News

In the fall of 2023, CVET staff supported the UC Davis Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) in their response effort to an avian botulism outbreak in Kern County, California. Botulism is a neurotoxin produced by bacteria that naturally occurs in the waters of Tulare Lake, but was more present this year due to the large amount of rainfall that accumulated last winter and other additional factors such as warm weather and stagnant water flow.

Under the direction of the Associate Director of Operations of the California Veterinary Emergency Team (CVET), this position provides leadership and support in the development and implementation of animal care standards, conducting hands-on training of disaster responders, recommending necessary animal care equipment/supplies, and participating in key stakeholder engagement during and between disasters (primarily wildfires) involving domestic animals and livestock in the state of California.

Under the general direction of the CVET Associate Director of Logistics, this position supports CVET activities in the Logistics Section (e.g., mobile equipment deployment and transport, maintenance and repair, supply management and distribution, base of operation facility management and supporting incident safety operations) during disaster response, typically at animal shelters and/or staging areas.

The Great ShakeOut Day is an opportunity to participate in earthquake preparedness by reviewing life-saving actions like drop, cover, and hold on. You can educate your family and friends with this guidance from USGS about what action to take when an earthquake hits:  

If you are inside:  

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September is recognized federally as National Preparedness Month. While preparedness should be ongoing year-round for Californians, this is a helpful reminder to continue planning and preparing for disasters.

Remember that pets and domestic livestock should be included in family and community disaster planning. Does your emergency go bag include pet supplies? Have you thought through how, if you had to, you’d relocate livestock off your property? What resources are available in your local community to help your family during a disaster?

Evacuating, sheltering and caring for animals are enormous tasks made more difficult in a state under siege from wildfires. But the California Veterinary Emergency Team, or CVET, is ready to lead a statewide coordinated effort to provide veterinary care when disasters like wildfires strike.

CVET was invited by the North Valley Animal Disaster Group (NVADG) in Butte County to participate in a functional exercise hosted by the City of Paradise. The City of Paradise was awarded a grant to host a multi-agency functional exercise for a simulated fire in Magalia, California. As part of the disaster response operations for Butte County, NVADG participated in the exercise with the set up of an emergency small animal shelter and invited CVET to join in providing requested veterinary care.

CVET facilitated a tabletop discussion-based workshop for several southern California counties including representatives from Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, and Riverside County. These representatives came together to share about their respective resources and discuss ways to provide mutual aid to support areas of needed improvement for animal response operations within their counties.

CVET co-hosted the annual California CART Collective (CCC) Summit here on campus this week. The two-day summit included representatives from various Community Animal Response Teams (CART), California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and California Animal Welfare Association (Cal Animals). The conference included networking events, roundtable discussions, small group exercises, and expert talks.