Animal Evac New Zealand is proud to have partnered with World Animal Protection to provide their online PrepVet course.
PrepVet is an online course aimed at veterinary students and professionals, as well as anyone with an interest in animals in disasters to be introduced to a wide range of issues confronting animals affected or working in disasters.
The number of disasters has increased significantly in recent years. This has resulted in loss of human and animal life and significant economic, social and environmental impact. Disasters are caused when hazard systems and human-animal systems interact with negative impacts. When these factors are combined with other risks that have been building or are unresolved in risk-prone areas, there is a dramatic increase in the number of disasters. Although many hazards are unavoidable, the vulnerability of communities can be reduced.
The objective of the PrepVet course is risk management and reduction, including understanding the factors that lead to emergencies and being prepared for them, to minimise animal losses.
Many people in risk-prone areas rely on animals for their livelihoods and survival. Therefore, protection of animals in disasters is a key focus of the strategies in this course. Protecting animals can be a means of guaranteeing the social, economic, emotional, food and environmental security of people.
PrepVet is used under license from World Animal Protection and was configured on Animal Evac New Zealand website’s LearnDash e-learning platform thanks to funding from the 2021 Global Animal Disaster Management Conference (GADMC).
The PrepVet Certificate requires completion of all of the following courses.
Disaster risk management: Basic concepts and terminology
Presents the information needed to promote the analysis and planning of disaster risk reduction
Disaster risk reduction analysis and plans
Offers the necessary tools to analyse and prioritise risks, evaluate available resources, design strategies to address them, and implement a solution.
Role of the veterinarian in disasters
Reviews the role of the veterinarian in risk management, emphasising the promotion of proper management of the animals, their environment and resources, as well as risk mitigation strategies at the farm and clinic levels.
Climate change adaptation
Identifies indicators of climate change, how it affects communities and their animals, and the adaptation actions that must be implemented to counteract its negative effects.
Safety in emergencies Outlines the physical and emotional dangers to which an individual who is actively involved in emergency operations is exposed, as well as the measures that must be taken to avoid them.
Triage Introduces triage as a tool for prioritising individuals affected by an adverse event, to streamline patient flow and achieve more effective veterinary assistance during a disaster.
Disaster Animal Needs Assessment Introduces triage as a tool for prioritising individuals affected by an adverse event, to streamline patient flow and achieve more effective veterinary assistance during a disaster.
Incident command system
Introduces the incident command system as a common organisational structure that manages the resources allocated to effectively achieve the objectives relevant to an event.
Animal evacuation process
Outlines the different actions that specialized rescue teams carry out to evacuate animals during a disaster, following basic animal welfare regulations.
Companion animals
Illustrates the role of the veterinarian in the training of animal owners to include their pets in a family emergency plan.
Livestock and ‘LEGS’ Introduces a set of international guidelines for the design, implementation and evaluation of livestock interventions to assist people affected by a disaster.
Search and Rescue (SAR) animals: welfare and care Introduces the role of search and rescue animals, such as disaster rescue dogs who assist with locating trapped humans. The also covers basic veterinary care and welfare considerations for these animals.
Animal welfare Introduces animal welfare as an interdisciplinary, multifaceted and complex science, based on animal sentience and therefore seeks its physical and mental well-being.
Course Instructions
The cost of the PrepVet Certificate course is NZ$75. The course is free to all Animal Evac volunteers.
It typically takes 25 hours of study to complete all 13 lessons and the final examination, and to be awarded the PrepVet Certificate (PDF).
How to start this course
Step 1:Register (new users) or login (existing users). All new users require manual approval.
