Would You Leave Them Behind?
Disaster Preparedness For Live Animals in Museum Collections.
by
Michelle M. Stokke
June 15, 2007
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts
in
Museum Studies
in the
School of Education and Liberal Arts
at
John F. Kennedy University
Approved: ________________________ ________________________ Department Chair Date
2
I would like to acknowledge my wonderful family
for all the support they have given me
throughout this process.
As I have, once again, taken that road less traveled by . . . . .
Thank you Kate, McLean and Adam for
welcoming me, giving me a family to live with,
and for being so supportive.
Thanks to the professors and staff at John F. Kennedy University.
Especially Marjorie Schwarzer,
the voice at my shoulder, encouraging me to do better.
To everyone who I spoke to in connection for this project
THANK YOU ALL
© Copyrighted by Michelle Stokke
June 15, 2007
3
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 4 Methodology 8 Limitations of Methodology 9 Literature Review 11 Humans and Animals – A Relationship 12 Animal Emotions and Intelligence 16 Animal Welfare, Ethics and Legal Advances – The Collected Animal 24 The State of Emergency Planning 34 Findings 41 Conclusions and Recommendations 64 Description of Product 71 Bibliography 72 Product 78 Organizational Readiness 80 Simple and Cost Effective Emergency Planning 81 Potential Animal Reactions 82 Worksheet for Disaster Plan 88 Emergency Instruction Sheets 98 Related Links 109 Appendix A: Questions for Interviewees 110
4
The more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by
man from the cruelty of man.
Mohandas Gandhi
Executive Summary
Imagine that there is a fire approaching your home. Thick smoke
billows around and you are confused, scared and don’t understand a word
that anyone is saying to you and you feel trapped, as if in a cage. Your
natural instinct is to flee and find a safe hiding place but you can’t make
anyone around you understand what you want or how you feel. This is
what happens every time there is a disaster, like a fire, to the live animals
enclosed inside museums.
Confined to enclosed spaces and unable to communicate with their
human care givers, panic and fear are certain to be experienced by many
of these sentient creatures. If humans care enough about animals to
collect them and place them into museums, then we should enact safety
procedures and emergency planning dedicated to saving and protecting
them. This master’s project discusses the moral, ethical and practical
rationales for emergency planning and preparedness in museums with live
animal collections.
One purpose of this project is to bring attention to the large number
of museums in the United States that do not have emergency plans. I
5
focus specifically on institutions that are not zoos, but still contain living
animals in their collections, permanent, temporary or teaching.
Emergency preparedness in museums is very important, but not well
financed or given appropriate priority in the museum profession.
Furthermore, the welfare of animals in museum collections during an
emergency disaster is an aspect of emergency planning that most museums
have not paid the proper attention to.
My goal is to assure that all museums that have live animals are
aware of the requirements and obligations that they have to those sentient
creatures. I also provide information about how animals react in
emergency disaster situations, so institutions know what to expect, and
how to be prepared to protect the staff, visitors, general public and the
animals.
The questions guiding my research include: 1) what has been the
historical role of animals in museums, zoos and aquariums, 2) why are
animals collected at all and then placed into man made environments? In
addressing these questions, I wanted to understand the purpose of
collecting animals and what has changed in society, science and law
regarding perceptions of animal welfare, rights and ethics. Is it moral to
keep animals in zoos or museums? What about animal intelligence, does
that preclude animals from being used for amusement, scientific and
6
educational purposes? What has research taught us about the rights of
animals, their feelings and intelligence? This product demonstrates that
humans and animals are deeply inter-connected and that some humans
care so much about animals that they will risk their own lives to save that
of an animal.
On the other side, this master’s project addresses emergency
planning and the many challenges it poses for museums. Questions
addressed include: 1) how does a museum plan to save its living collection
without putting staff, volunteers or the public at risk; 2) are there resources
an institution can turn to for assistance, advice and aid; 3) what are the
benefits to the museum for having an emergency preparedness plan in
place that accounts for animals in the collection as well as staff and other
people connected or affected by the institution; 4) what legal requirements
are imposed by the federal and state governments for saving animals and
planning animal evacuations alongside human evacuation? Ultimately,
this project posits that emergency plans and preparedness can be improved
for the benefit of staff, visitors and animals in the collection.
The first section presents the methodology I employed in
researching and writing my thesis. The next section reviews the current
literature in the field in several areas, including human beings’
psychological connection to animals in their care; research and evidence to
7
support animal intelligence, sentience and emotional viability; the
evolving debate on animal welfare and legal rights and finally, emergency
planning and preparedness.
Findings from the primary research I conducted, including
interviews, observations, extensive reading and attending an emergency
planning seminar are presented in the next chapter, followed by
conclusions and recommendations for the field.
It should be noted that my research and conclusions emphasize a
lack of preparedness amongst institutions with animals in their collections,
for emergency planning, not necessarily confusion over the stewardship of
the animals in their care in normal day-to-day operations. Also it should
be emphasized that human life is more important that animal life during
emergency disasters for any of these organizations.
Finally, the last section is a description and example of the product
I designed to be a tool that goes with this project to assist organizations
with emergency preparedness. This product can help an organization
assess its readiness to begin the process of planning for emergency
situations. Among the documents included are, Simple and Cost Effective
Emergency Planning that can be used while the formal emergency plan is
being created, Potential Animal Reactions, a Worksheet for Disaster
Planning and some examples of Emergency Instruction Sheets.
8
Methodology At the early stage of this project, I conducted an extensive
literature review. The review focused on history of collecting animals,
changing human views toward animal’s welfare and values, current
research in the human psychological connection to animals and, finally,
emergency planning and preparedness in museums and other
organizations. Other areas that I investigated were existing legal rights for
animals and animal welfare regulations imposed by the federal and state
governments and recommended by professional organizations. This
research also investigated the history of human exploitation of animals.
An important aspect to my methodology was 17 professional
interviews and 5 additional correspondences with people in the zoological
field, the museum field, and the emergency management and planning
field; for a full list of interviews and correspondence, see bibliography. I
interviewed professionals from American Zoological Association member
zoos. Speaking with these zoo professionals allowed me insight on the
emergency plans and the preparedness that these organizations have for
their animals. As they are required by the AZA to have plans for escaped
animal emergencies and other natural disasters these organizations’s
information will be used to base interpretation of what are best practices.
9
Limitations of Methodology The limits of this project are specific in regards to geography,
museum type and emergency situation. The geographic range of this
project is the Western United States, focusing on major metropolitan areas
like Seattle-Tacoma, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Museums in this project are non-American Zoological Aquarium
Association institutions, legally allowed to exhibit or collect live animals
by the United States Federal Department of Agriculture but not accredited
as zoos, wildlife preserves, or aquariums. The emergency situations that
this project focused on are terrorist attacks, floods, wildfires and
earthquakes. Other scenarios, geographic locations, and organizations are
beyond the limits of my research and this project, although, the project
may have broader applicability to them. This project will be focused on
the animals, not other kinds of collections. The sample size and interview
scope was limited to San Francisco Bay Area institutions. During my
interview process many of the organizations that initially stated they
would participate in my questioning never responded and thus were not
available for the sample. I was able to speak to staff from two American
Zoological Association (AZA) organizations but only received
information from one non-AZA museum that has animals in the
collection. The issue of animal welfare and animal rights is highly
10
sensitive and often political. As a believer in animal rights, who has
worked with and cared for many animals, I acknowledge my bias in the
belief that animals deserve care and respect. However, this project always
maintains that in an emergency situation, saving human lives is the first
priority. Additionally during the interview process one individual stated
that they felt that the questions from my interview were leading.
11
Literature Review
The purpose of this chapter is to review literature in order to
provide a background for the issues surrounding the need for emergency
planning and preparation for institutions that have live animals in their
collections but who are not affiliated with the American Zoological and
Aquarium Association (AZA). An example of such an organization is the
Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek, California that has a
collection based on wild animals. However, as a museum, it is a member
of the American Association of Museums (AAM), not the AZA. The
AZA has stringent regulatory measures that specifically speak to
emergency planning for animals in a member’s facility, whereas the
American Association of Museums (AAM) does currently not.
This section touches on four main themes that interconnect the
research for this project: 1) humans’ psychological connection to animals
in their care; 2) research and evidence to support animal intelligence,
sentience and emotional viability; 3) the evolving debate on animal
welfare and legal rights, and 4) emergency planning and preparedness.
The purpose of presenting this material is to show that emergency
planning for museums with animals in the live collections is necessary to
mitigate problems stemming from sudden disaster situations and part of
the ethical responsibility of the museum. Emergency planning will also
12
save time, finances and lives, both human and animal. Finally this
information elucidates my belief that animals are entitled to being
incorporated in emergency planning because they are sentient beings with
the ability to fear, feel pain, and comprehend dangerous or emergency
disaster situations.
Humans and Animals – A Relationship
The relationship, or deep bond, between human beings and other
animals has existed since the Neolithic period of history, even before
human beings knew how to write about their relationship and connection
to animals. These relationships with animals extended beyond hunting
and killing to companionship, living with animals and sharing their homes.
There is evidence seen on the walls of caves where people lived and
documented their lives. Human beings have lived with “nonhuman
animals [for] thousands of years before they knew how to record it.”1
However this original, fundamental connection has been changed by
human philosophy and invention. The invention of the sled and harness
allowed people to use horses and other hoofed animals to carry
belongings. The creation of the plow introduced a new use for animals –
farming and food generation.
1 Wise, Steven M. Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals. (Perseus Publishing. 2000), 10.
13
Ancient Egyptians wrote about and depicted animals as important
to their lives and especially the afterlife. Cats were especially revered,
valued as godlike and respected for their close connection to the
underworld and the afterlife. The cat as pet has a history of at least 4,500
years.2 Egyptians also kept dogs for hunting and as pets. Feral dogs and
wolves were the earliest animals that humans domesticated. Wolves and
dogs protected people and helped them to hunt in return for food, shelter
and companionship. Recent information from archaeological digs has
suggested “that the purely companion [animal] arrived . . . some 11,500
years ago.”3 As Laura Chamberlain and Rod Preece explain in the book
Animal Welfare and Human Values “non-human animals have played a
major role in determining the specific forms of humankind’s divergent
cultures . . . [human] history has developed directly out of [our]
relationship to other sentient beings.”4
Ancient Greek philosophers attempted to delineate the relationship
between human beings and animals. Such great minds as Aristotle, Plato
and Socrates believed that “nonhuman animals existed just for us
2 Sarmicanic, Lisa. “Goffman, Pets, and People: An Analysis of Humans and Their Companion Animals. ReVision; (Fall 2004), 6-7. 3 Chamberlain, Lorna and Preece, Rod. Animal Welfare and Human Values. (Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1993.), 6-7. 4 Ibid, 5.
14
[humans].”5 Subsequently, they believed in human equality but like
Aristotle, they also held that “animals [existed] for the support and service
of man . . . irrational animals take the place of slaves.”6 The book of
Genesis also reflects on the superiority of humans over animals when God
granted mankind dominion “over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of
the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”7 While the
Bible gives humans a clear place in the hierarchy of our world it does not
speak to how we are supposed to treat those creatures over whom we have
control or dominion.
It is unfortunate for animals that as civilizations developed in the
Western part of the world, “mastery over nature diminished respect for
nature,”8 reinforced the belief that animals were placed on earth for
humankind to use, as tools, currency and amusements.9 Animals were
excluded from legal and ethical codes of justice and behavior. Monarchs
in countries all over the world collected large animals such as Sumatran
tigers and Indian elephants into menageries and kept smaller animals as
companions. In China’s royal court, for example, the coveted companion
animal was the Maltese dog, still seen today competing in modern dog
5 Wise, Steven. Rattling the Cage, 11. 6 Ibid, 15. 7 Genesis 1:28. 8 Chamberlain and Preece, 9. 9 Ibid, 28 – 29.
15
shows. Pre-Revolutionary France’s monarch Marie-Antoinette had many
companion pets, including exotic birds, sheep, dogs and cats. The advent
of the Industrial Revolution and Democracy transformed human
relationships to animals, further diminishing their role as tools while
advancing their position as pet and companion. Despite this increasing
connection to animals and legal advances for equality in human rights,
animals continued to be excluded from legal rights or ethical treatment
legislation. Today animals are still beloved companions. In the United
States pets are present in 63% of households.10 People love their
companion animals and often treat them as if they were children, buying
them clothing, toys, vacations and fancy foods. For many people who
don’t have children “pets are serving as surrogate kids . . . [and] more and
more pet owners now depend on their furry and feathered friends for
emotional support.”11 People who develop close relationships with their
companion animals are also convinced of the intelligence and emotional
awareness of those pets, similar to the reverence ancient peoples in
Eastern cultures held for animals.
10 Simmons, Rebecca. “No Pet Left Behind: The PETS Act Calls for Disaster Plans to Include Animals.” (The Humane Society of the United States. 2006). 11 Carmichael, Mary. “Animal Emotions; Pet Owners have long believed their companions love them back. Scientists once scoffed, but now they’re coming around.” Newsweek. (New York: Aug. 18, 2003).
16
Animal Emotions and Intelligence
Animal intelligence and emotion have been the subject of
philosophical debate since the time of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.
Most believed that animals “had life, sensation, and impulse, but lacked
emotions, reason, belief, intentionality, thought and memory.”12 As one
contemporary of Homer wrote: “animals devoured each other because
they had not been given the sense of right and wrong.”13Aristotle and his
compatriots also believed that animals lacked intelligence: “the dumb
animal grasps what is present by its sense . . . the future, that does not
concern dumb animals.”14 During the 17th century animals were
considered puppet or machine like, able to follow a set of human created
rules but incapable of independent though.15 What modern and
contemporary science, beginning with Charles Darwin, has discovered
from years of research and behavioral studies is that animals are far from
“dumb.” In fact many species, such as dolphins, primates and elephants,
have complex social structures, including language, memory, problem
solving, and the ability to pass on knowledge as well as emotional based
relationships.
