Linda says: Animals and People First, then Money, then Things.

Lamorinda DART trains people to save animals in disasters. That is our primary mission. We welcome your interest in our training program and hope that you will sign up for one of our training sessions. The animals need you - we need you. Please take a moment to look at the training related items in this section of the web site. And then come back to this page. Because - in the end - money also plays an important role in disaster response for the animals...

PEP Team Trailer

Thanks to Contra Costa County Animal Services there now is a Pet Emergency Preparedness (PEP Team) trailer in Lamorinda.

The contents of the trailer are sufficient to set up a shelter for perhaps 100 animals. That may sound like a lot, but it is nothing in comparison to the potential need for shelter in Lamorinda.

Lafayette has at least 13,634 pets, Moraga has 9,215 and Orinda has 9,978. That is more than 32,000 pets (and does not include livestock etc. that lives in the hills around us).

This data is based on estimates for pet ownership from the American Veterinary Medical Association. These are national estimates. Areas that are relatively wealthy (like Lamorinda) are expected to have a much larger pet population. Pet sitters tell us that the real number of pets is much, much higher than 32,000.

During Hurricane IKE 50% of pet owners left their animals behind. Unlike hurricanes, fires and earthquakes do not give advance warning. Many people work outside of Lamorinda.

There is good news: it is reasonable to assume that if a disaster strikes on a work day between 9 am and 3 pm most residents and their children will not be around. Fewer people to evacuate. Let's assume that 10% of the people are around. That means that we may have to shelter up to 3,000 pets.

The bad news is that their pets will be unattended and that these people will be very anxious to make sure that their dog or cat is safe.
Whatever happens, Lamorinda DART will end up sheltering many, thousands more animals than the PEP Trailer can support. On top of this, the trailer may not even be in Lamorinda! The trailer supports the Western part of Contra Costa and may be far from Lamorinda.

That is why we need to secure our own supplies. We are calling on all civic organizations in Lamorinda to consider helping us with fundraising. We will need a lot of supplies. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to discuss what you can do to help the animals of Lamorinda!

If you would like to give us a donation, please donate through PayPal

(you will see the email address of our coordinator - Frans Hoffman - listed on the PayPal web site)