To the rescue
Summerside couple hoping to start branch of Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team
Lynne Davis stood last spring on the doorstep of a home in a fire-ravaged neighbourhood of Fort McMurray, Alta., as a bylaw officer prepared to break the lock.
All around them were destroyed buildings, but for whatever reason this house had escaped obliteration with barely a singe. The owners had evacuated 17 days earlier with the rest of the community and were staying in Calgary.
Davis and her companion had permission to enter the home and check on its contents, specifically the owner’s 15-year-old cat.
As the lock gave way and the door opened, Davis and her companion heard a noise from the rear of the home as the feline in question came “stomping and meowing” and “not in a good humour,” towards them.
They collected the animal, and Davis and her teammates provided shelter to it until its owners were able to retrieve it.
Moments like that one are why Davis and her husband, Ron McConnell, of Summerside, joined the Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team (CDART).
“We don’t think anyone should have to go through that, and if we can help we will, with our incredible group of CDART volunteers and our partners,” said Davis.
CDART started in 2003 as a cat rescue group that formed in response to wildfires that year in the Okanagan Valley, B.C. Since then, the group has expanded to include hundreds of volunteers who have responded to disasters across Canada.
The volunteer-based group works with emergency response teams during and after natural or man-made disasters to save domesticated animals and care for them until their owners can take them back.
The group is heavily active in its home province of British Columbia, where wildfires and flooding are an annual concern.
“When an evacuation occurs, people don’t want to leave their animals. That’s perfectly natural, because animals, especially pets, are part of your family,” said McConnell.
“The mental impact on people, to have to leave their pets behind, is huge. It creates this huge head-banging barrier between them and the first responders trying to evacuate them.”
However, if a first responder can give the homeowner some reassurance that their animals will be saved and cared for, it relieves that tension, gets them moving and makes a much safer situation for everyone, he said.
Davis and McConnell have been around animals their whole lives, and when they heard about CDART they found its mandate a natural fit for them.
The couple is recently semi-retired and decided to relocate to Summerside after living in British Columbia for many years. They have started making some contacts locally in an effort to create a branch of CDART in the Maritimes. They’ve been meeting with a number of local emergency response organizations, said McConnell, who is impressed with the amount of support they’ve received.
“This community … is so willing to respond and give back and accept. That’s one of the biggest reasons we moved here . . . . I knew Maritimers were great people, with great hearts,” he said.
Anyone who would like to know more about CDART or would like to explore potentially becoming a volunteer in the future can contact McConnell and Davis by email at cdartatlantic@gmail.com.
The group is also online at www. cdart.org.
“The mental impact on people, to have to leave their pets behind, is huge. It creates this huge head-banging barrier between them and the first responders trying to evacuate them.” Lynne Davis