12 Wise, Steven. Drawing the Line, 20. 13 Wise, Steven. Rattling the Cage, 10. 14 Ibid, 15 -16. 15 Pennisi, Elizabeth. “Social Animals Prove Their Smarts.” Science Vol. 312 No. 5781 (American Association for the Advancement of Science. 23 June 2006), 1735.
17
A twentieth century pioneer in animal behavior is Jane Goodall,
who believes in animals’ intelligence and capacity for emotion. She says
that “one cannot watch chimpanzee infants for long without realizing that
they have the same emotional need for affection and reassurance as human
children.” Goodall spent years in Africa observing and studying
chimpanzees and gorillas and she described their “behavior with words
like joy, depression and grief . . . [and] her studies were ultimately
irrefutable.”16 Between 1976 and the late 1980s psychologists began to
propose that primates had higher, more humanlike brain capacity that
would allow them to “be able to think about what they are doing and to
understand what others are thinking.”17 There are now many animal
behaviorists, psychologists and biologists who agree that animals have the
sentient capacity to experience emotion, pain and fear as well as joy, and
that they have the potential for higher intelligence. Animals do experience
emotion, and they are sentient beings. The measure to which they are
intelligent depends on the species, the track that their evolution has taken
and in some cases the degree to which they have been encultured by
human beings.
What is the determining factor of humanity? Is it our capacity to
suffer and understand suffering? Or is it our connection to other animals 16 Ibid, 2. 17 Pennisi, Elizabeth, 1735.
18
in our lives? Peter Singer, a philosopher of animal rights, intelligence and
emotions, quoted in Animal Welfare and Human Values considers
sentience to be the determining factor. If an animal does not feel pain it
has no rights.18 In the same book, Jeremy Bentham, another philosopher
of animal rights and intelligence is quoted as saying that “since animals
have the potential for suffering their interests must be considered.”19 So is
it suffering that determines intelligence and thus a right to life and fair
treatment? If so then since most animals can experience suffering should
they not be granted fair rights to life? This is an important and
controversial issue – it is suffering or a deeper understanding of suffering
and the understanding of the meaning of suffering that determines level of
sentience for life rights and fair treatment? Does their connection to
humans have an effect on animals, or do animals just cleverly mimic
human behavior? Is this a survival mechanism? Steven Wise, author of
Rattling the Cage and Drawing the Line, noted animal welfare and equal
treatment activist, believes that “the human enculturation of . . . other
nonhuman animals, enhances, activates, perhaps even creates such
advanced cognitive abilities as language, mathematics, other forms of
symbolic representation, and explicit theory of mind.”20 Wise believes
18 Chamberlain and Preece, 267. 19 Ibid, 269. 20 Wise, 267.
19
that this association influences animals that have been domesticated or
living with humans. The dog is a primary example. Dogs have been
constant human companions throughout history and have “evolved into
master communicators.”21 Other animals have learned from humans as
well. In his book Drawing the Line, Steven Wise offers examples of many
animals who are learning from humans. Alex the parrot cannot only speak
English but he deciphers letters and colors, and even recognizes these
letters on a screen of a computer.22 Another famous example is Koko and
Michael, two gorillas in Northern California, who were taught American
Sign Language (ASL), English language and given many of the rights and
freedoms humans enjoy. Wise traveled to meet Koko, to communicate
and talk with her. The experience he recounts in Drawing the Line is
strong proof of an animal with not only a developed personality, but one
who can reason and feel loss, happiness and joy. Koko uses thousands of
ASL signs to communicate and also has a vocabulary as extensive as that
of an eight or nine year old human child. How, if this animal can express
herself, her own feelings, thoughts, desires and pain, can we say that she is
“dumb”? In fact Koko, other primates, and dolphins and elephants whom
21 Carmichael, 2. 22 Wise. Drawing the Line. Chapter on Alex.
20
researchers have been able to test have passed standardized tests that
determine sentience and also intelligence.23
Almost every person has heard the phrase “memory like an
elephant” or “elephant tears” but has anyone ever wondered where they
come from? Cynthia Moss, an elephant researcher who started observing
elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Africa in the 1970s, believes
elephants have very great cognitive abilities but more importantly an
intense social and emotional connection between family members.24
Elephants develop close family bonds. These families are usually
composed of females. Males are excluded except during mating or for the
very young. Females can form bonds with each other that last a long time
and can become extensive as females have offspring and enlarge the
family unit. Emotion can clearly be seen in two books from Moss’s
research, Echo of the Elephants and Echo of the Elephants: the Next
Generation and is recorded in a television series, Elephant Memories.
“Families may rush together in great excitement, rumbling, trumpeting, shoving, bumping, swaying, sniffing, defecating, urinating, clicking tusks, reaching their trunks into the mouths of others, and secreting profusely . . . the pandemonium may last for ten minutes . . . the more intense the greeting, the closer the relationship among the greeters.”25
23 Ibid. Chapter on Koko and Echo. 24 Moss, Cynthia. Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 1988), 128 25 Wise, Drawing the Line, p. 163 – 164 from Poole, Joyce H. The Coming of Age with Elephants. Hodder and Stoughton. 1996, 91, Payne, Katy. Silent Thunder: In the
21
Moss is confident that elephants feel intense emotions as well as memory
and learning. She has observed what she describes as “elephantine joy”,26
as well as sorrow, especially in reaction to death; death of a fellow
elephant or close companion as well as a death they themselves have
caused. Moss knows, from her observations and research on elephants
that “elephant death clearly disturbs elephants. They become quiet and
tense and approach a body slowly . . . [while] elephants ignore
nonelephant remains, except perhaps those they killed.”27 This seeming
understanding of death and loss makes an elephant deeply sentient being
according to Singer and Bentham.
Researchers have attempted to give cognitive or intelligence tests
to other animals, including dogs, primates, dolphins and birds. Beyond
the potential physical hazard in testing wild animals, some of whom are
very large and others who live in aqueous environments, testing,
researcher Elizabeth Pennisi notes, is further complicated by our lack of a
common language with animals and our inability to interpret what they are
thinking.28 As Anne Engh, a behavioral ecologist at the University of
Presence of Elephants. Simon & Schuster. 1988, 54 and Moss, Cynthia. Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 1988), 128. 26 Moss. Elephant Memories, 125. 27 Wise, Drawing the Line, 170. 28 Pennisi, 1738.
22
Pennsylvania, notes: “Until we can come up with creative methods of
testing, we won’t know whether complex behaviors are the result of
animals actually knowing what they are doing or whether they are able to
do complex things using cognitive short cuts.”29
Research published in November of 2006 may prove that dolphins
and whales, specifically humpback whales, are not using cognitive short
cuts. This research, from members of the America Anatomical
Association, allows humans to “appreciate whales for the complex highly
sentient beings with great mental capacity and elaborate communication
systems.”30 Their communication is based on a range of songs that “may
be constructed from a complicated syntax.”31 Though humans do not
understand the exact language it does not mean that a language does not
exist. A report published in the Anatomical Record recently “compared a
humpback whale brain with brains from several other cetacean species and
found the presence of a certain type of neuron cell that is also found in
humans.”32 The specific discovery of “the presence of spindle cells in the
humpback cortex in areas comparable to hominids . . . thought to be
29 Ibid, 1738. 30 Preece, 302. 31 Wise. Rattling the Cage, 269. 32 Wiley, John. “Humpback Whales Have Brain Cells Also Found In Humans” Science Daily November 2006, restated from the original article by Hof, Patrick R. and Van der Gucht, Estel. “The Structure of the Cerebral Cortex of the Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaeangliae (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Balaenopteridae)” The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology Volume 290, Issue 1, 2007.
23
involved in cognitive processes . . . sperm whales, killer whales and
certainly humpback whales, exhibit complex social patterns that included
intricate communication skills, coalition-formation, cooperation, cultural
transmission and tool usage . . . abilities are related to comparable
histologic complexity in brain organization in cetaceans and in
hominids.”33 The new findings from this research show that this similarity
in composition of brain elements between humans and cetaceans is
scientific concrete proof of the potential intelligence of these animals.
These neuron spindle cells mean that humpback whales and other
cetaceans have can experience diseases that affect humans, like
schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. What does this discovery imply about the
ethical treatment of animals? Does the composition of the cetaceans’
brains mean they are deeply sentient and possibly cognitively intelligent
enough to communicate with humans, not to mention understand when
they lose a loved one or are hunted and killed or made to suffer? If we
have scientific proof of advanced intelligence in animals what claims can
we make about animals being “dumb”?
Another cetacean known to have an advanced degree of
intelligence and emotional sentience are the myriad species of dolphins.
Dolphins have been known to be friendly to humans for generations.
33 Ibid.
24
Ancient mariners told stories of them playing, jumping and following
ships; and even, on occasion, rescuing sailors who were drowning in the
seas. This gentle and understanding treatment of people in distress allows
us to believe in the deeper intelligence of these animals especially since
research has shown that dolphins will aggressively attack and defend their
families and offspring. As Preece explains, dolphins have “complex and
endearing social relationships . . . [and even] occasional rapacious and
warlike tendencies.”34 When attempting to locate a massive school of
fish, dolphins have been observed to send out signals to other dolphins to
come and help. These unaffiliated pods then form huge groups, called
superpods, to hunt fish. What is more impressive about this massing of
dolphins is the way they search. They sweep the ocean in a coordinated,
methodical fashion – a grid-like pattern. This facilitates their speed and
accuracy in locating the fish. The pods then work together to herd the fish
into a group and take turns eating from the massed fish. These complex
interactions, problem solving, cognitive thinking and emotional
attachments show that dolphins and other animals are highly sentient
beings.
34 Preece, 302.
25
Animal Welfare, Ethics and Legal Advances – The Collected Animal
Do sentient animals kept by humans for entertainment and
companionship have rights? Many researchers, activists, animal
behaviorists and a large portion of the general public believe that when
humans take animals out of their natural environment, for such purposes
as companionship, labor or entertainment, they are taking responsibility
for the welfare and happiness of the animals. This commitment and
appreciation of the need for animal welfare has evolved slowly. While
activists may have initiated the call for ethical reevaluation, it is public
opinion that has greatly influenced organizations that collect animals to
improve living conditions and welfare.
There is no recorded evidence of how animals kept for
entertainment or companionship were treated in ancient times. We do
know that a pampered lap animal received better treatment and care than
an animal that would be sent into the fighting rings. During the Roman
Empire, animals were often used in gladiatorial combat. At the Coliseum
in Rome animals lived in small underground cages and were kept
perpetually hungry in order to make them more fearsome for combat. In
China the people and the emperor may have been more attuned to
potential intelligence and inherent dignity of animals as sentient beings.
Around “1000 B.C. [there was] an animal park laid out called the Garden
26
of Intelligence.”35 Little is known today about this park or even the
meaning behind the name of it but scholars always make particular note of
the name.
After the Middle Ages, as stated earlier, European royalty began
collecting animals for their menageries. However they were more
interested in the competitive aspect of having the largest, rarest or most
exotic collection than in animal welfare. Animals in menageries such as
the one at the Schaumbrum Palace outside of Vienna lived in relatively
small cages with little room for experience and environmental simulation.
An extreme example of disregard for animal welfare is the case of the
great menagerie of Versailles, which was virtually destroyed during the
French Revolution with many animals killed and eaten. In the midst of
their panic and attempts to escape, the royal family gave no thought to the
innocent creatures they left locked in cages at the mercy of the enraged
mobs of people. The surviving animals were taken to Paris’ National
History Museum for care. The Museum was unprepared for the influx of
animals but the employees attempted to care for the animals and preserve
their welfare. These animals were the start of the new zoo in Paris as well
as a new type of collecting institution – the public zoo.36
35 Ibid, 302. 36 Hanson, Elizabeth. Animal Attractions: Nature on Display in American Zoos. (Princeton, MA: Princeton University Press. 2002), 14.
27
During the 19th century animal exhibitions came to America, often
as part of a world’s fair or brought by immigrants who longed for the
pleasure gardens of Europe. These parks and relaxation afforded them
escape from the cities in which they lived and the turmoil and stress of
life. Animals in these zoos were housed in dwellings or cages that were
fancifully decorated and beautiful to look at but completely inadequate for
the needs of the animals kept in them. They were created for the viewing
pleasure of visitors, not for the comfort or welfare of the animals. During
the 1890s, a new kind of zoo concept developed to “display animals
confined within moats rather than behind bars or fences.”37 The man
behind this new stage in zoos was Carl Hagenbeck who said that he
wanted “to exhibit the animals not as captives, confined within narrow
spaces . . . but free to wander from place to place within as large a limits
as possible.”38 Moated exhibits were the first step in the mind of zoo
directors to improve the welfare and enhance the experience of their
animals and give their visitors a view of animal life similar to the animal’s
natural habitat. However these exhibitions still lacked the space for
animals to roam and also authentic flora, fauna and other environmental
elements that existed in the natural habitat of the animals. To the
detriment of animals in many zoos, exhibition spaces were concrete cages 37 Hanson, Elizabeth, 140. 38 Ibid, 141.
