On Friday, July 9, Florida officials suspended the intrastate and interstate requirements for animal movement to help livestock owners evacuate quickly because of the approaching Hurricane Dennis. The hurricane made landfall in Florida on June 10.

“Hurricanes and other disastrous natural events pose serious threats to the safety of residents and their animals,” said a release from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi will accept Florida animals being transported to safety impacted areas without the required interstate documentation (specifically, Official Certificates of Veterinary Inspection, or OCVI, and other documents). It is recommended to contact destination within a particular state for any additional documentation they may require.”

Even while it was not required, it was recommended that livestock owners have routinely required interstate movement documentation to expedite the travel process. If animals traveled out of Florida, owners needed to stop at the agricultural stations and obtain a simple document indicating the address of origin and destination of the animals. Mike Short, DVM, equine program manager in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service’s Division of Animal Industry, explained, “This helps our agricultural law enforcement know who is moving and when they are coming back in,” so that livestock owners can re-enter with the same requirements as when they fled the hurricane.

Short said he cannot tell at this point how Florida horses fared in the storm, but said it was not as bad as Hurricanes Isabel or Ivan last year. “We handled probably right around 220 head of horses that people called and wanted to have information as to where they could evacuate them to, most of them from the Panhandle,” he said. The Sunshine State Horse Council has a site on which owners can find places to take evacuated horses during the threat of a hurricane: www.sshc.org/evac/dbinfo.htm