Animal emergency management focus for AJEM

A wealth of research about emergency planning with animals is profiled in the new edition of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management (AJEM). The July edition is based on the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC-sponsored Global Animal Disaster Management Conference that was held online in February.

Published by the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience, this edition begins with a foreword from long-time CRC researcher, Dr Melissa Parsons, as the new Editor in Chief. The CRC extends a warm welcome to Dr Parsons as she takes up this exciting new position.

Several of this edition’s pieces are written by A/Prof Steve Glassey, a former CRC associate researcher at the University of Otago in New Zealand. A/Prof Glassey’s foreword and an article called ‘Animals matter: global conference and awards’ both discuss the conference, highlighting the importance of learning from past natural hazards when considering how animals should be managed during emergencies in the future. Also written by A/Prof Glassey is an article titled ‘It’s an assistance dog. Yeah, right!’ about the important role that assistance animals play during evacuations and how their inclusion in emergency planning can be overlooked. Finally, a report called ‘Do no harm: a challenging conversation about how we prepare and respond to animal disasters’ explores possible unintended negative animal welfare outcomes that arise from treatment and rescue of animals during disasters.

This edition also features research from Dr Rachel Westcott at South Australian Veterinary Emergency Management (SAVEM), Australia’s first dedicated emergency management trained volunteer veterinary agency. Dr Westcott completed her PhD in veterinary medicine and public health through the CRC in 2018. Her article, ‘Veterinary emergency management training and practice: the critical operational component’, unpacks SAVEM’s available online training modules that are aimed at improving the knowledge that emergency managers have of veterinary contexts so that animals can be managed safely and effectively.

Lastly, this edition profiles the work of Dr Mel Taylor at Macquarie University, lead researcher of the CRC’s Managing animals in disasters project. The journal article, ‘Examining national planning principles for animals in Australian disaster response’, presents the National Planning Principles for Animals tool that is supporting best practice in emergency planning for animal welfare in both Australia and New Zealand. Dr Taylor’s CRC project is also referenced in the report ‘Promoting owner responsibility for pets in disasters’.

You can access the entire AJEM edition online for free. To receive printed copies, subscribe to future print issues through the website. Subscribe here to receive email alerts for the online editions.