28
kept bare and clear. They were kept like this because some zoologists
adapted attitudes of human hygiene to animals; this led to an overly
sterilized space. Through the following decades zoos and other animal
display organizations continued to place animals into these diorama type
of exhibits. They were very popular with the public for the opportunity
they afforded to see animals in a ‘natural’ environment surrounded by
other animals in that environment. As more and more organizations
turned to the moat as a method of displaying animals it “lost its capacity to
surprise and engage visitors.”39
At the same time, activists began to publicly question the ethics of
how zoos treated animals. As Tom Regan wrote in his article “Are Zoos
Morally Defensible?” animals “bring a unified psychological presence to
the world. Like us, they are somebodies, not somethings. These animals
are not only in the world, but they are also aware of it – and of what
happens to them. And what happens to them matters to them.” 40 Regan
was arguing that zoo animals are not like paintings in a museum,
inanimate objects, but living creatures who need space to roam and a way
to live the lives they want. He does not attempt to imply that animals are
39 Coe, Jon C. “Design and Perception.” A Different Nature: The Paradoxical World of Zoos and Their Uncertain Future. (Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. 2001), 206. 40 Regan, Tom. “Are Zoos Morally Defensible?” Ethics on the Ark. (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. 1995), 44
29
like humans in their needs and understanding of the world around them
but that they do have their own understanding of the world and they
should be allowed to live their lives as thoroughly as possible. This
argument is part of the evolving debate about animal welfare and ethics of
zoological institutions. This debate, in part, sparked a public reaction to
zoos that led many zoo directors and boards of trustees to reevaluate the
mission and purpose of their institutions. In this way zoos began the
movement away from being showcases for exotic and unusual to being
conservation and educational centers to preserve endangered species and
educate visitors about them and their natural environments. Although
initially independent animal activists initiated the ethical debate
surrounding collecting and keeping animals in museums and zoos these
organizations were influenced by public opinion. The role of stewardship
became more apparent and organizations with animals in their collections
became invested in the welfare of their animals.
During the 1970s the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington
took a step toward the welfare of animals in their organization. As Jon
Coe explains in his article “Design and Perception,” the institution
hired the firm of Jones & Jones to design a long range plan for renovating the zoo . . . their goal was to transport visitors . . . to places in nature beyond [the visitors’] access . . . [the zoo] incorporated ideas from animal behavior, such as flight distance,
30
building into the exhibits places for the animals to retreat . . . the biggest innovation in the design . . . was to extend the re-created habitat beyond the [barrier] . . . [allowing] visitors [to] step . . . into the landscape with the animals before they approach the display – the central concept of ‘landscape immersion’41
These new types of exhibitions improved the welfare of the animals by
providing areas for the animals to move out of view of visitors, places to
flee to and also habitats that were much more authentic in regards to the
places the animals originate from. The landscape immersion facilitates
education of visitors about the animals on display as well as the natural
habitat of the animals.
In the United States, zoos are the largest group of organizations
that exhibit animals as a part of a living collection. They do this in order
to teach the public about animals but also in order to preserve many
different species. In order to display animals in the United States an
organization or individual must apply for a permit from the Federal
Department of Agriculture (FDA). There are numerous types of displays
in the United States, from sideshows in rural towns, to circuses to
museums and zoos. The latter two types of animal displays are regulated,
to a certain degree, by professional membership organizations, the
American Association of Museums (AAM) and the American Zoological
and Aquarium Association (AZAA). Yet, the AZAA is the only
41 Hanson, 159 - 160
31
organization with a mandate of welfare criterion for animals on display in
member institutions. According “to the welfare criterion, treatment of
captive animals must achieve a level of well-being comparable to, or
better than, the life they could be expected to live in a wild context . . .
measured by physical criteria, such as longevity . . . [and] psychological
criteria, such as . . . species typical behavior.”42 The measure of criteria is
where most experts disagree widely. Some argue that the loss of an
“inherent value in the state of wildness itself . . . authenticity of experience
lost”43 is a major problem with animals in captivity at all while others
believe that “keeping animals in captivity did not cause then undue stress .
. . [but in fact provided] what wild animals really craved . . . security.”44
In recent decades human perception of the rights and intelligence
of animals has affected the legal environment and government regulation
and legislation. As Wise tells us:
In 1996, the British government banned the use of great apes in medical research . . . [stating] the cognitive and behavioral characteristics and qualities of these animals mean that it is unethical to treat them as expendable in research . . . 1999, the New Zealand Parliament passed a statute that forbid the use of a nonhuman hominid in research or testing45
42 Norton, Bryan and Wuichet, John. “Differing Concepts of Animal Welfare.” Ethics on the Ark. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. 1995), 238. 43 Ibid, 239. 44 Hanson, 181. 45 Wise. Rattling the Cage, 75.
32
Yet, essentially the law views animals as things, separating them from
humans. Humans have specific dignity rights that are inherent to being
human. Animals are things, with no or very little rights. However, in the
past several months the United States government has enacted several acts
of legislation to appease public opinion, given a changing paradigm in
moral and ethical views of animal rights, welfare and law. As Margaret
Tebo recently wrote in the American Bar Association (ABA) Journal “the
growth of animal law is a recent phenomenon . . . [now] sponsored by 11
state bars.”46
Another impetus for recent action on the government, federal and
state in regard to animals is Hurricane Katrina and the reaction of pet
owners, many of whom risked their own lives and even perished rather
than leave their companion animals. Animal emergency plans and welfare
laws have come to the forefront due to human reactions regarding animals
under their care during the storm. During debates in the Washington State
Senate for animal emergency planning, supporters of the bill state that
careful planning is necessary “to avoid what occurred in New Orleans. In
some instances owners were threatened at gun point, left with the choice
of leaving a pet and getting in a rescue boat, or watching a rescuer shoot
46 Tebo, Margaret Graham. “Pet Project.” American Bar Association Journal. (Chicago IL: Dec. 2005. Vol. 91), 72.
33
the animal.”47 Before Hurricane Katrina “49% of people [said] they
would not leave their pets in a disaster. That number climbed to 61% in
the past year since Katrina”48 and “one recent poll suggest that, if given a
choice, 93% of animal owners would risk their lives to save their pets.”49
There were many families affected by the Hurricane and “it quickly
became clear that humans were not the only victims of these disasters
[Hurricanes Rita and Katrina] . . . thousands of animals in desperate need
of help.”50 In addition, as documented in the product to this master project
on page 79, animals have particular reactions and needs in emergencies
that need to be understood and addressed. As a result, not only have states
passed animal disaster planning laws but “both houses of Congress have
passed the Pet Transportation Standards Act . . . an amendment to the
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act [to] ensure state
and local disaster preparedness plans take into account the needs of
individuals with household pets and service animals prior to, during, and
following a major disaster or emergency.”51 States that have also passed
some sort of animal evacuation legislation are California, Louisiana,
47 Washington State Senate Bill Report, SB 5106. (Olympia, WA: February 26, 2007), 3. 48 Allen, Laura. “Katrina: The State of Animal Disaster Planning Laws One Year Later.” (Animal Law Coalition. August 29, 2006). 49 Washington State Senate, 3. 50 Simmons, Rebecca. “No Pet Left Behind: The PETS Act Calls for Disaster Plans to Include Animals.” (The Humane Society of the United States. 2006). 51 Allen, Laura.
34
Florida, Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Vermont, New
Jersey, New York and Illinois. These laws and legislation are important
steps to the legal, ethical and moral rights of animals as well as their
protection and safety during emergency disasters.
The State of Emergency Planning
Unfortunately in the United States emergency preparedness and
planning has not been at the forefront of individual or local, state and
federal government agendas or attention. Most people believe that a
disaster incident will not happen to them or their home area because they
believe that in the span of their lives or even an average year disaster is
rare or even unheard of. AZA accredited zoos are advanced in their
practice about disaster planning for animal and human safety, due to strict
accreditation requirements that include emergency planning and
preparedness especially specific in regards to animals. However, other
non-profit museums, including those who have animals in their collections
are no different from the average individual or official government.
Museum News, the publication of the American Association of Museums
published an article in the Winter 2006 issue with the following grim
statistics about museum collections management: “81% have no
emergency plan for collections or lack staff trained to carry out the plan . .
. 76% need additional training . . . 67% have no current assessment of the
35
condition of the entire collection.”52 A core aspect of accreditation for
Zoos and Aquariums, emergency planning and preparedness is a subject
that receives some attention in Rebecca Buck’s classic collection
management book, The New Museum Registration Methods. Yet,
emergency planning in this book focuses on objects and does not feature a
section on animal emergency planning. When Buck does talk about
animals in relation to emergency planning it is in reference to inanimate
objects that are made of or containing animals – not animals themselves.
This book also contains a section on legislation and laws pertaining to the
museum field and animals are included in this section. The book lists the
animal legislation and states that museum compliance is the responsibility
of the museum itself. The list contains the Lacey Act, a summary of
federal laws that promote conservation of wildlife and plants as well as
prohibiting the inhumane transport of animals. However there is no listing
of rules or guidelines for dictating the parameters of such transport.53 It
seems to take a major incident or tragic event to spur people and
government to prepare and plan. Yet, as earthquake expert Sir Bernard
Feilden tells us “disaster preparedness . . . combats the natural inclination
52 Merritt, Elizabeth. “This is Not a Test: Museums and Heritage Preservation.” Museum News. American Association of Museums. November/ December 2006, 47. 53 Buck, Rebecca A. and Gilmore, Jean Allman. The New Museum Registration Methods. American Association of Museums, 1998.
36
of the population to say ‘It won’t happen here – or, not in my time’.”54
Unfortunately, it has taken several major early 21st century disasters rife
with loss of life and property to motivate people to begin to plan and
prepare for disasters because “the effects of a disaster area greatly reduced
if there is a disaster action plan.”55
The first major incidents were the terrorist attacks in 2001 in New
York City and Washington D.C. During those incidents there was much
confusion among the agencies responding, not only about what had
actually happened but also about what to do and how to react. At issue
was a lack of cohesion among the different agencies, Port Authority, the
Police Department, Emergency Services, the Fire Department and other
first responders. Problems included differences in communication method
and equipment, using various radio frequencies, and dissimilar reaction
styles or strategy of what to do and how to help people. The chaos and
excessive loss of life during this disaster event has in part been attributed
to these issues.56 In the aftermath of 9/11, due in part to the disaster
response but also to the major spike in cultural and entertainment venue
attendance, the federal, state and local governments realized that not only
did they need to enforce cooperation between emergency services but
54 Feilden, Sir Bernard M. Between Two Earthquakes, 11. 55 Ibid, 30. 56 Coverage of 9/11 events and the aftermath. Various news and print agencies.
37
there needed to be a standard method to reacting to a disaster situation. To
achieve this they looked at the State of California’s Fire Department’s
Incident Command System (ICS) as method for disaster mitigation. This
federal program is called National Incident Management System
(NIMS).57 It is a system that shows organizations and governments how
to manage responses to emergency situations, including communication
and a specific chain of command. This system is intended to manage
emergency disasters and allow the maximum human life and property to
be saved.
Hurricanes Rita and Katrina were other disasters that decimated
the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005 and incited another wave of
disaster planning and preparation. The issues for Rita and Katrina were
different than those of the 9/11 attacks. The hurricanes caused massive
damage to a large swath of land and effected many towns and cities.
Confusion surrounded the announcing and then enforcing of an evacuation
before the hurricanes hit. Many nonprofit institutions and their staff were
impacted by the hurricanes. Most were fortunate not to suffer damage or
lose power but some were devastated. In terms of museums, the New
Orleans Aquarium of the Americas was able to survive the hurricane itself,
only losing power but able to rely on its backup generator to provide 57 Vasser, Gail. “Emergency Response Management: What you need to know.” City of Walnut Creek. 2006
38
oxygen to the displays of sea life. Eventually however staff members who
had stayed at the aquarium during the storm were forced to evacuate “by
violence in the nearby business and tourist districts”58 and after they left
the generators ran out of fuel. Jane Ballentine, an AZA spokesperson said,
“they lost a good part of the collection because the fuel and generators that
run the life-support systems gave out.”59 In fact most of the 6,000 animals
in the facility perished. The New Orleans Audubon Zoo fared much better
due, in part, to stockpiled supplies and the zoo’s location on elevated
terrain. The zoo choose to allow most of the animals to choose their safe
places, staff employed “an ‘open house’ policy for animals that normally
stay outdoors. Cranes, flamingos and zebras might panic . . . if enclosed . .
. by staying out in their exhibits, they could choose their own safe spots.”60
Only two otters and a raccoon died at this zoo; thus, their preparations and
emergency planning paid off by mitigating loss of animal life.
During and after the disaster, the massive loss of human and
animal life sparked a public backlash against the local, state and federal
governments for not being prepared to evacuate before the storms, able to
protect people and property and especially for the delay in reaction and
recovery. Public opinion began to shift “after New Orleans residents died
58 Handwerk, Brian. “Aquarium Animals Evacuate New Orleans; Zoo Gets Relief.” National Geographic News. September 9, 2005. 59 Ibid. 60 Bailey, Debra A. “In Harm’s Way.” Boys’ Life. Vol. 96, Iss. 4, Irving, April 2006.
39
because they wouldn’t abandon their pets.”61 In fact “people were fighting
local officials . . .people will not take appropriate measures to take care of
themselves if they can’t take care of their pets.”62 These stories have
inspired the federal and state governments as well as many non-profit
organizations to prepare and plan for animals during emergencies. This
sort of attitude along with the legal and ethical changes that are current in
American society will encourage the protection of animals, beings who
can “not always look to their own interests [making them perhaps more]
entitled to even more protection,” care, welfare and moral treatment by
humans, especially during traumatic emergency disaster incidents. 63
This chapter reviewed literature that has been published and
presented on the topics of human psychological connection to animals in
their care, research and evidence to support animal intelligence, sentience
and emotional viability, the evolving debate on animal welfare and legal
rights, and emergency planning and preparedness. Given the shifting
attitudes of humans toward animal welfare and, in particular, the current
shift in the public opinion of the United States, the next chapter of this
project will focus on professionals working in the museum field currently
61 Shields, Jeff. “How to Save People? Save Their Animals.” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. Washington: Sep 28, 2005. 62 Monti, Dean J. “Disaster Conference Gives Animal Issues a ‘Seat at the Table’.” American Veterinary Medical Association. 2007, 3. 63 Preece and Chamberlain, 286.
40
as well as emergency preparedness advocates, what they are thinking and
how they are reacting to the need for emergency planning and
preparedness for animals in their institutions.
