TLAER - Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue - www.tlaer.org

It is not a secret anymore; there are many wonderful horse activities going on daily in the lower Hudson Valley. Animals traveling in an assortment of equine trailers, vans and tractor trailers are on Routes 17, 84 and 87, as well as a common sight on county and locally maintained by-ways. With the flutter of activity also comes the need for providing assistance to horses and their owners in the event of an emergency. Currently, volunteer fire protection units, local and state police and EMS crews are able to respond to and provide medical aid to the owner or trainer, but handling of large animals and triage systems are underdeveloped in our region.

When that call does come in, responders are going to have to be cautious dealing with large animals such as alpaca, horses, cows and deer. As with all accident or incident victims, if animals could remove themselves from situations in which they were threatened, they will. Unfortunately, animals which become trapped or injured in a threatening condition will rely on their “flight or fight” response. Emergency responders who are not familiar with animal behavior may find themselves in harms way simply because they are not trained to act or react to the unpredictability of an animal’s response to fleeing what has entrapped or caused injury to them. With out proper training and responding veterinary personnel, the rescuer may then become a casualty of human miscalculation and inexperience or further the injury to the wounded animal.

The TLAER certification course teaches emergency responders, large animal vets, and large animal owners alike, what to do in case of an emergency. This certification course has been held twice at Schunnemunk Shadow Stables. The most recent course was in July of 2008, where 30 auditors and participants including the mounted police from Rockland County, animal control officers from Newburgh and New Windsor, ASPCA Disaster Relief from NYC, and local equine veterinarians (including our vet Pine Bush Equine) joined together to learn invaluable techniques for an array of emergencies dealing with large animals. The course was well received by the participants. Below are some pictures from the course in July.

“Training of this nature is not necessarily about saving the animal involved, it is about human safety and the lives of rescuers and animal handlers present at the scene of the accident or incident.” TLAER instructor Dr. Tomas Gimenez, DVM reminds course participants as he introduced the training.