What is Technical Rescue?
Technical rescue occurs when an emergency requires specialized equipment and training beyond what is typically required for standard emergency response. These special operations for animals may include overturned livestock trailers, high angle lifts of animals trapped below grade (such as sinkholes or ravines), confined spaces and/or hazardous materials (such as septic tanks), or flood and swiftwater following hurricanes and other storms.
UF VETS ATR Team Capabilities
The UF VETS ATR team is capable of assisting local veterinarians, fire/USAR teams, and law enforcement to manage these incidents with human safety and animal welfare at the forefront of the mission. Our response trailer is equipped with a wide variety of ropes, webbing, slings, rigging equipment, rescue glides, portable high point anchor systems, specialized mud rescue equipment and more.
Skilled team members are trained in a variety of technical rescue disciplines including animal technical rescue, human rope rescue, confined space rescue, and flood and swiftwater rescue. By cross training with other national leaders and animal technical rescue as well as in human rescue disciplines, we are better prepared to apply a variety of techniques and tools to the unique situations we encounter and better prepare participants in our training program for success in their own operations. Our team members are also required to complete Incident Command System training in order to work most effectively with municipal, county, state, and federal resources.
Help Support Responses
UF VETS does not charge for animal technical rescue responses. Our team members volunteer their time to these responses.
We depend on generous donations to support the costs of transportation for our rescue rig, equipment use (including cleaning, maintenance, repair, and replacement), and ongoing training to ensure that our team is prepared to provide safe and effective responses.