41
Findings
This chapter presents 17 interviews and e-mail exchanges with 22
staff members from various institutions, extensive reading, and
observation. Additionally I attended an emergency planning seminar, held
in the Concord California police station on February 21, 2007. I was also
able to interview the Executive Director of the organization that ran the
seminar. Two conflicting issues arose during my research. First, most
organizations believe that they do not have the time or finances to
facilitate emergency planning. Conversely, however staff participation
and involvement are significant to emergency planning, and planning and
preparedness can mitigate financial, human and animal loss during a
disaster. In general, I have found that my findings corroborate the
materials I read for my literature review. There is one aspect, however, of
great concern, which was not fully addressed in the review: the apparent
lack of available financial resources for museums with live collections to
create the required emergency planning.
In my interview and e-mail exchanges my questions followed a
specific order so that the questions make sense together and led the
interviewee through the four themes of my literature review. I spoke to
individuals at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum (LWM) an organization in
Walnut Creek California that has a live animal collection and an animal
42
hospital. The LWM’s mission is to connect people with wildlife to inspire
responsibility and respect for the world we share. The San Francisco Zoo
(SFZ) in San Francisco California and the Oakland Zoo (OZ) in Oakland
California are two AZAA accredited public zoos. I elected to speak to
these organizations because I wanted observations and information from
staff at organizations with emergency plans and preparedness in place.
Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) in Walnut Creek
California helps with dog and cat rescues in the Bay Area. I spoke to Beth
Brannock from ARF because the organization is active in promoting
emergency preparedness for pet owners and has connections to emergency
response organizations in the United States. In addition I spoke to a
representative of the City of Walnut Creek, which is the local government
agency in the community in which the Lindsay Wildlife Museum and
ARF operate. I also received information from several other organizations
in the San Francisco Bay Area. I also attempted to speak with staff in the
California Governor’s office on emergency preparedness and the Contra
Costa Animal Services, the organization in charge of animal emergency
disaster preparedness for Contra Costa County, but no information was
forthcoming.
The first question that I asked my interviewees was if their
institution had an emergency plan or set of procedures in place. Most of
43
my interviewees were confident that their institution had a plan for
emergency situations. These plans varied from a complete written set of
procedures and drafts in progress, to purely oral communication and
training. The second question I posed was to find out what types of
emergency situations each institution was prepared for. Indeed, all had
identified emergencies that were specific to the activities of the
organization. For example, the Lindsay Wildlife Museum has snakes in
its collection that the staff handles, so they have a detailed set of
procedures in place for dealing with venomous animal bites. This
organization has animals that can be described as potentially dangerous,
like bobcats, cougars, coyotes and rattlesnakes, so they, as well as the San
Francisco Zoo and the Oakland Zoo, have an animal escape procedure.
Among the other emergency events that the organizations I spoke to have
prepared for are: earthquake; fire response; non-natural disasters like gas
leaks, power loss, and terrorist attack; and short term evacuations as well
as more simple emergencies like a visitor falling down or an irate
customer.
Next I asked for a brief explanation of some of the plans or
procedure for emergency situations. For disasters, the majority of the
organizations have a strict “humans first” priority. Especially if
evacuation is necessary, the people are moved from the building and the
44
animals are left behind. At the SFZ, the goal is to secure the animals into
their night quarters; these are usually indoors and more secure than outside
or exposed daytime spaces. There are animals in lower areas and those
would be moved to higher ground, in preparation for any flooding or water
hazards. The Oakland Zoo is divided into four sections with the elephants
as another separate section. Each section has a supervisor in charge of that
segment of the zoo. If an emergency affects their situation these
individuals are in charge. Each emergency situation is evaluated by the
supervisor and only that person can make decisions about sending out
recapture teams for animal escape or initiating a zoo evacuation. At the
Lindsay Wildlife Museum, the response would depend on the emergency
type and the severity of the emergency as well if there was advanced
notice, for example a wildfire that was a mile away but approaching the
building. According to the staff I spoke to at the Lindsay Wildlife
Museum, the Animal Escape plan is a very important emergency
procedure, for both the animal and the public at large. If any animal
escapes from its enclosure the staff member who spotted it radios in that
there is an animal loose. They must report on what “class” the animal is.
Class distinction for animals in museums and other organizations is
imperative. Class 1 animals are exceedingly dangerous to humans; these
animals include cougars, other wild cats, coyotes and other such animals.
45
If they escape their enclosures, the facility has to be evacuated, the police
called and the animal must be darted, by a trained professional, to be re-
captured or shot if it cannot be re-captured. The process to receive a
license to be a capture and restraint professional for wild animals is both
extensive and expensive. The Lindsay Wildlife Museum has only one
such trained person on staff, Deputy Director and Doctor of Veterinary
Medicine, Dr. Nancy Anderson. In fact during an escaped animal
emergency Dr. Anderson has the final decision in regards to entering the
building and if the animal can be safely darted and secured or if it needs to
be shot.
I wanted to know if these organizations had any sort of priority
hierarchy for checking on animals after an emergency or for any necessary
evacuation. The Lindsay Wildlife Museum has no written policy on
animal priority. The museum’s first priority in an emergency is people:
staff, volunteers and visitors. There are also some rules regarding
evacuations. No staff or volunteer is allowed to venture through the
building to collect animals to take out with them. However, if a staff
member already has an animal in hand, on a glove or is working with one
at the time of an emergency, then they are allowed to take that animal with
them. In fact it is much quicker to evacuate carrying a bird on your glove
than to take the time to put that bird back into its mew. A staff member
46
could put their life at risk by taking time to do so. When I spoke to Marcia
Metzler, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Supervisor at the Lindsay Wildlife
Museum, she was certain that she would evacuate the building and not risk
her life to save an animal; however she said that the situation might be
different if there was an “endangered animal on site . . . [she might] take it
in a cage” because of the fact that it is a rare and endangered animal. 64
After an emergency event the San Francisco Zoo has a hierarchy
for checking on their animals based on the animal classes. The most
dangerous animals are checked first, and then the checker moves down the
groups of animals to the least hazardous. The Lindsay Wildlife Museum
has a somewhat different procedure; some staff noted that the institution
veterinarian would make the priority distinction based on the emergency
and damage caused. Nancy Anderson, the Deputy Director and DVM for
The Lindsay Wildlife Museum, designated that after humans come the
animals of the permanent collection. The animals in the permanent
collection of the museum are part of the Animal Encounters department.
These animals are to be evacuated or checked on second to humans.
Animal Encounter creatures are those that the Museum uses for education.
They are not releasable animals, due to injury or other problems; they can
never be set back into the wild. The third group of animals that would be 64 Metzler, Marcia. Wildlife Rehabilitation Supervisor. Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Walnut Creek, California. Interview, March 22, 2007 at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum.
47
checked on would be those in the hospital or rehabilitation facility. These
are wild animals who are able to be released back into the wild and can
survive. Dr. Anderson also told me that if the animal enclosures are
damaged that the Museum’s trained staff would first check the Class One
animals, the large carnivores and the rattlesnake, followed by the flighted
raptors and then the aquatic animals, unless their tanks are leaking.
Luckily, this Museum has a large number of volunteers who are trained
and prepared to take animals into their homes or farms. In case of the
need to evacuate, it would be a matter of gathering the animals and putting
them into kennels to remove them from the institution. Other staff at the
LWM mentioned that there is no written order of priority for checking on
animals but that they had divided up the collection and assigned animals to
all the Animal Encounter staff. Michele Setter, the Director of Animal
Encounter also told me that there “are boards in the back work area of the
museum to let my staff know where all the animal locations are so that we
can check and account for them.”65
Clarity and ability to understand an emergency plan is essential for
preparedness and during the emergency. Instructions must be logical and
easy to follow. Thus, I asked my interviewees if they thought their
institution’s plans were clear and concise. For the Oakland Zoo, not only 65 Setter, Michele. Director of Animal Encounter. Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Walnut Creek, California. Interview March 29, 2007 at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum.
48
are the plans clear but they are readily available to staff members. Each
staff member receives a printed copy, with procedural training, as well as
a copy is via e-mail, for reference. Organizations that have some set of
plans in place believe that their staff is well trained and could easily
handle a situation.
The City of Walnut Creek follows a plan based on Incident
Command System (ICS) that complies with the California’s Standardized
Emergency Management System (SEMS) and the federal government’s
National Emergency Management System (NEMS). This system
organizes people working for the city into very specific groups that have
detailed job descriptions during an emergency. This system does not take
a lot of training and many people could take on parts because it provides a
framework on how to deal with any emergency situation, it is not a
detailed scenario. Gayle Vassar, Community Relations Manager for the
City of Walnut Creek, explains it like this: ICS allows for a
“framework for managing information and managing resources and managing priorities during emergency disaster. Give tools to create an emergency plan for your organization and institutions. People know specifically what they are supposed to do. It involves setting objectives and checking in to make sure they are finished. Action planning plays a major part, making sure that all know what goals are and that they are being met.”66
66 Vassar, Gayle. Community Relations Manager. City of Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek, California. Interview January 25, 2007 at the Walnut Creek city hall.
49
Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation’s (ARF) plan is still only in
draft form so their staff has not been trained. The LWM has several ideas
on how to make their plan easy to follow during an emergency, including
a clip board containing task cards, maps of places to evacuate to, lists of
people to contact and information on some of the actions to take. The
procedure for their Animal Escape is clear and concise according to Susan
Heckly, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Director. Michele Setter, the Animal
Encounter Director agrees but notes that there has not been an occasion to
actually put it to the test.
As for addressing the needs and safety of animals, beyond
protecting humans, during and after an emergency situation, the responses
were quite varied. In some cases people told me that there were no formal
provisions made for animals, only for people. The San Francisco Zoo
would attempt to contain the animals, provide for the safety of people and
then provide food and water to the animals in their night enclosures, which
are more secure holding places. At the Lindsay Wildlife Museum animal
enclosures have been designed to withstand some damage that potentially
could be caused by an emergency and it has been determined by some of
the senior staff that the animals would be safer if they remain in their
enclosures.
50
Nancy Anderson stated that the Animal Management Committee
of the Lindsay Wildlife Museum discussed animal care and welfare after
disasters and is “confident that they can care for their animals for 3 – 7
days based on house supplies, even if power and water go out.”67 Susan
Heckly believes that even the discussion of writing animal consideration
into the emergency plan will make sure that people are aware of their
needs and that they will be taken care of. Other staff members at LWM
agree that there is no written or formal procedure for caring for animals
during or after an emergency but they are all confident that the animals
would be cared for, especially considering that the LWM has many
satellite locations in the backyards of staff and volunteers to house and
take care of animals. Marcia also told me that the cages most of the
animals in the hospital are kept in are stand alone cages designed not to
crush is anything falls on them and that the aviary in the back of the
Museum would also be fine during most emergencies.
The Oakland Zoo has made a special provision with the Oakland
Police Department with the safety of their animals firmly in mind. In the
event of an animal escape, the Oakland Zoo has the ability to make the
decision to allow their recapture team to attempt to subdue the animal. At
67 Anderson, DVM, Nancy. Deputy Director and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Walnut Creek, California. Partial interview and e-mail correspondence, March 22, 2007.
51
the discretion of the Oakland Zoo, the police are not automatically
notified. As long as the police do not enter the Zoo’s grounds, or the
animals leave, the recapture team can attempt to dart the escaped animal
and return it to its enclosure. However, once the police do enter the
grounds of the Oakland Zoo, they have full authority to make the decision
to shoot the escaped animal.68
I wanted to know about the emotional connections between
animals in museum collections and the people who care for them in order
to ascertain the chance that a staff member might risk his or her life to
save an animal. Every single employee or person that I spoke to told me
that they do form emotional bonds with the animals with which they work,
particularly in the Animal Encounters and the permanent collection
animals of the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. The wildlife rehabilitation staff
members of the LWM hospital are actually trained not to form
attachments to the wild animals because that could cause imprinting of the
animal onto humans and prevent its release back into the wild. However,
in the permanent collection of the LWM, many of the keepers do have
special animals that they are more attached to than others. Sarah Erb, an
Interpretive Services Keeper, believes that it is important to feel a
connection to the animals she cares for. Michele Setter told me that it 68 Craft, Brian. Lead Keeper and Animal Welfare Manager. Oakland Zoo, Oakland, California. Interview April 11, 2007.
52
really depends on what level the animals are in the programming at the
museum because that dictates how often the keepers work with an
individual animal. Conversely, Bob Jenkins, the Director of Animal Care
and Conservation for the San Francisco Zoo, says that his organization
works to keep their staff from excessively bonding with the animals, so
several keepers rotate taking care of the animals during the week.
A strong bond to an animal you care for can sometimes cause
humans to act irrationally in an emergency situation, so I asked my
interviewees if they had any concerns about anyone acting differently than
the emergency planning stipulates. Bob Jenkins’ position with the Zoo is
in of itself a safeguard because he is “designated as being in charge and
responsible for ensuring that the procedures are followed.” 69 ARF
continually reminds their staff members that they are just a stopping point
for animals and to limit emotional contact and attachment. At the Lindsay
Wildlife Museum the staff overwhelmingly responded that they have
confidence in the full time, regular staff, but that they are concerned that
the volunteers would attempt to rescue animals and re-enter the evacuated
building. Marcia Metzler even shared a story about a volunteer she had to
go back in and physically drag from the Museum during a fire drill and
believes that it happened because some people become focused on “a 69 Jenkins, Bob. Director of Animal Care and Conservation. San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, California. Partial interview and e-mail correspondence, February 23, 2007.
53
specific animal that is in front of them and disregard the building all
around them.”70
Some safeguards at ARF include drills in emergency procedure
and providing rationales to the volunteers and staff about why the
emergency procedure is in place. At the San Francisco Zoo, Bob Jenkins’
role is to safeguard the emergency procedures. At the Lindsay Wildlife
Museum some staff members were certain that there were no safeguards
but one person said that there was a sweep team of senior staff who would
go through the Museum on their way out to check for those left behind.
