If an emergency or disaster were to happen, the Minnesota Zoo has plans in place to ensure its more than 2,000 animals, staff, and visitors remain safe.
Still, there's always more to learn, says Michelle Willette, a Minnesota Zoo veterinarian. That's why she was one of 19 students who enrolled in the class Animal Care Planning in Emergencies, Disasters, and Evacuations.
"There are a lot of potential emergency situations—from weather to infectious diseases to animal escapes and bites," Willette says. "In the class I learned to put emergency planning into a more concrete framework, and I got some great resources."
It's just the outcome that instructor Heather Case wanted.
"I wanted students to understand that animal safety is a very complex issue, and there are a lot of stakeholders," she says. "It takes a lot of collaboration to plan for animal care in emergencies."
Case is currently serving a one-year Congressional Science Fellowship sponsored by the American Veterinary Medical Association in the office of Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.). In class, Case drew on her own experience working with animals in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The students practiced planning by using Case's reallife scenarios.
Betsy Gilkerson says she took the class to find ways to help the residents and animals in her county. As an educator for the University of Minnesota Extension in Hennepin County, Gilkerson has helped horse owners create disaster plans. She says the information she learned in class will augment those plans.
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