The Equine Branch of Louisiana State Animal Response Team (LSART) has spent the past two years since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita working on local, regional, and state emergency preparedness and response.

LSART is the operational arm of ESF-11 (emergency support function 11–all official emergency response having to do with animals in the state of Louisiana) and is under the jurisdiction of Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. More specifically, LSART has assisted Louisiana parishes with identifying resources for pre-storm/pre-emergency evacuation and sheltering, organized equine emergency response teams for post-storm veterinary medical assistance, search and rescue, post-storm evacuation, and sheltering.

Many LSART equine veterinarians have participated in community preparedness presentations, and they have authored several publications and resources for horse owners to assist them with making their own emergency family plans to include a plan for their horses. LSART has gathered emergency supplies for equine sheltering at three locations throughout the state and has identified teams of people to assist with future incidents requiring emergency response. There are equine shelters (pre-storm evacuation, post-storm, and response), search and rescue teams, and veterinary medical teams organized in every region of our state–all lead by Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association (LVMA) equine veterinarians.

With the support of the American Veterinary Medical Association Foundation, LSART held the first Louisiana SART Summit, bringing together more than 150 people representing government agencies, non-government organizations, equine-interest groups, producer groups, agriculture organizations, and independent volunteers to identify resources and gaps for our state with regard to animal emergency planning issues–including horses