs.state.fl.us)
Panelists – Emily Meyer, DEM Community Assistance Consultant (emily.meyer@em.myflorida.com); Laura Bevan, Humane Society of the United States (lbevan@hsus.org); Becky Sebren, American Red Cross www.redcross.org

1. “Local and state health and safety regulations do not permit the Red Cross to allow pets in disaster shelters. Service animals which assist people with disabilities are the only animals allowed in Red Cross shelters.”
2. Becky Sebren: Red Cross volunteers are not typically trained to work with animals, but Red Cross has become “more sensitive” to the issue of pets and “will collaborate with adjacent shelters.” Volusia-Flagler-Manatee County examples
3. The primary problems with using public facilities for pet-friendly shelters seem to be school administrators and locally elected school boards – state DOE has no authority in this regard over local school systems
4. Laura Bevan: How many people show up at emergency shelters? Studies to date indicate only 2-3 percent and of that group only 2/3 have pets.
5. Joe Kight: Believes there is a growing understanding that pet owners must evacuate with pets, that animals can not be left behind.
6. Shelters are seeing more cats than dogs.
7. Problem on the horizon – how to keep volunteers motivated, active and feeling appreciated. Give them education – they want it!
8. Here is an example of keeping your volunteers interested and it comes from Pasco County: Dealing with Exotic Animals topic for May meeting
1. Want to avoid responding to an animal-related disaster and facing an angry chimp that was someone’s pet? Then you will want to attend the May 7, 2009 PART meeting at Pine View Middle School in Land O’Lakes from 6 to 7 pm.
2. The presentation will be given by two representatives from the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC):
3. Lt. Steve Delacure is an Investigator II with the FWC. His job duties include inspecting businesses and licensed citizens that care for and possess caged wildlife, venomous reptiles and non-indigenous species. He will be able to tell us which types of animals are housed in our region and in what conditions they should be housed.
4. FWC Officer Joe Wolff will also be there to conduct a short K9 demo and explain the FWC’s K9 program and day to day functions of the FWC officers.
5. Please RSVP to Pascoanimals@gmail.com.  For more information about PART, visit their website:  pascoanimals.googlepages.com.  There will be a short orientation for new PART volunteers after the training session.

Florida Veterinary Corps
John Haven, Director, College of Veterinary Medicine, UF (havenj@vetmed.ufl.edu)
Dr. Greg Christy, DVM, FDACS (christj@doacs.state.fl.us)

• UF was first to set up response team from veterinary medical college.
• VETS: www.flsart.org/vetcorps/index.htm.
• Stressing rapid assessment, coordination and assistance for local needs when the Vets Corps deploys its field hospital and performing technical rescue for large animals.

Becky Sebren

Joe Kight

Greg Christy

John Haven

David Perry

SART/CART
Moderator – David Perry, FDACS (perryda@doacs.state.fl.us)
Panelists – Dr. Terry Spencer (tspencer@pascoco.net) and Jean Hink (jmhink@ufl.edu), Pasco County; Paul Studivant (pstudivant@co.st-johns.fl.us), St. Johns County; Raquel Aluisy (raquel.aluisy@verizonbusiness.com), Hillsborough County.

1. Pasco Animal Response Team volunteers are under the direction of Animal Services http://pascoanimals.googlepages.com/ (Editor’s Note: This is a Must See web site for individuals working to build a county SART!)
2. Jean Hink: In Pasco, we used the SART Handbooks and have made use of partners where it was helpful. Think about using school agriculture teachers as they may already have animals in the schools. “If you don’t ask, you’re assuming they will say no.”
3. Paul Studivant: Use the media.

Friday Morning, March 27
Beware of the Bees
Dr. Jamie Ellis, IFAS-UF (jdellis@ufl.edu)

• Impossible for laymen to tell the difference between Africanized Honey Bee and European Honey Bee. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/afbee/ or www.afbee.com
• What makes Africanized bees so dangerous is their defensiveness. When swarmed by “killer bees,” RUN as fast as you can until they leave you alone – it may take a hundred yards – or get immediately inside a space such as a car. In the refuge of a car, the ones inside with you will continue to sting, but rather the dozen inside than the thousands waiting outside.

