Animal Decontamination Protocols
Regular procedures for human decontamination are often unsuitable when animals are involved.
The wide range of animals that may be encountered at an emergency dictate that where possible, professionals responsible for keeping animals should include the potential requirement for decontamination in their emergency planning.
However, for situations ranging from fire and flood, to catastrophic CBRN type events, emergency services should consider the impact of animals at the scene and whether capacity or expertise exists to decontaminate animals safely should that be the chosen course of action.
BARTA working groups are considering welfare, veterinary and safety aspects of providing decontamination options for animals and are keen to hear from anyone in the international community with experience or guidance for this type of incident.