Animal guides informed by research

Emergency services are continuing to benefit from Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC research on the role animals play in how people prepare for emergencies, with new guides recently released drawing on research findings to inform community engagement and risk preparation.

The New South Wales State Emergency Services’ Get Ready Animals website was funded by NSW Office of Emergency Management and provides a one-stop shop for evidence-based information and targeted resources, such as the Animal Emergency Plan on a Page, the Grab and Go Bag poster and several other useful media. It was launched in August by NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott and NSW State Emergency Services Commissioner Carlene York, and is the result of collaboration from several emergency services, government and research stakeholders.

Vital to this website was the work of CRC researcher Dr Mel Taylor (Macquarie University)  through the Managing animals in disasters project, whose research has shown that people’s decision-making and behaviour during emergencies – such as how quickly they evacuate or whether they return to danger – is significantly affected by whether they own animals or not.

Through the CRC, Dr Taylor’s team contributed insightful research from past natural hazards about how to manage animals in emergencies. This research not only informed the development of the Get Ready Animals website, but has also contributed to two community-specific booklets:

1. The Keeping Your Animals Safe in an Emergency (Hawkesbury-Nepean region) booklet, led by NSW SES and the Hawkesbury Nepean Valley Animal Ready Community working group, which focuses on management of horses during floods for animal owners in the Hawkesbury region of NSW. 
2. The Keeping Your Animals Safe in an Emergency (Blue Mountains) booklet that had more of a bushfire/storm and smaller animal focus for the Blue Mountains region, produced in partnership with the Blue Mountains Animal Ready Community (Blue ARC) group.

These booklets have been printed and circulated around the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains regions in NSW, through the SES, fire brigades and veterinary clinics, as well as through the Mountains Community Resources Network – the peak body for community organisations in the Blue Mountains.

Dr Taylor is currently working with the NSW Department of Primary Industries to develop additional, more template-style versions that can be tailored locally for use in other communities.

While active research on the Managing animals in disasters project concluded in 2017, Dr Taylor continues to work closely on end-user organisations on how they can best use the research findings. Read more about the impact of this research in the Emergency planning for animals case study here.