Joan Dusky

Jamie Ellis

 
Panelists Terry Spencer, Jean Hink, Paul Studivant, Raquel Aluisy and Mary Jo Maruca

Robert Seccuro

HAZMAT Awareness Training

 Robert Seccuro, Chief of Special Operations, Brevard County Fire Rescue

• District Chief Robert Seccuro “ensures that the Special Operations Team [of Brevard County] is well prepared to respond to specialized emergencies such as technical rescue incidents, which include high angle rescue, trench rescue, and confined space rescue. Fire and Rescue response crews Fire engine crews and rescue (ambulance) crews are managed by a station Lieutenant.” www.brevardcounty.us/fire_rescue/fr_operations.cfm
• Discussion of difficulties responding to “meth labs.”
• Brevard County brought several crew members and a HAZMAT truck to the Holiday Inn parking lot for SART members to reviews.

Four Recognized With SART Awards

Our 2009 SART Service Award Winners (l-r) are Dr. Suzan Loerzel, APHIS-USDA; Dr. Terry Spencer, Pasco County Animal Services; John Haven, College of Veterinary Medicine, UF; and Laura Bevan, HSUS.

Four SART members were recognized with special SART Responder awards for Exceptional Service at the 2009 SART Conference in Cocoa Beach. Plaques in recognition of their contributions to all-hazard awareness, response and recovery were awarded by Dr. Joan Dusky, IFAS-UF, during the Thursday luncheon.

Segraves Gives Highlight Presentation

Lake County’s René Segraves gave the highlight presentation during the Thursday luncheon at the 2009 SART Conference. Segraves, a member of Public Safety, Animal Services in Tavares (www.lakecountyfl.gov/departments/public_safety/animal_services/), spoke very positively about her county’s experiences developing pet-friendly shelters. Lake County is the recipient of the National Association of Counties Achievement Award for Pet-Friendly Hurricane Shelters. She also passed out copies of a spiral-bound handbook which she had developed to accompany her talk.

René Segraves Lake County Animal Services Featured Luncheon Speaker

The Sentinel contacted René by email following the conference and asked for a recap. She replied, “Well, it's kinda hard for me to do this on a computer, I'm a talker ya know, but, I will try,” and gave the following summary about Lake County’s successes.
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I wanted everyone to know that it is not hard to get a pet friendly shelter started; you just need to keep trying and never give up. You need to tell the "powers that be" to give you just one chance to set up a shelter – away from the people but in the same school. Just tell them that if they don't leave the school (area where the shelter is located) in better condition and cleaner than when they came in that you would never bother them again to ask to have a pet friendly shelter at their school.

Then, you must staff the pet friendly shelter with knowledgeable and friendly workers. The workers need to be aware that this is a make or break situation and that they are being counted on to do an excellent job. Believe me, the supervisors know who to send to these things, the people persons!

Then, they can stand back and let the accolades role in from the citizens. That's when the “powers that be” will see that it makes them look good and all will be well in the world ... well, in our little world anyway!

I also gave everyone a booklet that explained the how, what, when, where and who to get this project off the ground and it is easy to follow and duplicate.

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Lake County Animal Services Division provides for public safety, animal welfare and enforces state statutes and local ordinances. The Division promotes responsible pet ownership, reunites lost pets with their families and helps people select a new furry friend. Animal Services is the countywide receiving facility for housing strays, animals in quarantine and unwanted domestic animals.

In addition to a two-person management team, the Division maintains a staff of 28 personnel, including thirteen Animal Services Officers, nine Animal Shelter Technicians, three Euthanasia Technicians, two Dispatchers, one part-time veterinarian and one Office Associate. Animal Services Officers responded to more than 14,000 call/complaints and the Shelter Technicians cared for more than 15,000 animals in the past year.

René Segraves (352) 343-9688 rsegraves@co.lake.fl.us

Please Update Member Information Now!

Ah so, Cricket! The 2009 Conference is over, but the 2009 Hurricane Season is right around the corner. The need for up-to-date information may be critical soon.

 We at the SART Sentinel have at last discovered, thanks to Dr. Jiannong Xin, Office of Information Technology at UF and webmaster for the Florida SART web site, how to update information on our Member Page. Naturally, we now encourage every member of the Florida SART community to update their page. It is easy, only takes a minute and even we techno-challenged Liberal Arts & Sciences graduates can do it….

Simply-
1) Sign into the SART website at www.flsart.org.
2) Click on "Edit My Member Information" under SART Members.
3) Edit contact information or password as needed and click submit.

Additional FBI Notes on Agro-Terrorism

“Agro-terrorism is an attack against the agricultural infrastructure of a country and is designed to intimidate, coerce or cause panic in the population in the furtherance of political or social objectives.”