Additionally several members of staff mentioned that there was a chain of
command within the institution that would dictate safeguards based on the
emergency situation.
At ARF, the City of Walnut Creek and the San Francisco Zoo the
people I spoke to did not disagree with any of the procedures or
regulations already in place, nor did they discuss with me improvements
they would like to see. At the Lindsay Wildlife Museum I encountered a
wider variety of opinions. At least three people believed that the Museum
should plan for helping and saving animals during an emergency,
including evacuation during drills and other emergencies. At least two
staff members thought that there were not really any problems but
70 Metzler, Marcia.
54
expressed a desire to see more drills. Three staff members mentioned
animal escapes and recapture teams as being an element to preparedness
that is severely lacking. They thought that training more staff in the
capture and restraint of escaped animals would be a major benefit to the
institution and that funding should be sought to improve this aspect of
emergency planning. Marcia Metzler also talked about using peer
pressure to influence volunteers to follow the correct procedures and that
there is a clip board to keep track of who is in the building.
Some of the people I talked to offered ideas for solutions to
emergency planning; many mentioned the need for more practice and
drills for emergency disasters, especially for animal escapes and fires.
Metzler also mentioned the need for non-Animal Encounter workers, like
the hospital staff, to know the priority of the animals in the non-release
collection. Other staff members at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum also
mentioned the need for additional drills and practicing emergency
procedure. Approximately half of those I spoke to thought that there were
things they disagreed with or missing from planning but none of them
proposed a better solution.
In response to my question, do you feel that the animals in your
collection have a sufficient level of legal and ethical protection from your
institution, the AZA, state and federal government, Devin Dombrowski,
55
Substitute Hospital Supervisor of the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, gave me
a very interesting response. He said that the:
Museum takes care of its collection of animals. The best thing about this collection is that the animal also has a choice to be collected. The behavior of the animal will dictate its choice to be here or not. An example is a female Red Shouldered Hawk; this bird appeared to be unstable and unhappy in captivity, in the mews of the Museum. The bird was jumpy and even with many alternative options of situation the behavior of the bird did not change. It was eventually sent to another institution. Other possible choices for an animal who is unable to adjust to captivity is euthanization or release into the wild, if possible.71
The rest of the staff is uncertain about protection of the collection,
although two staff members did mention that the museum is regulated by
the Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA) as well as the City of
Walnut Creek and Contra Costa County and as one pointed out, the
museum not only meets these regulations but often far exceeds them.
Jenkins of the San Francisco Zoo noted that while animals are not
provided legal rights in the United States – they are protected from harm.
My interviewees overwhelmingly believed in the higher cognitive
function and intelligence of animals. After agreeing that animals have
varying levels of intelligence, everyone had different things to say. Some
believed that it is impossible to determine levels of intelligence in animals
because we cannot communicate directly with them. About half of my
71 Dombrowski, Devin. Substitute Hospital Supervisor. Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Walnut Creek, California. Interview February 22, 2007 at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum.
56
respondents did have more specific opinions, for example, that foxes are
more intelligent than amphibians or snakes or that crows and apes or
chimps require additional complex enrichment in captivity. About 1/3 of
respondents talked about the difference among individuals within a
species group, such that it is important to judge each case and animal
separately and not make broad general distinctions about a group of
individuals.
My next question asked interviewees and respondents if they
would risk their personal safety to save or protect an animal in their care.
Almost all persons I talked to, including the Oakland Zoo, confirmed that
they would in fact act to save an animal but all said that it would depend
entirely on the situation and the level of personal risk involved. Beth
Brannock, Facilities Manager and Therapy Animal Team Coordinator at
ARF, said that she would act to save an animal because it was specifically
in her care and thus feels it is her responsibility to protect the animal.
Most other people I talked to presented similar scenarios, that they would
be willing to be bitten, taloned or climb a ladder to save an animal, but not
to run back into a burning building to rescue an animal or open a cage.
The keepers, administrators and other staff I spoke with at these
organizations expressed the opinion that emergency planning for animals
or preparedness that accounted for animals is critical to prevent problems
57
and mitigate loss. However almost everyone I spoke to also noted that
animal evacuation should not impair the ability of humans to reach safety
during an emergency situation.
In addition to interviewing and corresponding with personnel from
organizations that have animals or serve them I also attended an
emergency planning seminar at the Concord Police Department for non-
profit organizations and interviewed the seminar leader. The seminar was
specifically geared toward San Francisco Bay Area non-profit
organizations and there were a wide variety of attendees, from children’s
groups, to elderly and homeless groups, and animal organizations. After
Ana-Marie Jones, the Executive Director of Collaborating Agencies
Responding to Disasters (CARD) and the seminar trainer introduced
herself and her organization, the attendees introduced themselves and the
group they served. Next Ana Marie talked about disasters in the Bay Area
and the United States and how emergency planning and preparedness has
evolved. She stressed personal preparedness as a key element for
increasing awareness for emergency planning and as a way to get all
members of an organization excited and interested in institutional
emergency planning. As an exercise the group filled out booklets on
personal emergency planning, writing down our out-of-state emergency
contacts, who or what we would think of first during an emergency, and
58
what items in our house we would want saved or rescued during an
emergency. We then into groups and did a couple of teambuilding
exercises that were intended to help us understand how similar each of us
was. Then the seminar came back as an entire group and Ana Marie
talked about the National Incident Management System (NIMS), the
requirements and the framework that is being used, and the Incident
Command System (ICS). She also talked about what ICS is, how to use
the system, and adapt the program for non-profit organizations. In order
to show us how to use the ICS system she had the attendees break into
groups and each group was given a scenario to analyze. My group was
given a moderate earthquake, in Concord, California at the police station,
as our disaster event. We assigned roles and had to explain why each
person was chosen for their role. Then we presented our findings to the
class. The last parts of the seminar were role playing, a couple of
attendees were selected to get up in front of the group to run through a
situation as if it was a real emergency and they were the ones managing
the situation and information to the rest of the group. The rest of the
group acted as the public and constantly gave feedback to the emergency
managers about how they were doing and what the public was feeling
about the information and instructions they were being given. The first
run through was disastrous. Information was not being shared; the person
59
in command was ordering people around and being overbearing and
bossy. The public felt scared and unsupported – they had no idea what
was going on. In the feedback session people talked about how they felt,
what the group did wrong and what they could have done better. Then the
situation was run through two more times, and by the last time Ana Marie
told me that they were acting more professional and with greater accuracy
than actual emergency responder professionals.
On March 28, 2007, a few weeks after the seminar I attended I
interviewed Ana-Marie Jones. At her office in Oakland she candidly
answered my many questions. I first wanted to know how many non-
profit organizations she had worked with on emergency planning and she
informed me that the average was 500 – 600, as she has given both large
trainings to groups of organizations and also to smaller groups, 10 - 25,
personnel at one particular organization. She has presented in-person to
several thousands of people over the last few years, and has reached
thousands more through webcasts and videos. Of those institutions she
has spoken to or worked with she said that 90% have told her that a major
obstacle to emergency planning is staff time while even more have said
that financial resources were an impediment. She asserts that when
preparedness is marketed without the disaster threat, and when it is
designed to address the specific needs of the agency, that many obstacles
60
disappear. She went on to say that even local governments are having a
hard time complying with the new NIMS legislation on emergency
planning. One major reason for this is that the federal government has
created a “one size fits all” cookie cutter program in NIMS leaving no
wiggle room for differing sizes, circumstances or financial resources. One
model does not fit all organizations. A program designed for a tiny town
in Montana would not work if applied to Oakland, California and vice
versa. Ana-Marie called this “trickle down emergency planning” and told
me that it would not work any better than “trickle down economics.” She
is in full support of the idea of NIMS, the idea that the entire country is
required to have a standard for emergency planning. She only finds fault
with the method. What, according to Ana-Marie, is happening, is that the
“federal government is forcing on the country . . . binders written and left
on shelves to be read as people are running from the building after a
disaster strikes.”72 This is the wrong way to write an emergency plan
according to Ana-Marie; it is easy to do but will only give the appearance
that an organization is prepared for a disaster situation. The CARD
organization and Ana-Marie work hard to encourage emergency planning
in light of limited staffing and financial resources, their entire philosophy
is to prepare agencies in order for them to prosper. Rearticulating key 72 Jones, Ana-Marie. Executive Director. CARD, Oakland, California. Interview March 28, 2007 at CARD offices in Oakland.
61
ideas like leadership and teambuilding as well as taking emergency
planning out of a fear based theory. Scaring people into emergency
planning and preparedness has not worked, so CARD set up a different
mindset, one of encouraging a more positive stance of fun, excitement and
working together as a team to accomplish goals.
Ana-Marie and CARD have worked with organizations that have
animals in their collection or that serve the needs of animals like ARF.
These institutions face major obstacles and Ana-Marie explained to me
that funding and staff shortages are only the beginning. A major hurdle to
these groups is that until recently, animals were viewed as a luxury
concept in the United States. As a nation we have never understood that
the animal and pet issue isn’t really an animal issue at all but rather it is a
human issue – humans will put themselves in danger to save or protect
their animals and companions.
There are other impediments to emergency planning. We don’t
construct buildings with safety and preparedness in mind. Additionally
the resistance to thinking in advance means that even when people want to
help they may not be able to or have the resources or planning to help at
all. In fact, Ana-Marie said to me that emergency planning for animal
organizations and animals in general is more important than the general
public at large because they are a vulnerable population. As we saw with
62
Hurricane Katrina, the more helpless the group the greater the need is for
emergency planning and preparedness.
One of the questions I asked was how to force organizations to
comply with emergency planning, and I wondered if the federal
government can or should withhold funding for organizations without
emergency plans in place. Ana-Marie was vehement in her opinion that
this is an extremely bad idea. Mandates without funding, buy-in,
culturally appropriate tools and user-friendly ongoing support encourage
“the faux plan, the binder on the shelf written by an outside consultant –
this gives the appearance of being prepared without actually being
prepared.”73 She did say that making drills and planning fun and relevant
to the institution and their mission can encourage the importance of
emergency planning and compliance; additionally organizational funders
can actually enforce compliance for their individual group. The federal
government should, however, provide funding and assistance to non-profit
organizations, “fund it and make it a required deliverable.”74 This would
be a potential solution to some of the diminished funding that many of
these organizations currently are experiencing.
In summary, my research reveals that there are widely conflicting
beliefs on the particulars of emergency procedures and priorities, even 73 Ibid. 74 Ibid.
63
within one institution, such as the Lindsay Wildlife Museum.
Nevertheless every person I spoke with acknowledges the importance of
emergency planning and a deep concern for animal welfare; but thus far,
theory has not necessarily been put into practice. Staff participation and
involvement are significant to emergency planning and that planning and
preparedness can mitigate financial, human and animal loss during a
disaster. However, as Ana Marie Jones expressed in her interview and
seminar, there are options for museums and ways for them to motivate
their staff to increase awareness and buy in for emergency planning that
takes into account live animal collections. This is essential because staff
know the institution in the way an outside consultant cannot. They are the
ones who will be using the emergency plan and reacting to a disaster.
64
Conclusions and Recommendations
My research, interviews, observation and experience have led me
to the following conclusions about animal welfare in museums with live
animal collections during an emergency disaster. Based on these findings
and conclusions I propose a series of recommendations for any museum or
non-profit organization that has animals in the collection. The purpose of
my recommendations is to increase awareness of the importance of
emergency planning and preparedness for these institutions, their staff,
and the animals in their care.
Conclusions
A clear and concise emergency plan in connection with consistent
drills and practices is critical to the safety and security of humans and
animals in museums with live animal collections. All museums,
especially those with live animals in their buildings, should have written
emergency plans and procedures. Staff members should have access to
the plans and procedures, and there needs to be intensive training and
drilling for emergency situations.
Yet, it does not seem to be a priority because of financial
constraints and unclear policies and procedures. Organizations do not
realize that staff members can be confused about action plans and
procedure during an emergency situation, especially if there has been
65
limited communication and no practicing. Museums feel isolated and
confused by government agencies; some of the organizations I spoke to
have chosen to oppose working with these groups. Due to issues
surrounding cuts in funding and resources provided to them by
government organizations, most museums feel that they must look out for
themselves, and thus are resistant to collaboration with outside
governmental organizations.
Recommendations
Emergency planning must be made an internal priority for
institutions that have live animals in their collections and on display to the
general public. Emergency planning and preparedness is essential to
mitigating loss of life and property during a disaster or emergency
situation. Planning should be written into museum policy and there needs
to be specific procedures in place that dictate guidelines surrounding
emergency events in the organization.
Museums with animals need to train and unite their staff. All staff,
including volunteers must be committed to the process and fully trained in
emergency scenario reaction and policy. If staff or volunteers are not
willing to work with the museum and go through the training process then
the organization should evaluate their continuing connection with the
museum.
66
Another element the museum must make clear in policy and to all
staff and volunteers; during an emergency situation that involves animals
the organization’s veterinarian is the one who is in charge – the final
authority. She or he will be the one who determines the proper course of
action regarding the animals due to their experience, professional training
and position within the museum. Volunteers should not make decisions or
take actions during a drill or disaster event that goes against procedure in
any circumstances.
Training for staff and volunteers is essential to emergency
planning and preparedness for an organization. Teambuilding activities
increase awareness of the importance of planning and teach the benefits of
preparedness. Training should be used for emergency response,
institutional procedure, and rules, as well as discussing the issue of
emotional bonding with animals in the museum’s care. Training that
includes the reasoning behind the institution’s plan and procedure will
increase understanding for all staff, and multiply the probability of
accurate actions during an emergency disaster. Training classes and
seminars, with an organization like Collaborating Agencies Responding to
Disasters, explain emergency preparedness and response while promoting
the fun aspects of planning. Showcasing the characteristics of emergency
preparedness that are fun and positive will encourage staff to embrace and
67
commit to emergency planning, thus increasing participation and
involvement. Additionally, staff and volunteers need to understand how
animals normally are expected to react during disasters. This information
is summarized in my product that follows this paper.
