Vol. 10, No. 11, November 2014 |
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SART – Turning Visions into Action
Registration is Open: The theme for the 4th Florida SART Planning Meeting is SART – Turning Visions into Action. Conference speakers, seminars and opportunities to get-to-know other responders and response agencies have been established and registration is open online at http://www.cvent.com/events/2015-sart-planning-meeting/event-summary-1526774928984f449cfffe546cc1cc77.aspx. (For conference related questions, or help with registration, contact CMC & Associates -(850) 224-7775 or jchapman@cmc-associates.com. Because up to 150 people are expected, it is recommended that you schedule attendance and book a room as soon as possible. The meeting will begin at 1:00 pm on Monday, January 12 and will conclude by noon on Wednesday.
Host Hotel: The host hotel is the Embassy Suites, Lake Buena Vista South, 4955 Kyngs Heath Road, Kissimmee, FL 34746. To make reservations, please contact the hotel at (407) 597-4000 and let them know you are with the “2015 SART Planning Meeting.” Alternatively, you may click here to book your hotel room online. The group rate for a standard room is $123 per night plus tax.The cut off date for the group room rate is May 5, 2014. |
Aptly Named Dog, "Dicey," Rescued from Dicey Situation
On Tuesday evening, George Fryar’s two dogs made a break from the family’s fenced backyard, but only one returned. The six and a half month old, fifty-five pound female Rottweiler puppies “did everything in tandem,” according to Fryar. He immediately began to search the woods and fields surrounding his home near County Road 349 in O’Brien.
Above: Josh and Jon digging. |
His search continued into Wednesday, October 15th with Fryar now investigating nearby wells and sinkholes. That afternoon, his calls to Dicey were answered with barks and whines from the bottom of a sinkhole in a nearby field. Distraught, Fryar contacted his veterinarian, Dr. Donald Wolfersteig, of Suwannee Oaks Animal Clinic in O’Brien. Quickly a team was assembled, made up of UF’s Veterinary Emergency Treatment Services (VETS) Animal Technical Rescue Team, Suwannee Fire Rescue, and Animal Control. The agencies pooled experience and resources to find a way to rescue Dicey from her predicament.
The hole was too narrow and too dangerous to safely lower a human rescuer. UF VETS team member, Joshua Fleming, and Suwannee Fire Rescue’s Jon Cummings, tied in to rope systems for their own safety, worked together for two hours, carefully shoveling soil and chipping away at limestone in attempts to widen the hole; a delicate job to prevent further collapse.
The dog was pulled to safety shortly after 8:00 PM on Wednesday evening, after lying at the bottom of the wet sinkhole for more than 24 hours. Veterinarian responder Dr. Cassandra Fleming (Archer Animal Hospital, Archer, Florida) assessed Dicey and found her to be in relative good health, in spite of the conditions of their meeting. “She’s very dehydrated and very hypothermic,” reported Dr. Fleming, but a full recovery was expected.
Fryar and his wife, Vaster, were overwhelmed to have their puppy returned safely to their arms. All involved hope that this is the last time that Dicey lives up to her name.
The UF VETS team can be dispatched to assist local first responders by contacting the Alachua County Communications Center (352) 955-1818. UF VETS is an all-volunteer, grant and donation funded team. It is trained in high angle, confined space, and swift water technical rescue. It is one of the few teams in the U.S. trained to this level, and capable of performing large and small animal rescue. Donations to support the UF VETS Team can be sent to the UF Foundation program code 013175 Veterinary Emergency Response: https://www.uff.ufl.edu/OnlineGiving/FundDetail.asp?FundCode=013175.
Brandi K. Phillips, Pre-Veterinary Advisor
Office for Students and Instruction, College of Veterinary Medicine, UF
"The World Without Us"
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, a book the editor just got around to reading worried him enough to recommend it highly, perhaps make it mandatory reading for all humans (as if!). The book is The World Without Us by journalist and science writer Alan Weisman. Written in 2007, Weisman suggests that the human footprint on earth has become devastating and he carefully delineates the issues in almost every environmental niche.
What would happen to the earth, Wiseman asks, if humans vanished – due perhaps to some nuclear catastrophe of our own making or an unstoppable virus. After all, our genetic code is only 3.9 percent different than that of a chimpanzee and the recent Ebola outbreak (not to downplay the misery of many thousand deaths in West Africa) has been – hopefully – a wake-up call. Wiseman wrote what Albert Einstein called a “thought experiment.” What would happen around the world if humans vanished? What would happen to Florida’s polluted and fragile reef system? To Florida’s endangered fresh water springs and endangered species? What would happen to exotic animals and plants flooding into the Sentinel State? What would happen to the millions of tons of nuclear and chemical waste?
Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us is a “thought experiment” that is well worth your time … and perhaps your follow-up action.