1. Threat Agents
1. Threat agents used in an agro-terrorism attack can include bacteria, fungi, viruses and toxins and do not need to have a high mortality rate to be effective.
2. For example, foot-and-mouth disease, which has a low mortality rate, would have a much greater economic impact to the country than some of the more lethal agents.
3. Some threat agents could be easily collected from endemic areas and transported to the US.
4. The introduction of exotic plants and insects to the US could also be a form of agro-terrorism.
5. Examples of agro-terrorism threat agents:
• Animal Diseases: foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever, classical swine fever
• Plant Diseases: wheat stem rust, bacterial wilts (Ralstonia solanacearum), rice blast
• Zoonotic diseases: Rift Valley fever, monkey pox, avian influenza




The foot-and-mouth virus.
2. Dissemination Devices
1. Devices used to disseminate threat agents can come in many different forms from the most complex to the least sophisticated. Collection of the dissemination device as evidence is important as it may provide valuable information and potential case leads.
2. Dissemination devices:
1. Simple off-the-shelf items: Sprayers, Dual purpose equipment, Aerosolizers/Nebulizers, Medical home-use equipment, Agricultural equipment, Basic kitchen items
2. Sophisticated equipment: high pressure spray rigs, crop duster aircraft and equipment, military origin equipment, dual-use laboratory equipment
3. Agricultural disease agents may also be introduced and spread intentionally or accidentally by: direct transmission between infected animals and plants, insect or animal vectors, contaminated “fomites” (veterinary or other animal use equipment, animal bedding, cages, pens, coops, livestock handing equipment, clothing, footwear, vehicle tires, livestock trucks), wind and weather events, contaminated animal and plant products (meat, hides, serum products, meat/garbage scraps, manure, diseased fruit/vegetables and other crop materials)
3. The FBI is dedicated to preventing, detecting and investigating potential attacks on the agricultural infrastructure. FBI efforts include: liaison with other government agencies, ensuring FBI ability to analyze contaminated evidence and outreach to other groups and conferences.
4. Agro-terrorism requires a multi-agency response effort to identify the terrorist event, conduct clinical and criminal investigations, manage disease remediation, minimize the economic and environmental impact and restore public confidence. The FBI coordinates with DHS (National Bio-forensic Analysis Center), HHS (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FDA), USDA (AHIS, ARS).

Our sincere thanks to Dr. Neel Barnaby,
FBI Hazardous Material Response Unit. 

SART Conference Attendee Commentary

Following the 2009 SART Conference March 25-27, held at the Holiday Inn Oceanfront Cocoa Beach, the Sentinel emailed attendees for general follow-up comments and thoughts about the conference. Here are responses, presented so that they may perhaps stimulate additional ideas and discussion. (Several responses have arrived at the SART Sentinel offices as this issue was being formatted and will be made available in the May newsletter.)

Ed Obrero, Operations Manager
City of Jacksonville Animal Care & Control Division
It was a pretty good conference.  I learned a few things, met a few new contacts.  If I were to pick one thing that was most significant to me among all the good presentations was the USDA-OIG handling of the Michael Vick case.  It was interesting to know that we could tap into that resource, if needed, next time we run into a similar situation.
In regards to the conference format, I think (and it’s just my opinion) it might have been more beneficial to hold break-out sessions on some of the topics (i.e. Pet Friendly Shelters) to allow a more broad and open exchange of information among conference attendees with similar issues or concerns.

APHIS-FDA Schedules International FMD Exercise

In June, APHIS’ Veterinary Services National Veterinary Stockpile, the Multi-State Partnership for Security in Agriculture (MSPSA) and Canada will conduct a 3-day, multi-state exercise focusing on an intentional introduction of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

The exercise will test and evaluate the emergency logistical responses of APHIS and the states through both tabletop and full-scale exercise. During the two-day tabletop portion, June 16-17, participants will learn about and discuss:

1. Logistics planning, preparedness, coordination and communications.
2. State and industry capabilities to respond.
3. Issues relating to intra- and inter-state “stop movement” control, and
4. USDA, regional, Multi-Agency Coordination (MAC), Area Command, state and Incident Command Post (ICP) roles during an outbreak.

Immediately following the tabletop exercise, a one-day full-scale exercise will take place in Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska and Canada (June 18) and in Kentucky (June 19). It will include logistic warehouse operations and deployment of counter-measures and simulated vaccine. The full-scale exercise lets participating states validate National Veterinary Stockpile plans, emergency shipments known as “push packs” and the clarity of documentation.

By bringing together 13 states, three countries (Mexico will observe), and multiple federal agencies, the FMD exercise seeks to test emergency response activities and provide training to emergency officials. The training will increase knowledge about response processes and improve regional coordination to strengthen the emergency response of all participants if an FMD outbreak occurs. For more information about the exercise: www.aphis.usda.gov/APHIS_News_4States/2009/April/index.html.

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