Museums will be able to see that emergency planning, while time
consuming, is feasible and cost effective. A major element to emergency
planning is practice drills. There are as many types of drills as there are
emergency scenarios. In order for an organization to be fully prepared it
should practice for all potential emergencies, fire drills, earthquakes, and
escaped animal are some of the most critical to a museum with animals.
These are the emergencies that usually pose the most danger for the
animals of the collection, the staff and volunteers as well as the general
public. As for the drills, they must happen at regular intervals; once per
quarter is necessary. Additionally, these drills must be random and
consistent. What I specifically mean is that the drills need to be practiced
a set number of times in a year, and these drills should happen when the
staff members of the museum are not expecting them; varied as far as date,
time and type of drill. For emergency planning and preparedness to be
successful, proper practicing, repeatedly going over actions, is necessary,
and will help people act appropriately, even under the stress and pressure
of an emergency disaster.
68
Emergency planning groups can help an organization work with its
staff on communication and training. Museums should work with an
organization, like non-profit Collaborating Agencies Responding to
Disasters, who emphasize the important aspects of emergency drills and
prepare trainings that are fun and educational. Taking a class or attending
a seminar is beneficial; attendees complete worksheets about their own
personal preparedness for a disaster. This individual experience increases
empathy for the reasons behind planning for emergency situations. Once a
person understands how they are affected by disaster, they become more
sensitive to others’ reactions to disaster, especially those who are more
helpless than they or dependant on them for safety and care. Making staff
aware of how important practicing is will also help with their
understanding of and commitment to emergency planning. As my
findings show and as experienced from the emergency preparedness
seminar; practicing is the best way to improve on reaction and actions for
emergency situations.
Communication is essential in order to decrease uncertainty for the
staff. A museum with live animals in the collection should assign one
individual to be the point person during an emergency situation. That
person is in charge of making final decisions and assigning duties to other
staff members, volunteers, and visitors, if necessary. The designated
69
museum point person would be the head of a chain of command for an
institution. This chain of command will eliminate confusion when the
designated point person is not on site and prevent crossing of commands
and assignments; everyone will know who is supposed to be making
decisions.
Organizations, once they have prepared an emergency plan, need
to provide the staff members with access to the procedures and the plan.
As stated above, repetition is one of the best methods for teaching
information. Hence, if you give staff members copies of emergency
procedures in written form, via email, and through training sessions, they
will be exposed to the information more frequently and be able to absorb it
better. Having multiple copies of the plan and procedures accessible in
locations around the institutions will reduce the anxiety of staff during an
emergency disaster because they will have access to it.
Museums must recognize the importance of collaborating with
city, state and the federal governments. These agencies have resources
that can aid museums during emergency disasters. Understanding what
federal and state obligations to organizations with animals are will help
the museum in the event of a disaster. It is necessary for museums that
have animals in their care and collection to assign a single employee from
the organization to liaise with the city and county governments.
70
Additionally, an understanding of federal regulations and what potential
for assistance exists, in the wake of a disaster, is fundamental to rebuilding
after an emergency situation.
Museums have animals in their collections because human beings
feel an important, emotional connection with them. As sentient beings,
animals remind us of the world that we live in and share with them. Our
lives have been intertwined with animals since the Neolithic period and
they deserved to be protected and considered by us, particularly during an
emergency situation when their dependence on humans is especially
apparent.
71
Product Description
The product of this master’s project is a series of documents and
list of links to sites that will aid and assist an organization in the process of
emergency planning. Its purpose is to provide information, links and
access to resources and contacts for emergency planning and
preparedness. The focus of the information is on non-profit museum
organizations that have animals in their collections.
Information contained within the product:
� Animal reactions to disaster situations.
� Checklists for preparing emergency kits, staff and building for a
disaster.
� Model of emergency instruction sheets for several disaster events.
� A worksheet that is an outline of the necessary information for an
organization during an emergency disaster.
� Links to resources, grants, programs and funders.
� Links to organizations who can aid in emergency planning,
preparation and recovery.
72
Bibliography
Books Buck, Rebecca A. and Gilmore, Jean Allman. The New Museum Registration Methods. American Association of Museums. 1998. Bulliet, Richard W. Hunters, Herders, And Hamburgers: The Past And Future Of Human-animal Relationships. Columbia University Press. September 30, 2005. Bonner, Jeffrey P. Sailing With Noah: Stories from the World of Zoos. University of Missouri Press. April 21, 2006. Coe, Jon C. “Design and Perception.” A Different Nature: The Paradoxical World of Zoos and Their Uncertain Future. Berkeley and Los Angeles Univ. California Press. 2001. Dorge, Valerie and Jones, Sharon L. Compiled by. Building an Emergency Plan: A Guide ! Getty Trust Publications: Getty Conservation Institute. February 3, 2000. Feilden, Sir Bernard M. Between Two Earthquakes: Cultural Property in Seismic Zones. The Getty Conservation Institute. 1987. Hanson, Elizabeth. Animal Attractions: Nature on Display in American Zoos. Princeton University Press. 2002. Jasper, Esq., Margaret C. Animals Rights Law. Oceana’s Legal Almanac Series: Law for the Layperson. Oceana Publications, Inc. 1997. Kisling, Vernon N., Jr. Zoo and Aquarium History: Ancient Animal Collections to Zoological Gardens. CRC Press LLC. 2001. Malaro, Marie C. A Legal Primer on Managing Museum Collections. Smithsonian Institution Press. 1998. Maple, Terry, McManamon, Rita and Stevens, Elizabeth. “Defining the Good Zoo.” Ethics on the Ark. Smithsonian Institution. 1995.
73
Moss, Cynthia. Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family. University of Chicago Press. 1988. Norton, Bryan and Wuichet, John. “Differing Conceptions of Animal Welfare.” Ethics on the Ark. Smithsonian Institution. 1995. Payne, Katy. Silent Thunder: In the Presence of Elephants. Simon & Schuster. 1988. Poole, Joyce H. The Coming of Age with Elephants. Hodder and Stoughton. 1996. Preece, Rod & Chamberlain, Lorna. Animal Welfare & Human Values. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. 1993. Regan, Tom. “Are Zoos Morally Defensible?” Ethics on the Ark. Smithsonian Institution. 1995. Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. Avon Books. 1990. Wise, Steven M. Drawing the Line. Perseus Publishing. 2002. Wise, Steven M. Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals. Perseus Publishing. 2000.
Journals and Periodical Articles Bailey, Debra A. “In Harm’s Way.” Boy’s Life. Irving: Apr 2006. Vol. 96, Iss. 4. Carmichael, Mary. “Animal Emotions; Pet Owners have long Believed their Companions love them back. Scientists once scoffed, but now they’re coming around.” Newsweek. New York: Aug. 18, 2003. Handwerk, Brian. “Aquarium Animals Evacuate New Orleans; Zoo Gets Relief.” National Geographic News. September 9, 2005. Hof, Patrick R. and Van der Gucht, Estel. “The Structure of the Cerebral Cortex of the Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaeangliae (Cetacea, Mysticeti, Balaenopteridae)” The Anatomical Record: Advances in
74
Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology Volume 290, Issue 1, 2007. Merritt, Elizabeth. “This is Not a Test: Museums and Heritage Preservation.” Museum News. American Association of Museums. November/ December 2006. Monti, Dean J. “Disaster Conference Gives Animal Issues a ‘Seat at the Table’.” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. May 15, 2000. Pennisi, Elizabeth. “Social Animals Prove Their Smarts.” Science, Vol. 312, Issue 5781. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 23 June 2006. Sarmicanic, Lisa. “Goffman, pets and people: An Analysis of Humans and Their Companion Animals.” ReVision; Fall 2004; 27, 2; Research Library. Tannenbaum, J. “Ethics and Welfare: The Inextricable Connection.” Journal of American Veterinarian Medical Association. 198(8): 1360 – 1376. Tebo, Margaret Graham. “Pet Project.” ABA Journal. Chicago: Dec. 2005. Vol. 91. Wiley, John. “Humpback Whales Have Brain Cells Also Found In Humans” Science Daily. November 2006.
Newspaper Articles
Crampton, Thomas. “Noah Wouldn’t Have Left Behind the Emus and Pythons.” New York Times. New York, N.Y.: Sep 16, 2004. N.p. Lilyestrom, Betty. “Animal Care Focus of Bioterror Lecture; Plan in Effect since ’01.” Telegram & Gazette. Worchester, Mass.: Nov. 21, 2003. N.p. Malnic, Eric. “Zoo Says It’s Prepared if Catastrophe Strikes.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: May 8, 1997. N.p.
75
Shields, Jeff. “How to Save People? Save their Animals.” Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. Washington: Sep. 28, 2005. N.p.
Websites Allen, Laura. “Katrina: The State of Animal Disaster Planning Laws One Year Later.” Animal Law Coalition. http://network.bestfriends.org/News/PostDetail.aspx?np=7171&g=9fa3c167-0062-4e91-b552-f6af6ae37970, accessed; August 29, 2006. American Veterinary Medical Association, Barbiers, Dr. Robyn, Guerreo, Diana and Wright, Kevin M. “Disaster Preparedness and Response Guide.” American Veterinary Medical Association. http://www.avma.org/disaster/responseguide/responseguide_toc.asp, accessed; December 12, 2006. Butler, Rhett. “New Orleans Zoo escapes Hurricane Katrina; Aquarium suffers heavy losses.” Mongabay. http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0830-new_orleans_aquarium.html, accessed; September 9, 2006. CNN. “Katrina kills most fish in New Orleans Aquarium.” CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/09/07/katrina.zoos/, accessed; September 17, 2006. Institute for Marine Mammal Studies. “Hurricane Katrina Destroys Marine Life Oceanarium.” http://www.dolphinsrus.com/marinelifedestroyed.php, accessed; October 23, 2006. Simmons, Rebecca. “No Pet Left Behind: The PETS Act Calls for Disaster Plans to Include Animals.” The Humane Society of the United States. http://www.hsus.org/pets/pets_related_news_and_events/no_pet_left_behind_the_pets.html, accessed; October 23, 2006.
Other Documents Association of Zoos & Aquariums. Accreditation Standards and Related Policies. Association of Zoos & Aquariums. 2007.
76
Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Escaped Animal Procedure. Lindsay Wildlife Museum. 2001. Vasser, Gail. “Emergency Response Management: What you need to know.” City of Walnut Creek. Power Point presentation. 2006.
Interviews/ Correspondence Anderson, DVM, Nancy. Deputy Director and Veterinarian. Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Bernard, Chris. Operations Director. Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Brannock, Beth. Facilities Manager and Therapy Animal Team Coordinator. Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation. Craft, Brian. Lead Keeper and Animal Welfare Manager. Oakland Zoo. Dombrowski, Devin. Substitute Hospital Supervisor. Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Erb, Sarah. Interpretive Services Keeper. Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Finch-Morales, Nikki. Director of Wildlife. Coyote Point Museum. Heckly, Susan. Wildlife Rehabilitation Director. Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Hoenerhoff, Kim. Program Assistant, Accreditation Programs. Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Hui, Eunice. Lead Keeper. Oakland Zoo. Jenkins, Bob. Director of Animal Care and Conservation. San Francisco Zoo. Jones, Ana Maria. Executive Director. Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster. Lord, Mike. Animal Keeper. Lindsay Wildlife Museum
77
Manley, Dawn. Animal Husbandry Manager. Lindsay Wildlife Museum. McClure, Joan. Emergency Planning Consultant. Pet Emergency Planning. Conley, Sheila A. Safety Officer. Safari West. Metzler, Marcia. Wildlife Rehabilitation Supervisor. Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Pfau, Jason. Animal Keeper. Lindsay Wildlife Museum.
Rowden, John. Preparedness Branch. Governor's Office of Emergency Services. Setter, Michele. Director of Animal Encounters. Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Vassar, Gayle. Community Relations Officer. City of Walnut Creek. Willis, Jarrod. Animal Program Manager. Lindsay Wildlife Museum
78
Museum
Emergency Response
and
Preparedness;
a Handbook
79
Table of Contents Is Your Organization Ready for Emergency Planning 80 Simple and Cost Effective Emergency Planning 81 Potential Animal Reaction 82 Worksheets for Disaster Plan 88 Example Emergency Instructions Sheets 98 Related Links 109
80
Is Your Organization Ready for Emergency Planning? Before you begin: � Review rules, regulations and laws for your area as well as
those designated by the federal government. � Complete a serious evaluation of your organization:
� Assess feeling of staff members. � Size of facility. � Animals present, type and number, do an
inventory. � Location and risk assessment.
� Create a committee who will be proactive in this process. � Designate a point person for organization to communication. � Use the Quick and Efficient Emergency Plan provided
within this packet until final organization’s plan is complete. � Commit to making a change and preparing for emergencies. � Set up a drill system, the Emergency Worksheet attached to
this packet can assist in this process.
81
Simple and Cost Effective Emergency Planning List of location and quantity of
� fire extinguishers � first aid supplies � food stocks (human and animal) � flashlights � battery powered radio � water (acceptable for human and animal consumption) � buckets � crowbars � shovels � lumbar or useable wood � carts or hand trucks
If the institution doesn’t have any of one or more of these items, purchase them. Gather significant institutional, animal and personnel information and some equipment, first aid, food stocks, water, flashlight, extra batteries, battery powered radio. Place into easily portable water proof packages (such as sports bags). Label bags and store in a secure but easily accessible location. Also include a laminated layout of building and immediate surrounding are with evacuation meeting point indicated. Create simple to follow, laminated instructional fact sheets for following operations and locate them near item or system they refer to. Fact sheets:
� How to shut off alarms. � How to operate fire extinguisher. � How to start emergency generator. � How to shut off gas supply. � How to set up a temporary morgue.
