The barriers to establishing animal disaster response policies in communities and the effects of not having response networks in place

Author's Biography

Cheryl Rogers is a chartered professional accountant and has been involved as an animal disaster response volunteer since 1999. She is a founding member and National Coordinator of the Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team (CDART). CDART was founded after Firestorm 2003 in British Columbia (BC) to provide emergency services for domestic animals and to train volunteers. CDART is considered lead agency by BC’s Earthquake Review Board. Cheryl has broad experience in animal disaster response, including oiled bird rescue, BC wildfires, Hurricane Katrina, Fort McMurray wildfire and BC atmospheric river event in 2021, as well as planning for Fraser River freshets and the COVID-19 pandemic. Cheryl has been a subject matter expert at various working groups and round tables, most recently the Public Safety Canada Civilian Response Capacity Roundtable in 2024. She has been a presenter at a variety of emergency preparedness conferences, most recently the 2023 Network of Emergency Support Services Teams (NESST) conference. Cheryl is the CDART liaison with BC’s Emergency Management & Climate Readiness for provincial disaster response, and the CDART representative for the Integrated Disaster Council of BC (IDCBC). She represented CDART during Exercise Coastal Response in 2016 and 2023.

Theresa Laviolette is a writer and editor with a focus on animal welfare and has worked with CDART for several years producing written material and presentations. She has sat on the boards of several animal organisations in both Canada and Greece.