UK knowledge guides new AFAC large animal rescue guideline

PHOTO: NSW SES

Eighty-three percent of the public will risk their lives to save an animal. If emergency service organisations do not rescue large domestic animals, members of the public may put themselves and others at risk unnecessarily to do so.

DAVID KING

NSW State Emergency Service—Hawkesbury Unit, Deputy Chair, Animal Emergency Incident Management Network (Australia and New Zealand)

Large, domesticated animals such as horses and cattle often get stuck in, caught on, or trapped in a variety of situations—whether it is a horse bogged in a farm dam or dairy cows desperately swimming through flood waters.

Incidents involving animals can be very emotional. Without the intervention of trained rescue personnel, or referral to a local veterinarian to resolve the situation, people can be injured if they try to rescue the large animal themselves (often by employing unsafe and/or inhumane practices).

In September 2021, the AFAC Rescue Technical Group formed a small working group to develop a guideline for large animal rescue operations to help emergency service organisations understand and manage the risk to workers of dealing with trapped and often agitated large animals.

The guideline is based on the UK National Fire Chiefs Council’s National Operational Guidance Programme for Incidents Involving Animals. The UK guidance was produced in consultation with key stakeholders including the British Animal Rescue and Trauma Care Association (BARTA) and the RSPCA.

The AFAC working group, representing each Australian state and territory, and New Zealand, worked closely with subject matter experts, including members of the Animal Emergency Incident Management Network in Australia and New Zealand (AEIMN (ANZ)), which is is a sister organisation to BARTA and brings Australia and New Zealand veterinarians together with large animal rescue subject matter experts to develop and promote leading practice rescue techniques.

AFAC recently released the new Large Animal Rescue Operations guideline for Australian and New Zealand emergency service organisations attending incidents involving large animals. The guideline details the overarching operational and leading practice that emergency service organisations should consider when planning and responding to incidents involving large animals.

One international commentator stated about the guideline: “This is one of and perhaps the best set of operations guides I’ve read—a combination of academia and practicality.”

The document provides clear guidance on understanding the risks and the controls that should be implemented when responding to incidents involving large animals.

It recommends that a large animal veterinarian attend any such rescue operations to help manage risks— through the use of sedation or general anaesthetic—to emergency services personnel working near the entrapped animal.

Once the large animal has been chemically restrained, the large animal rescue or relocation process involves simple techniques that can be humanely employed to release any large animal from its entrapment.

Emergency service organisations requiring assistance in developing their large animal rescue capability can reach out to members of the AIEMN (ANZ) by visiting www.aeimanz.org, or they can contact NSW State Emergency Service Capability Branch.

Large Animal Rescue Operations is available from the AFAC website: www.afac.com.au/insight/doctrine/ article/current/large-animal-rescueoperations.

Find more resources and information from AEIMN (ANZ): www.aeimanz.org.

Emergency situations involving large animals can be complex and dangerous. AFAC has developed new doctrine to support planning for and responding to incidents involving large animals.