Ulster County Animal Response Team

The Ulster County Animal Response Team (UCART) formed in Spring of 2014 as part of Ulster County Emergency Management. We are activated by the County in the event of a declared emergency, to assist in County and/or American Red Cross sheltering operations for families — including their pets — needing temporary shelter. The goal: Keep the entire family together.

UCART also supports families year round with their own emergency plans for all family members, including companion animals.

Volunteer

UCART needs volunteers like you to be trained and ready to respond if a disaster occurs! The animals in your county need people who are willing to learn, train, and exercise so that in the event of a disaster, a professional team of individuals can help to keep them safe.

As a CART volunteer, you will get a chance to do all kinds of work to help animals in need – from going into the field during a disaster, to assisting in the office to coordinate an emergency response, to managing social media accounts, recruiting other volunteers, and more.

CART volunteers are crucial team members who support and protect vulnerable animals during emergencies and disasters. Learn how to become a volunteer!

Get Qualified

Anyone can get qualified to be a CART volunteer and start helping animals. There is no age or physical requirement.

To become qualified, all you need to do is complete four online training courses* and sign the Code of Conduct. The training courses are:

• ESART Orientation (PDF)
• ESART Orientation Self-Exam and Certificate (PDF)
• ICS-100: Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS)
• IS-700: National Incident Management System (NIMS), an Introduction
• IS-5.A: An Introduction to Hazardous Materials

*Please note that individual counties may require additional training.

Each course takes between 30 minute and 1 hour to complete. They are all free, online, and don’t require any previous experience. You only need to take each course once.

After you have completed the courses, show your completion certificates to your county’s CART, and check to see if they require you to complete any additional training.

More info:
https://www.ucart.org/
https://alert.ny.gov/become-county-animal-response-volunteer

Volunteer Opportunities