Montezuma and Dolores counties are combining forces to create a team that, in case of an emergency, are prepared to evacuate large animals.
With the help of CSU Extension, the two counties are in the process of creating CART, which stands for Community Animal Response Team. It’ll be staffed with volunteers.
“It’s another Montolores project,” said Montezuma County Emergency Manager Jim Spratlen. “We’re trying to develop a team so we’re not exchanging business cards in an emergency.”
What’s more, Spratlen said, of the five counties and two tribes in the southwest corner of the state, there’s not a team like this.
Dolores County Emergency Manger Keith Keesling said that a few years ago, he realized how Dolores County was “woefully unprepared” for emergencies involving large animals.
“We decided it was time to fix that,” said Keesling.
On April 22 in the Montezuma County Annex Building at 6 p.m., they’re going to have a presentation on CART to gauge interest and start recruiting volunteers, said Spratlen.
“The ag community is all about neighbors helping neighbors. If there was an emergency, I doubt there’d be a lack of people wanting to help,” said Emily Lockard, Montezuma County’s director and agriculture specialist at CSU Extension.
“This is about preparing and education,” said Lockard.
There’s some level of personal responsibility in preparing for such an emergency, she said.
“If you have horses and livestock but don’t own a trailer, what would you do if there was an emergency?” said Lockard.
“You can ride a horse out, but not sheep,” Keesling added.
Having a trailer, then, and checking that trailer to make sure its tires are full and floorboards are intact, is part of that education piece; plus, CART volunteers will undergo official emergency management training.
“There hasn’t been an incident that’s come up yet to necessitate this. And based on history, hopefully it’s not something we need a lot,” Lockard said. “It’s proactive.”
Other counties have “extremely robust” plans for large animal evacuations, but not every Colorado county has one, she said.
“Not even close,” said Lockard.
“Ours won’t be too complicated,” Spratlen said. “We just want to make sure people are trained.”
Plus, summer is coming up, and there’s multiple herds from multiple different ranchers that graze on National Forest Land, said Keesling.
“What if there was a forest fire,” he said. “These are things we think about, that keep us up at night. This team will help.”
