Information from the Texas Animal Health Commission:

AFTER THE STORM

Listen to local officials for information and special instructions.

Animal Shelters and Holding Facilities

• If you are seeking a large or small animal shelter/holding facility in your area or in your evacuation area call 2-1-1 or contact the emergency management department in the area you are seeking shelter.
• If you are interested in offering animal shelter, contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent.

Lost or Found Livestock

• If you find stray livestock, call the local sheriff’s department.
• If you find stray companion animals (dogs, cats, etc.), call your local animal control.

Note: If livestock have strayed onto your property, you must report them to the sheriff’s office in the county you are located in within five days of discovery to be eligible for reasonable payment for maintenance of or damages caused by the estray livestock. For more information regarding Texas’ estray laws visit Texas Agriculture Code, Chapter 142.

Volunteers

The State of Texas is asking volunteers to not self-deploy. Contact your local long-term recovery groups, or the National and Texas VOAD websites to register to volunteer with community organizations working in the field.

The Texas A&M VET is responding to Hurricane Laura. If you are interested in responding with the VET, please complete this form. The VET team will be in touch with you regarding our current and anticipated staffing needs.

Animal Disposal

As the Hurricane Laura response efforts transition to recovery efforts, Texans may face the challenge of animal disposal. Please use the following resources to guide you during this recovery phase.

• Animal Carcasses in Public Areas (including residential): Animal carcasses found in public areas or rights-of-way should be reported to the local county Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to be handled through the jurisdiction’s debris management plan. You can find your county’s EOC information at http://www.tdms.org/county.aspx or on your county’s website.
• Carcasses on private property, non-residential areas: Animal owners and operators are responsible for the proper disposal of their animals. To learn about common methods of non-diseased animal carcass disposal review the Disaster-Related Carcass Disposal Guide or visit the Texas Commission Environmental Quality website.
• The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) can provide additional technical assistance and may be able to help with debris removal from waterways. News Release: Assistance Available for Flood Damaged Ag Land through NRCS. For more information visit www.nrcs.usda.gov.
• If you find a stray animal carcass on your property, contact your county EOC.

Livestock Indemnity and Assistance

Visit the USDA Disaster Resource Center for information about specific disasters and emergencies and to connect with state and local help.

The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers many safety-net programs to help producers recover from eligible losses, which may include the Livestock Indemnity Program, the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program, Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) and the Tree Assistance Program. The FSA Emergency Conservation Program provides funding and technical assistance for farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters. Producers located in counties that received a primary or contiguous disaster designation are eligible for low-interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses.

USDA encourages farmers and ranchers to contact their local FSA office to learn what documents can help the local office expedite assistance, such as farm records, receipts and pictures of damages or losses.

Important Links

• Texas Hurricane Center
• Floods and your livestock fact sheet and checklist from Prep4AgThreats
• FEMA Flood Map Service Center
• All Disaster Recovery Resources on Texas EDEN
• After a Disaster – Recovery Guide & eBook
• Managing debris from a declared disaster
• Managing Fire Ants After a Flood
• Managing Mosquitoes After a Flood
• Snakes & Flooding

Horse Owners: Gov. Greg Abbott has temporarily suspended portions of the TAHC rules that require negative equine infectious anemia (EIA or Coggins) test results in the last 12 months to board, stable or pasture equine at congregation points. The rules were suspended to facilitate the evacuation of equine and equine owners in advance of Hurricane Laura making landfall.

This suspension is in effect until terminated by the office of the governor or until the 90th day following the suspension. The Texas state veterinarian suggests facility and equine owners can mitigate the risk of disease spread by regularly treating horses with fly repellent and isolating equine without current EIA tests, to the extent possible, from other horses.