Create a list of names, addresses and telephone numbers of security personnel, building contractors, vendors and all staff. Store all important institutional documents and copies of critical keys in a secure, fire proof, water proof off-site location. Create a small business sized card, laminated, that has contact information for important staff members. Give to all staff for emergency use – update regularly. Develop liaison with local emergency services, call and introduce yourself and institution. When creating an emergency plan for the future be sure to include non-employees. They can be an asset if properly directed during an emergency by giving out jobs and responsibility.
82
Potential Animal Reaction Large Carnivores: During a disaster event carnivores may be disoriented. They will flee from perceived threats if possible and may attack any humans present, if no escape route is available. Neonatal juveniles and geriatric animals are at greater risk of injury due to exposure or exhaustion. Immediately after a disaster event a large carnivore may remain near a familiar environment. They will seek a secure hiding place and begin cautious exploration when environment becomes less threatening. Cats will usually begin searching for food at night. Carnivores may return to familiar holding areas if baited with food and the area is kept quiet and free of humans. Directed movement by providing directed escape routes is difficult at best but can be tried by experienced personnel. Chemical immobilization is considered the best option to move these animals. Recapturing a carnivore should not be attempted without an armed response present. The recommended choice of crisis situations that involve potentially dangerous animals is the bolt action rifle. An attempt to kill a carnivore should only be undertaken by skilled marksmen, as wounded carnivores are extremely dangerous. Care of a large carnivore after a disaster event: Animals should be housed individually in small enclosures. Large metal-lined crates (4’x5’x10’) with 25% surface area of bars or wire mesh for ventilation can be used. Heavy chain link or ¼ welded wire topped enclosures can hold most cats except lions and tigers. Portable water should be available at all times. Cats require fresh meat or a frozen diet daily at 5% of body weight. If fresh meat is used long term, vitamin supplementation will be required to correct Ca:P imbalance. Large carnivores are susceptible to hyperthermia – shade and water must be provided at all times. Most species are fairly cold tolerant if shelter from wind is provided. These animals are easily stressed by loud noises and human presence. They should be kept in quiet areas away from traffic, noises and inquisitive people.
83
Health Risks for Large Carnivore following a disaster: Unsanitary conditions, contaminated food and improper food handling may result in gastrointestinal disease. Goals: Provide secure environmental, portable water and adequate nutrition. Attend ill or injured animals as circumstances permit. Humanely destroy or dispose of animals that are moribund, have intractable injuries, or that endanger people. Return animals to original facilities if intact or arrange for transfer to adequate facilities outside of the disaster area.
Small Carnivores During a disaster event small carnivores may become disoriented. They will flee and attempt to find a secure hiding spot. Immediately after a disaster event small carnivores are likely to remain in familiar surroundings. They will seek secure hiding spots and as the environment becomes less threatening, they will begin cautious exploratory behavior. Injured and hungry animals are less predictable and usually exhibit more aggressive behavior. Live trapping can be attempted as well as some degree of directed movement by providing directed escape routes. Chemical immobilization may be the preferred option. Care of Small Carnivores after a disaster event: Animals should be housed individually, unless social structure is definitively known. Sky kennels or portable dog kennels can be used if a secure locking mechanism is available. Fresh water, adequate ventilation and shade are necessary. Most of these animals will consume fresh meat such as mice, rabbits, and chicken. Some will consume canned cat or dog food and some will eat dry food if more preferred feed is not available. Many of these animals can tolerate cold temperatures if bedding is available and they are sheltered from wind. They should be kept in a quiet, darkened area away from traffic, noises and inquisitive people. Health risks for small carnivores after a disaster event: Hyperthermia due to hot, humid environments or exhaustion after (re)capture is a principal risk for carnivores. Shade, free air movement and rest will alleviate these problems. These animals are susceptible to most domestic canine and feline infectious diseases. They should be kept separate from any domesticated carnivores.
84
Unsanitary conditions or feed items containing high levels of bacteria may result in enteritis, particularly salmonellosis. Secondarily, diarrhea, dehydration and septicemia may develop. Goals: Provide secure confinement. Provide adequate nutrition and water. Attend sick or injured animals as circumstances permit. Humanely destroy and dispose of animals that are moribund, have intractable injuries or that demonstrate a risk to humans. Return animals to original facilities if intact or arrange for transfer to facilities outside the disaster area.
Small Mammals During a disaster event these animals will tend to flee and find the first available “safe” hiding spot. After an event these animals will remain hidden until hunger and thirst become driving forces. They will venture out during periods of decreasing light and outside activity to begin foraging and hunting. These animals will be rarely seen, baited traps is the best method for capture. These animals are not aggressive unless threatened and unable to flee. Care of small mammals after a disaster event: These animals should be housed individually in small sky kennels or crates unless distressing to the animal. Many of these animals will dig or gnaw so crate materials should be impenetrable and inspected frequently for damage. Mortality tends to be high after capture. Animals should be kept in a quiet, darkened area, away from loud noises, traffic and inquisitive people to minimize injuries. Diets are varied. Insectivores can survive on chopped meat, hard-boiled egg, milk and produce. Herbivores should be given pellets (rodent or rabbit chow), produce, and good quality hay. Portable water should be available at all times. Good sanitation is essential. Health risks for small mammals after a disaster event: Unsanitary conditions may develop because of the difficulty of cleaning crates. Bacterial diseases, especially enteric, can be fatal. Leptospirosis, enteropathies, pseudotuberculosis, and pasteurellosis are common. Many small mammals are susceptible to intestinal microfloral disturbance with antibiotic use. Antibiotics that significantly reduce gram-positive organisms may be fatal if used in some species, especially rodents. Broad-spectrum antibiotic combinations may be useful. Tropical small mammals are not acclimated to cooler climates and supplemental heat should be provided. Shade and adequate ventilation should be provided for all species.
85
Goals: Provide safekeeping, adequate nutrition and water. Attend injured or ill animals as circumstances permit. Humanely destroy and dispose of animals that are moribund, have intractable injuries or that demonstrate a risk to humans. Return animals to original facilities if intact or arrange for transfer to facilities outside the disaster area.
Birds Due to the diversity in this group the museums must clearly delineate the avian needs according to the specific animals in the live collection and the needs of the most likely animals in their collection. During a disaster event birds will vary in behavior depending if they are wild caught or captive reared. Most will be nervous in a crisis situation or when removed from their normal surroundings; some will be disoriented. Immediately after a disaster event the tendency overall will be to flee. Territorial animals that have escaped may stay in close proximity, while colony animals will return to be with their flock members. Food seeking activity will begin almost immediately in many species. Fitness and conditioning will have a bearing on the distance these animals travel. Leaving food and water out is essential for many of these creatures, but the risk of loss to predators is high. Using the lure of conspecifics can work well with some animals, baited traps and mist nets are recommended if capture is necessary. Care of Birds after a Disaster event: It is best to keep these animals in their repaired cages or in temporary enclosures. Filtered light or covered housing areas will help keep most birds calm. In some cases, caging should be kept covered and the animals isolated from noise and high traffic. Perching and wire cages are important for many species. More delicate animals will suffer from stress if they remain on the caging floor without perching options. Food options will vary greatly according to species. Pelleted food, seeds, insectivorous or carnivorous dietary needs should be addressed. Both food and potable water need to be changed and provided fresh daily. A through assessment is advised so that emergency provisions can be arranged.
86
Health Risks for Birds after a Disaster: Stress related complications are the biggest risk. Care should be taken to splint broken wings or other appendages. A bird specific coagulant should be included for broken toenails, blood feathers and related uses. Risks for birds can include enterpathogens, Aspergillosis, and sometimes Salmonella, or Psittacosis. Other dangers include conjunctivitis or the ingestion of strange objects. When housing an avian species, separate quarters away from mammals are recommended. Avian diversity is a challenge. As a general notation, if a bird is traumatized or ill, lower perches and put food and water dishes on the floor of caging for easy access. Cage bottoms, food and water dishes should be cleaned on a daily basis. Goals: Provide for safekeeping, adequate nutrition and water. Attend injured or ill animals as circumstances require and resources permit. Humanely destroy and dispose of avian specimens that are moribund, have intractable injuries or that demonstrate a risk to humans or other animals. Return animals to original facilities if intact or arrange for transfer to facilities outside the disaster area. Disaster Kits and Transport/ Housing Ideas: Some of the biggest concerns are how to move avian species and where to find the space to store supplies that may be needed. Holding crates and vehicles are big priorities if evacuation or transportation is needed or in the event of damage to holding area in facility. Collapsible wire dog crates can be lined on the outside with mesh and attached with wire crimps. These crates can be stored without taking up a lot of space and will allow for ample ventilation. If partitions can be designed and implemented then multiple birds can be housed and transported in each crate.
Reptiles Snakes, lizards and turtles are likely to leave their enclosures if a suitably sized opening occurs. Most escaped reptiles will seek cover immediately. The path of an escaped reptile is unpredictable but once a reptile has reached a suitable hiding spot it may remain there for a considerable length of time. For this reason, escaped reptiles are unlikely to be obvious in the immediate aftermath of a crisis. Some reptiles become aggressive when approached and may attach human beings if they perceive that they are being confined. Lizard species will
87
bite and whip with tails if cornered or perceive attack. All snakes will strike and bite if provoked. Turtles will attempt to bite if picked up or handled. If a dangerous reptile is loose, it is highly recommended that human workers use the buddy system to ensure assistance is immediately available id a dangerous reptile is encountered. The recapture rate is likely to be low, especially of snakes. Snakes and lizard species are most likely to be encountered by workers removing any debris from an area and proper precautions should be enacted to prevent bites and injury. All snakes should be treated as venomous unless a positive indemnification can be made otherwise. These snakes may strike without warning; human workers should wear high leather boots and long pants if a venomous snake is suspected of being at large. It is imperative that any snake involved in a bite be identified. The snake should be secured by any safe means possible, up to and including killing the snake. Recapture of Snakes and Lizards: All snakes should be handled with extreme caution until they are identified be a facility designated person or expert as harmless or non-venomous. A snake hook should be used to maneuver the snake and whenever possible lift and direct the snake. Many snakes can be encouraged to enter a dark cloth bag or garbage can turned on its side. Any snakes in bags should then be placed inside a solid containment device (e.g., wooden box, garbage can with lid taped in place). If a venomous snake cannot be captured and contained safely, it should be killed.
88
Worksheet for Disaster Plan Institutional Information
Name of Institution:
________________________________________
Date of completion:
__________________________________________
Date of first review:
__________________________________________
Dates of next review:
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Locations where plan is on file (on and off premises)
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
_________________________________
89
Staff members to be called in case of a disaster:
Position Name Home Phone Cell Phone
Chief
Administrator ___________ __________ __________
Disaster Recovery
Team Leader ___________ __________ __________
Building Supervisor
___________ __________ ___________
Animal Hospital
Team Leader __________ ___________ ___________
Live Collection
Team Leader __________ ___________ ___________
Veterinarian __________ ___________ ___________
Disaster Recover Team Members:
Name Home Phone Cell Phone
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
90
Who on the staff has a copy of this plan and is familiar
with its contents?
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Services Needed in an Emergency
Service Company/ Name of Contact Phone
Number
Front Desk __________________ _________________
Veterinarian _________________ _________________
Fire
Department __________________ _________________
Police/ Sheriff _________________ _________________
Ambulance __________________ _________________
Insurance
Company ___________________ __________________
Legal
Advisor ___________________ ___________________
91
Salvage
Company ___________________ _________________
Animal Rescue
Service ___________________ _________________
Contra Costa
Animal Service ________________ _________________
Computer
Service _________________ ________________
Building
Contractor _________________ ________________
Electrical
General _________________ __________________
Heating or Air
Conditioning ________________ __________________
Locksmith _________________ __________________
Other _________________ __________________
_________________ __________________
_________________ __________________
92
On-Site Emergency Equipment (with location)
Labeled floor plans attached to document.
Item Location(s)
Keys
___________________________________________________
Main Utilities:
Electrical cut off
____________________________________________
Main water shut off
____________________________________________
Main gas shut off
____________________________________________
Sprinkler system
____________________________________________
Heating/ cooling system
____________________________________________
Fire extinguishers
Type A
____________________________________________
Type B
____________________________________________
Type C
____________________________________________
Fire Alarm boxes
____________________________________________
93
Smoke/ Heat Detectors
____________________________________________
Portable radios/ cellular phones
____________________________________________
Flashlight(s)
____________________________________________
Camera with film
____________________________________________
Battery operated radio
____________________________________________
Tool kit (crowbar, hammer, etc)
____________________________________________
Cleaning supplies
____________________________________________
Protective equipment
____________________________________________
Emergency Supplies (in house)
First aid kit
____________________________________________
94
Daily Upkeep Checklist
Yes No, reason
Keys are secure and accounted for ____ ______________
Vaults and safes are secure ____ _______________
Doors are shut and locked if
necessary ____ _______________
Evidence of tampering with locks
or major utilities or supplies ____ _______________
Unauthorized person in building ____ _______________
Communication equipment is
in good working order ____ ______________
Lights, including emergency lights,
are in good working order ____ _______________
Alarms are in good working order ____ _______________
Off-hours activity ____ _______________
Unusual smells or sounds ____ _______________
95
Weekly Upkeep List
Yes No, reason
Emergency numbers are checked
for accuracy and posted ____ ______________
Fire extinguishers are updated
and operable ____ _______________
Smoke and/or heat detectors are
in good operating condition ____ _______________
Fire alarms are operable ____ _______________
External and internal detection
devices or alarms are in good
working order ____ _______________
Back up systems tested
Lights ____ _______________
Alarms ____ _______________
Flashlights tested and operable ____ _______________
Portable radios tested and operable ____ ______________
96
Other Emergency Issues
Date of last Fire Drill: ___________________
Next schedule date:_______________
Frequency:______________________
Required? Y / N
Date of last Fire Department
inspection:_______________________
Frequency:______________ Required? Y / N
Next date:____________
Date of last Escaped Animal
Drill:________________________
Frequency:___________ Required? Y / N
Next date:____________
Date of last off-site records
update:______________________
Frequency:___________ Required? Y / N
Next date:____________
97
Salvage Priorities
Live Collection:
Non-releasable animals
All other animals
Animal Hospital:
Rare and endangered
Predators
Baby animals
All other animals (in no particular
order)
Non-Live Collection:
Rare and endangered specimens/ objects
Only example in collection specimens/
Objects
All other objects/ specimens
98
Example
Emergency Instruction Sheets
for
Animal Emergency
and
Staff Emergency Procedures
99
Medical Emergencies: Staff If a staff member, docent, or a volunteer is ill or injured:
1. Notify security at the museum or the front desk
IMMEDIATELY.
