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If you’re good with animals and good in an emergency, the Wisconsin Animal Response Corps needs you. The Wisconsin Animal Response Corps, or WARC, is a volunteer group open to veterinarians, veterinary technicians and assistants, farmers, animal caregivers, and anyone else who is skilled in handling animals in stressful situations -- both livestock and companion animals. It will work under the auspices of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

The department will host a series of meetings around the state in September and October to explain more about WARC and offer the chance to sign on.

“Some people might remember the Wisconsin Veterinary Corps that we launched a few years ago,” said veterinarian Dr. Darlene Konkle, the department’s veterinary emergency program coordinator. “Now we want to reactivate the corps and open the membership to a bigger group. We’re changing the name to reflect that, and we’re hoping to reinvigorate it with more training and more involvement.”

The meetings will run 6-9 p.m. The schedule is:

Rice Lake -- Monday, Sept. 22, Turtleback Conference Center, West Allen Road

Wausau -- Tuesday, Sept. 23, Stoney Creek Inn & Conference Center, 1100 Imperial Ave.

Tomah -- Wednesday, Sept. 24, Cranberry Country Lodge, 319 Wittig Rd. (on Hwy. 21 just off I-94)

Waukesha -- Monday, Oct. 6, UW-Waukesha, 1500 N. University Drive, The Commons, Room C101 (park in Lot 3 or 4)

Madison -- Tuesday, Oct. 7, State Agriculture Building (DATCP), 2811 Agriculture Drive, Board Room

Kimberly -- Wednesday, Oct. 8, Liberty Hall Banquet & Conference Center, 800 Eisenhower Drive

Preregistration is requested. To register, call (608) 224-4877 or e-mailing margaret.proost@wisconsin.gov.

ARC will be an “all-hazards” team, but will focus on animal disease outbreaks initially. Eventually, it will also work into helping out with animals in disasters such as tornadoes, floods, and even accidents that result in evacuations such as the Weyauwega train derailment in 1996.

“Animal disease outbreaks are very labor-intensive, because you have to cover so much territory and deal with testing hundreds or even thousands of animals very quickly to try to control the spread of the disease. With highly contagious diseases like foot-and-mouth, the people who have been on infected premises have to be taken off duty for some time to avoid the risk of infecting animals themselves, which means we would need even more work crews,” Konkle said.

Veterinarians and veterinary technicians who were previously members of the Wisconsin Veterinary Corps are welcome to attend or to contact Konkle at (608) 224-4902 or darlene.konkle@wisconsin.gov to indicate their continued interest.

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