Which type of team assists in local, state, and federal responses by providing help with activities such as animal decontamination, evacuation and transport, animal search and rescue, disaster veterinary care, and emergency animal sheltering?

• A. State Animal Response Teams (SART)
• B. National Veterinary Response Teams (NVRT)
• C. Non-governmental Response Teams
• D. County or Community Animal Response Teams (CART)

Answer: (C)

Non-governmental response teams are the partners that augment disaster animal response across local, state, and federal levels, bringing a broad set of capabilities to the table. They’re formed outside government and can rapidly mobilize to support authorities, offering specialized services such as animal decontamination, evacuation and transport, animal search and rescue, disaster veterinary care, and emergency animal sheltering. Because they operate with external resources and volunteers, they can fill gaps when local or state agencies are stretched, while coordinating with official responses through established incident management and mutual-aid processes. This cross-level collaboration is what makes non-governmental teams the best fit for providing the range of activities described and aiding responses at multiple jurisdictional levels.