IMPORTANT NOTICE: BE PREPARED!!

Many equine enthusiasts remember all too well the 2005 hurricane season. Frantic phone calls between friends, the agonizing decision of whether to evacuate or await further tracking information and finally the search for stabling as the potential for disaster approaches. This scenario looms in the minds of all who face the inevitable return of hurricane season each and every year but also applies to those threatened by even faster moving threats such as wildfire.

The best advice: BE PREPARED!!

This year agencies across Florida, both public and private, will hold a statewide exercise in disaster response that we all hope will never materialize. But the decision for this years' disaster scenario protocol was based on the impression that North Florida has become complacent in the belief that it will never happen here. Well, it has in the past and it could again. This year the exercise will be predicated on a fictitious event involving a Category 3 to 4 hurricane that tracks west across the Florida Keys, then follows a path north up the Gulf, then takes an easterly track after entering in the vicinity of the Big Bend of Florida crossing the state to exit around Jacksonville, possibly still as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane.

ALL state and local agencies along with the American Red Cross train for just such an event and stand at the ready to respond.

Are YOU prepared?
Attend the "Equine Disaster Preparedness Forum" on Saturday, June 28, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center in Jacksonville, Florida.

Guest Speakers include:
David Perry, FDACS - Field Emergency Response Coordinator
John Haven, Director University of Florida College of Veterinary
Dr. Dan Knox, AVID Microchip ID
Dana DeJarnatt, FDACS, Division of Animal Industry
Jennifer Stagg, Planner/ Program Manager, Emergency Preparedness Division, Duval County
John Ward, CERT Coordinator, Clay County FL Division of Emergency Management
Dawn McLane, DVM
Alan Weldon., DVM
Jim O'Neal, Duval County, FL Animal Care & Control
Jerry Finch, Founder/President of Habitat for Horses
Rebecca Williams, VP of Habitat for Horses

They will speak on the topics of the state emergency response, as well as Microchipping, proper identification of horses, disaster planning for your farm, basic medical needs for injured and stressed horses, and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
 The Florida State Agricultural Response Team (FL-SART) Emergency Response Trailer will be featured. . 

The event is free to the public.

Everyone attending will receive an Equine Evacuation Kit
Door Prizes
Pre-registration is requested.
 Log on to: http://www.equinedisasterpreparedness.com or call 904-626-1990.

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