Lamorinda Disaster Animal Response Team - DART

usDART

Five years after Katrina animals and their owners are still on their own when a disaster happens. The Red Cross will not shelter pets with their owners. Disaster responders are not trained to handle animals. Officials are not enforcing the PETS Act. It is time to do something about it: join DART!

Lamorinda DART (Disaster Animal Response Team)

Lamorinda DART is a group of experienced animal disaster responders. DART specializes in Animal Care and Sheltering during disasters. Our operational area includes the City of Lafayette, the Town of Moraga and the City of Orinda. Our emergency animal shelters are located near a shelter for people. Other partners are the Contra Costa County Animal Response Team (Contra Costa Animal Services), Noah's Wish, other DARTs in Contra Costa and the American Red Cross. Together, we rescue the whole family.

Join Our Mailing List!

If you are interested in receiving information about DART (training dates and locaations, deployments, new DARTs, etc.) you should sign up for our newsletter. It only takes two steps: 1. register on our main web site: http://usDART.org , and 2. select any of our mailing lists. It is that easy!

DART Members Only

2009 Jesusita Fire

Jesusita: More Animal Deaths (updated)

Written by Frans Hoffman
A herd of 175 goats was used in the Jesusita area to help clear brushes and reduce the danger of fire. When the fire erupted 30+ of them burned to death, left behind by a company that did not have an adequate evacuation plan, but was eager to take the profit of renting the animals out.
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Jesusita: Animal Death Toll Climbing

Written by Frans Hoffman
As the fire gets under control and residents are allowed back into the evacuation area, the impact of the fire on domestic animals becomes clear. Many animals left behind did not make it.
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Jesusita: Animal Evacuees Start Heading Home

Written by Santa Barbara Independent
Animals, too, have their angels. Judy, an 83-pound tortoise, was among the more unusual guests at the Santa Barbara Humane Society on Saturday, May 9. But she had plenty of company. An emu, chickens, chinchillas, songbirds, and horses - along with hundreds of dogs and cats - crowded an emergency center, set up at the center's Overpass Road shelter, for pets displaced by the Jesusita Fire.
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Jesusita Fire: Crates Needed

Written by Cheri Carlson
A menagerie of animals forced to flee the fires has found shelter at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara. By late morning, the head count topped 100 with 51 horses, two mules, a donkey, three pigs, 19 goats, three roosters, 10 possums, 41 chickens, five parakeets, a cockatiel and one "very stubborn" llama. "It's almost like Noah's Ark," said CEO Scott Grieve. "Earl's Ark."
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Jesusita Fire: Animal Death Toll Rising

Written by Frans Hoffman
UC Santa Barbara professor Albert Lindemann told Los Angeles Times that his two pet donkeys, Pollyanna and Angelina, escaped their corral at his home on Tunnel Road as the flames closed in. Pollyanna later returned, but Lindemann has yet to find Angelina. Nearby on Holly Road, resident Bob Klein pointed out the burned bodies of six goats -- perhaps the same animals that had been brought in earlier to clear brush in the area.
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Dog First Aid Training

Cat First Aid Training

Start Your Own DART!

Interested in starting your own disaster animal response team? If you are representing a CERT group, watch this exciting slide show and learn how Lamorinda DART can help you deliver advanced CERT training to your graduates.

First, watch the online presentation! Then check our Frequently Asked Questions about Starting a DART. If you have any questions, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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