2. Security or front desk staff will send a trained member of
staff with a first aid kit. Trained personnel will render the
minimum first aid necessary, and decide what additional
treatment is required (call Fire Department, paramedics,
ambulance, etc.)
3. Unless it is a life-threatening situation, do not attempt to
render first aid yourself before trained member of staff
arrives.
4. Do not attempt to move a person who has fallen and who
appears to be in pain.
5. Avoid unnecessary conversation with, or about, the ill or
injured person. You might add to the person’s distress or
fears, increasing the risk of medical shock. Limit
communication to quiet reassurances.
6. After the person has been taken care of and the incident is
over, remain available to help the investigating staff member
with pertinent information for a medical report or, if
applicable, a Worker’s Compensation report.
7. Contact security or the front desk for any questions.
Medical Emergencies: Staff
100
Medical Emergencies: Visitor When an employee, visitor or volunteer observes a visitor who
appears to be ill or injured:
1. Notify security at the museum or the front desk IMMEDIATELY.
2. Security or the front desk staff will send a trained member of staff
with a first aid kit. Trained personnel will render the minimum
first aid necessary, and decide what additional treatment is
required (call Fire Department, paramedics, ambulance, etc)
3. Unless it is a life-threatening situation, do not attempt to render
first aid yourself before trained member of staff arrives.
4. Do not attempt to move a visitor who has fallen and who appears
to be in pain.
5. Avoid unnecessary conversation with or about the ill or injured
visitor or members of her/his party. You might add to the
person’s distress or fears, increasing the risk of medical shock.
Limit your communication to quiet reassurances.
6. Do not discuss the possible cause of an accident or any conditions
that may have contributed to the cause.
7. Under no circumstances should an employee or volunteer discuss
any insurance information with members of the public.
8. After the person has been taken care of and the incident is over
remain available to help the investigating Staff Supervisor.
Medical Emergencies: Visitor
101
EXPLOSION 1. Remain calm.
2. Be prepared for possible further explosions.
3. Crawl under a desk or table.
4. Stay away from windows, mirrors, overhead fixtures, filing
cabinets, bookcases and electrical equipment.
5. Be guided by security of the museum or the front desk staff.
If evacuation is ordered, go to a designated area (see map,
last page of this booklet).
6. Do not move seriously injured persons unless they are in
obvious, immediate danger (of fire, building collapse, etc.)
7. Open doors carefully. Watch for falling objects.
8. Do not use elevators.
9. Do not use matches or lighters.
10. Avoid using the telephone.
11. Do not spread rumors.
Explosion
102
FLOODING AND WATER DAMAGE
Serious water damage can occur from many sources: burst pipes,
clogged drains, broken skylights or windows, or construction
oversights.
If a water leak occurs:
1. Remain calm.
2. Notify security at the museum or front desk staff
IMMEDIATELY. Tell staff member exact location and
severity of leak. Indicate whether any part of the collection,
living or not, is involved or is in imminent danger. Security
or front desk staff will notify appropriate people.
3. Notify a supervisor of the extent and location of the leak, if
possible.
4. If there are electrical appliances or outlets near the leak, use
extreme caution. It there is any possible danger, evacuate
the area.
5. If you know the source of the water and are confident in
your ability to stop it (unclog the drain, turn off the water,
etc), do so cautiously.
6. Be prepared to help as directed in protecting or assisting
with collection items that are in jeopardy. Take only those
steps needed to avoid or reduce immediate damage.
Flooding and Water Damage
103
CHEMICAL SPILL AND FIRE If a chemical spill occurs:
1. If toxic chemicals come in contact with your skin, immediately
flush the affected area with clear water. Use a chemical shower if
available.
2. Notify security at the museum or the front desk IMMEDIATELY
3. Notify your supervisor of the extent and location of the spill
4. If there is any possible danger, evacuate your area.
If a chemical fire occurs:
1. Remain calm.
2. Notify security at the museum or the front desk IMMEDIATELY
3. Do not call the Fire Department yourself.
4. If the fire is small, attempt to put it out with a fire extinguisher.
Do not jeopardize your personal safety.
5. Never allow a fire to come between you and an exit.
6. Notify your supervisor of the location and extent of the fire.
7. Evacuate your area if you are unable to put out the fire. Close
doors and windows behind you to contain the fire. Go to a
designated area (see map, last page booklet).
8. Do not break windows. Oxygen feeds a fire.
9. Do not attempt to save possessions at the risk of personal injury.
10. Do not return to the emergency area until instructed to do so by
the Director of Operations.
All chemical spills and fire, no matter how small, must be reported to
security at the museum, the front desk and to the Director of Operations.
Chemical Spill and Fire
104
PHONE THREAT, MAIL THREAT AND SUSPICIOUS OBJECT It is possible, although unlikely, that any staff member might receive a threatening telephone
call or receive a threatening letter or suspicious parcel in the mail or discovers a suspicious
object somewhere on the premises.
If you receive a telephone threat:
1. Remain calm.
2. Listen carefully. Be polite and show interest. Try to keep the caller talking, so that
you can gather as much information as possible.
3. Notify security at the museum or the front desk IMMEDIATELY. If possible signal a
colleague to phone for you; or call as soon as the caller hangs up.
4. Do not call the police yourself. The Director of Operations will notify appropriate
law enforcement and public safety agencies.
5. Promptly complete a telephone threat report or an incident report, writing down as
many details as you can remember. This information will be needed by police
interviewers and museum staff.
6. Do not discuss the threat with other staff.
7. Be guided by the Director of Operations. If an evacuation is ordered, go to a
designated area (see map, last page of this booklet).
If you receive a written threat or a suspicious parcel or if you find a suspicious object anywhere
on the premises:
1. Keep anyone from handling it or going near it.
2. Notify security at the museum or the front desk IMMEDIATELY.
3. Do not call the police yourself. The Director of Operations will notify the
appropriate law enforcement and public safety agencies.
4. Promptly write down everything you can remember about receiving the letter or
parcel or about how the object was found. This information will be needed by the
police interviewers and the Director of Operations.
5. Remain calm. Do not discuss the threat with other staff members.
6. Be guided by the Director of Operations. If an evacuation is ordered, go to a
designated area (see map, last page of this booklet).
Phone Threat, Mail Threat and Suspicious Object
105
POWER OUTAGE If a power outage occurs:
1. Remain calm.
2. Provide assistance to visitors and staff in your immediate
area.
3. Notify security for the museum or the front desk
IMMEDIATELY.
4. Specified personnel are to move through all public areas
with flashlights, escorting visitors to safety.
5. If you are in an unlighted area, proceed cautiously to an area
with flashlights or emergency lights.
6. If you are in an elevator, stay calm. Use the intercom or the
emergency button to notify Museum staff.
7. Stand by for instructions from the Operations Director. If
instructed to evacuate, go to the designated area, see map
last page.
Power Outage
106
EARTHQUAKE Even in a severe earthquake, there is much you can do to prevent or minimize
injuries, or damage to collection and Museum property.
DURING AN EARTHQUAKE
If you are inside:
1. Stay inside
2. Watch for falling objects
3. Crawl under a table or desk, or stand in a doorway
4. Stay away from windows, mirrors, overhead fixtures, filing cabinets,
bookcases and electrical equipment
If you are outside:
1. Move to an open area away from buildings, trees, and power lines
2. If forced to stand near a building, watch for falling objects
If you are in an automobile:
1. Stop your vehicle in the nearest open area. Avoid bridges and overhead
wires
2. Stay in the vehicle until the shaking stops
AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE
1. Remain calm
2. Be prepared for aftershocks
3. Be guided by the Operations Director and the front desk staff. If an
evacuation is ordered, go to a designated area, see map, last page
4. Do not move seriously injured persons unless they are in obvious,
immediate danger (of fire, building collapse, animal attack, etc.)
5. Open all doors carefully. Watch for falling objects
6. Do not use elevators
7. Do not use matches or lighters
8. Avoid using telephones
9. Do not spread rumors
Earthquake
107
FIRE If a fire occurs in your area:
1. Remain calm
2. Notify security at the museum or the front desk IMMEDIATELY
3. Do not call the Fire Department yourself
4. If the fire is small, attempt to put if out with a fire extinguisher
5. Never allow a fire to come between you and the exit
6. Disconnect electrical equipment that is on fire if it is safe to do so.
(Pull the plug or throw the circuit breaker.)
7. Notify security at the museum, the Operations Director and the
front desk as to the location and the extent of the fire
8. Evacuate your area if you are unable to put out the fire. Close
doors behind you to confine the fire. Go to a designated area (see
map at the back).
9. Do not break windows. Oxygen feeds fire.
10. Do not open hot doors. Before opening any door, touch it near the
top. If the door is hot or if smoke is visible do not open the door.
11. Do not use elevators.
12. Do not attempt to save possessions at the risk of personal injury
13. Do not return to the emergency area until instructed to do so by
the Operations Director
All fires, no matter how small, must be reported to security at the
museum and the Operations Director.
Fire
108
EMPLOYEE EVACUATION PROCEDURE
In advance, each staff person, docent and volunteer should:
1. Understand this evacuation plan
2. Recognize the sound of the evacuation alarm
3. Know at least two ways out of the building from your regular
workspace
When you hear the evacuation alarm or are told to evacuate the building:
1. Remain calm
2. Immediately shut down all hazardous operations
3. Leave quickly
4. The highest ranking person who is physically present in each
department is responsible for insuring that all members of her/his
department evacuate the area. In addition, every employee
should check that all others in that workspace are leaving as
instructed.
5. As you exit quickly check nearby restrooms, closets, kitchen, etc
6. Accompany and help handicapped persons who appears to need
calm direction or assistance
7. Take with you: car keys, identification, etc. Do not attempt to take
large or heavy objects
8. Shut all doors behind you as you go, closed doors can slow the
spread of fire, smoke and water
9. Proceed as quickly as possible but in an orderly manner
10. Move away from the building once outside of it
11. Go to the staff assembly area, see map last page
12. All staff, volunteers and docents must be accounted for promptly.
When instructed to leave the property:
1. If you have a rideshare contact partners immediately.
2. Drive carefully, extra caution is needed when you are distracted
by an emergency situation
3. Expect traffic back-ups. Be patient and prepared to wait your turn
4. Follow directions from the Operations Director. If normal exists
are blocked you will be directed to an alternate route.
Employee Evacuation Procedure
109
Related Links Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters
This is the site of a non-profit organization dedicated to preparing for emergencies. They focus on the fun aspect of emergency preparedness and offer information, training and seminars.
FEMA
A link to the Federal government’s emergency management agency. Offers additional links to emergency training information and other resources.
American Veterinary Association
National website for veterinarians that has information related to emergency planning and preparedness. Other information includes current news, potential animal reactions to disaster and other resources.
American Association of Museums
The National museum website has links to other pages, current news and information. Also lists regulations for museums and accreditation.
American Zoological and Aquarium Association
Website of the AZA with resources, information and links to other useful websites.
A list of links to other websites and outside resources that have valuable information associated with emergency planning, animal emergency preparedness and loss mitigation during recovery.
110
Appendix A: Interview Questions 1. Does your institution have an emergency plan or set of procedures in
place? 2. What types of emergencies does your plan address? 3. Can you give me a short summary of your current plan or procedures? 4. Regarding your collection, is there a priority hierarchy for evacuation
or checking on animals during an emergency? 5. If there is a hierarchy, do you know how it was decided upon? 6. Are the procedures for your plan “user friendly”, clear and concise? 7. How does your emergency plan address the need or safety of the
animals of the collection? 8. Do you feel that you have formed a close bond with the animals you
care for and that other members of your staff have as well? 9. Are you concerned that staff may act in a manner different from
procedure during an actual emergency situation? 10. What kind of safeguards do you have in place for human reaction
contrary to procedure? 11. Do you personally disagree with any of the regulations, procedure of
the emergency plan of your institution, and why?
111
12. What do you think is a better solution? 13. Do you feel that the animals in your collection and your institution
have a sufficient level of legal and ethical protections from the local, state and federal governments?
14. Should the federal government withhold emergency funding to
organizations without planning? 15. Should the government provide funds or other assistance to non-profit
organizations for emergency planning? For the purpose of this interview let us define “higher sentient intelligence” as the ability to use tools, perform complex behaviors, establish communication, form family ties and bonds and understand suffering. 16. Do you believe in the higher sentient intelligence of animals? If so,
any specific animals and should these animals receive differing treatment?
17. Would you risk your own personal safety to save or protect an animal
in your care? Why or why not? 18. In the wake of Hurricane’s Andrew, Rita and Katrina as well as the
Oakland Hills firestorm do you think emergency evacuation for animals along with people is a good idea? Why or why not?
19. Given a wildfire emergency situation and the time, 2 – 3 days, to plan
would you choose to evacuate the animals in your institution’s collection, or would they be safer in their present location? Explain if necessary the reasoning behind decision.