Overview
Your county's County Animal Response Team, or CART, needs volunteers like you to be trained and ready to respond if a disaster occurs! The animals in your county need people who are willing to learn, train, and exercise so that in the event of a disaster, a professional team of individuals can help to keep them safe.
As a CART volunteer, you will get a chance to do all kinds of work to help animals in need - from going into the field during a disaster, to assisting in the office to coordinate an emergency response, to managing social media accounts, recruiting other volunteers, and more.
CART volunteers are crucial team members who support and protect vulnerable animals during emergencies and disasters. Learn how to become a volunteer!
Get Qualified
Anyone can get qualified to be a CART volunteer and start helping animals. There is no age or physical requirement.
To become qualified, all you need to do is complete four online training courses* and sign the Code of Conduct. The training courses are:
- ESART Orientation (PDF)
- ESART Orientation Self-Exam and Certificate (PDF)
- ICS-100: Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS)
- IS-700: National Incident Management System (NIMS), an Introduction
- IS-5.A: An Introduction to Hazardous Materials
*Please note that individual counties may require additional training.
Each course takes between 30 minute and 1 hour to complete. They are all free, online, and don't require any previous experience. You only need to take each course once.
After you have completed the courses, show your completion certificates to your county's CART, and check to see if they require you to complete any additional training.
Once you've completed the CART required training courses, sign the Code of Conduct below and give it to your CART.
Get Started
Contact your county's CART to start volunteering and helping animals.
If your county does not yet have a CART, reach out to your county's emergency management office to find out how you will be able to help animals in your area.