AUSTIN (KXAN) — Many teams of first responders have come to the aid of local rescuers in the aftermath of the Guadalupe River flood. Due to the difficult terrain of the riverbed and the widespread nature of the damage, search and recovery canines have been called to help. But who takes care of the dogs while out in the disaster zone in the case of illness or injury?
Meteorologist Kristen Currie introduces us to Dr. Debra Zoran, a lead on the Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team. Zoran and her team have one goal, and that’s to keep these search and recovery dogs healthy.
Below is a transcript of their conversation. Edits have been made for clarification.
Kristen Currie, KXAN News: In the aftermath of the Texas floods, there was a huge response from first responders, many different teams on the ground, including one from the Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team (VET). Joining me today to talk more about that is Dr. Debra Zoran. Deb, let’s first start with who you guys are. What is your purpose?
Dr. Debra Zoran, Texas A&M VET: We were formed in 2009 after Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Katrina. There was this really large concern on the animal side that there weren’t enough response entities available to help animals in disaster. So we were formed back then to be a response entity during disasters to help not with rescue, but with animals where they’re injured, animals that are in shelter, animals in that aftermath, to help bridge the gap between the veterinary community, which oftentimes, may have lost power or they may have been damaged. All of these sorts of things.
One of the major components of disasters was search and rescue. And at Texas A&M, we have a very close tie with our local search and rescue team, Texas A&M Task Force One. We’ve had ties with them for years at the vet school, and we realized that that was another layer of support that we could provide.
Currie: Talk to me about the different incidents you have come across down there, specific to the Guadalupe River response.
Zoran: Anytime there’s this much destruction and loss of life, and all of the things are just completely disrupted, you’re going to need dogs. And they’re going to be working in horrible areas, a lot of debris, a lot of water that’s really nasty, a lot of heat because it’s Texas. And in the summertime, there are all of the Texas critters. It’s dangerous.
As far as dogs, we don’t know the total number because we don’t have good visibility on all of the volunteer dogs. There have easily been 100 or more. But I have very clear tracking, we’ve had 80 federal and state working canines here from all over the country.
Anytime there’s a disaster, the water is really contaminated. It’s got all of the cars and houses and debris and everything in it, and dogs, being dogs, are going to get in it. And so they’re going to get in it on themselves, and then they have that issue, but they’re also going to drink it. So we’ve had a handful of dogs end up having to go into a higher-level hospital, not just stay with us, because they’re vomiting a lot or because, you know, they get into the stuff. And our job is, at the end of the day, when they come in and get their end-of-day checks… We’re like sports med docs, we are identifying which muscles hurt, and we can do massage or give medication or do acupuncture, or if it’s a really big injury, do laser. We try to keep them going.
Currie: Dr. Zoran, you and your team, we are so grateful for the work that you’re doing, helping those canines, helping the first responders. Thank you so much for joining us and shedding light on the work you do.
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