Disaster preparedness is essential for protecting animal health and welfare during emergencies. This page provides resource links to help communities and emergency management planners adopt and practice the Whole Community approach. The Whole Community approach to emergency management engages business, government, and nonprofit sectors to integrate the needs, capabilities, and resources of the community. The goal of the collaboration is to build and strengthen partnerships, empower local action, highlight community work through shared best practices and resources. Although animal owners are ultimately responsible for their animals, government and volunteer organizations may need to support animal owners based on the scale of the disaster. We are all in this together to ensure California’s readiness and resilience.
- Cal OES Administrative and Mutual Aid Regions Map
- California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Ready Campaign
- FEMA‘s Search Your Location: To search for local emergency management information related to latest news releases, fact sheets and other communications around disasters and emergencies.
- Click to find the county in which you reside to get emergency and disaster preparedness information for your family and household pet and livestock.
- Each County in California has an emergency alerting program that you can sign up for to receive alerts if an emergency situation were to arise in your county. If you work in one county, but you live in another, you can sign up for both.
- Download the CAL FIRE Ready for Wildfire App to create a personalized wildfire readiness plan and learn active incident information and get quick and timely wildfire updates.
- University of California, Davis - Western Institute for Food Safety and Security (WIFSS)
- FEMA Prepare Your Pets for Disasters
- CAL FIRE Wildland Fire Safety for Livestock and Pets
- American Society for the Prevention and Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
- American Red Cross Pet Disaster Preparedness
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Pet Safety in Emergencies
- American Veterinary Medical Association Pets and Disasters
- American Veterinary Medical Association Large Animals and Livestock in Disasters
- American Association of Equine Practitioners Disaster Planning
- 2023 NASAAEP Disaster Veterinary Medical Response Best Practices: This paper is specifically related to veterinary medical response teams such as Veterinary Medical Reserve Corps, California Veterinary Emergency Team, etc. This paper can also be useful for federal; state, tribal, territory (STT); and local emergency management personnel to better understand how a veterinary medical response team functions and some of its core competencies and may serve as a guide to ordering these veterinary teams during an incident.
- FEMA Incident Command System (ICS) and National Incident Management System (NIMS) Courses
- Governor’s Office of Emergency Services California State Training Institute (CSTI) State Training Bulletin
- American Red Cross Dog & Cat First Aid
- Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Disaster Response Training – Disaster Animal Response Team (DART)
- University of California, Davis International Animal Welfare Training Initiative provides instruction and training of Veterinary professionals which includes readiness training of deployable members of the UC Davis Veterinary Response Team (VERT).
Local/State Resources
USDA Area Offices
California Secure Food Supply
List of Reportable Diseases
Cal OES Local Preparedness Plans
Animal Shelter Information
Fairgrounds MOU Example
Pets on Public Transport
Local Government Emergency Management and Non-governmental Organization MOU sample
Local Government Emergency Management and Non-governmental Organization MOU/MOA sample
Local Government Emergency Animal Shelter Assessment Form
Animal Owner Resources
Pet Disaster Evacuation Plan
Pet Disaster Evacuation Kit
Pets and Mental Health
Pets and Mental Health (Spanish)
CARES Fact Sheet: Resources Available to Livestock Producers
Disaster Preparedness for Horse Owners
Disaster Preparedness for Livestock Owners
Flooding & Equine Owners
Flooding & Livestock Owners
Equine Disaster Preparedness
Flood Evacuation Checklist for a Dairy
California Dairies: Coping with Flooding and Evacuation
Farm Emergency Action Plan Guide
Contact Us
CDFA Animal Health and Food Safety Services,
Animal Health Branch
Sacramento, California 95814
Phone: 916-900-5002
Fax: 916-900-5333
Email: CDFA.AHB_Cares_Program@cdfa.ca.gov
Our offices are open 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time.