Floods, Fires & Other Emergencies

Here you will find links to information to help you with horses in floods, fires and other emergency situations.

For Tas, NSW & Vic Bushfires January 2013 please see our post “Helping Equines in Tas, NSW & Vic Bushfires ~ Jan 2013″

General Information on Floods and Horses

• “Horses and Floods” information from DPI Victoria
• “Flood and your horse” from the Qld Horse Council (PDF file)
• “Flood and your horse property” from the Qld Horse Council (PDF file)
• “Animal health problems following floods and drought breaking rains” from NSW Govt Department of Primary Industries
• “Stock problems after a flood – a checklist for when it dries out” from NSW Govt Department of Primary Industries
• “Flood emergencies: helping your animals” from NSW Govt Department of Primary Industries

General Information on Fire and Horses

• “Equines and Bush Fires” from Quest Equine Welfare. (This thorough article was partly written from the first hand experiences of volunteering in the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, an experience that Dr Judith Mulholland documented by video ~ watch the 4 part documentary “Black Saturday – Animal Welfare after the Firestorm” on their website ~ warning: contains distressing footage of deceased and suffering animals in addition to the devastation caused by the fires)
• “Horses and Bushfires” from the Victorian Department of Primary Industries
• “Horses and Bushfires, prepare-act-survive” from Horse Safety Australia (PDF file)
• “Horses and Bushfires” from Hawkesbury Equine Veterinary Centre (PDF file)
• “Preparation” and “After the fire” from HorseSA’s “Horse Owner’s Bushfire Buddy” website
• *Photos* and info from people involved in the rescue effort that saved horses in the 2009 Victorian Black Saturday Bushfires from Epona’s Pastures

General Emergency Information:

• Australian Early Warning Network Website, Facebook Page and Twitter Page
• “How prepared are you to respond to an emergency?” from the Qld Horse Council’s Facebook Page
• “Emergency planning for animals” from RSPCA Victoria
• “Floods, bushfires and emergencies” from RSPCA NSW
• “Disaster planning” article by MaryAnne Leighton. Lots of valuable information, including first aid kit list, evacuation, floods, earthquakes, etc.
• “Risk management for stock owners in times of fire and flood” from NSW Primary Industries
• “Emergency Equine Evacuations” – a short post and video from North America on the topic

Equine and Large Animal Emergency Rescue

•  ”Equine Emergency Rescue” book by MaryAnne Leighton and Michelle Staples, for a wide range of emergencies including horses trapped in water holes, horse float accidents, cattle grids, and much more.
• Australia and New Zealand will see a “Large Animal Emergency Rescue Roadshow” touring in 2013 thanks to the Queensland Horse Council. If you are interested in training in your area please visit the Equine Emergency Rescue website for more information. 

 

State by state useful links:

Western Australian Websites

• WA Horse Council
• “WA Equine Emergency” Facebook page ~ “Getting Western Australian horse people together to help each other out in emergency situations!”
• Australian Early Warning Network Facebook Page - WA

Queensland Websites

• Queensland Horse Council
• RSPCA Qld Lost and Found Website 
• Australian Early Warning Network Facebook Page – Qld

Victorian Websites

• Victorian Horse Council
• “The Go List” ~ Project Hope are recommending this website to Victorians as an alternative to the horse crisis register which is no longer operating
• RSPCA Vic Lost and Found page
• DPI Victoria ~ “Animal Welfare in Emergencies”
• Australian Early Warning Network Facebook Page – Vic