If you're an animal lover looking for an experience that's fun, interesting, empowering, rewarding and educational, spend a weekend training with your local emergency animal response team.

(Above: Volunteer Ashley Hall gets a visit from Lexus the rottie during a training session.)

I learned so much during "mock disaster" training with SUN CART in Lewisburg, Pa. -- including that a) animal response volunteers are amazing people, and b) in the event of a flood, I have no business going anywhere near the water.

Water Rescue Awareness Training was one of the first courses offered during the weekend -- it's the most basic level of water rescue instruction, where we learned about things like "strainers" -- those are obstacles where debris piles up, but water gets through -- think picket fences, tree limbs, etc. Water behaves differently around strainers than when it's flowing freely, and that can be used to your advantage in a water rescue. (Want details? Look for a course in your area -- it really was quite interesting, even if you never plan to get into the water.)

And I did learn enough to know that I never want to venture into floodwaters. That's for people with much more athletic ability than I have, not to mention many more levels of training and lots of safety gear!

Now, about bras for horses ... One of the remarkable people I met that weekend was David Allman, co-founder with his wife, Regina Martin, of Hog Heaven Rescue Farm, a sanctuary for all kinds of hoofed animals. Dave shared a lot of info about using homemade, recycled, donated and other low- or no-cost equipment in animal emergency situations.



He had a trailer full of large-animal rescue gear he designed and built himself from things like old straps donated by construction crane companies and inexpensive PVC pipe. (He also had great advice about applying for grant money, but it was fun to hear about his creative approaches to problem-solving on a budget.)

Just a few of Dave's tips and lessons he's learned from experience:
-- When a horse is sedated, it may not be able to blink. A bra makes a handy emergency "bandage" to protect its eyes.
-- In the event of a car (or horse trailer) accident, Styrofoam pool noodles can be used to cushion sharp metal edges.
-- In a barn fire, never take a horse through his usual exit. He'll try to go back to his stall where he feels safe. Take him some new way (even if it means breaking through a wall), so he won't know the way back to his stall.
-- "A distressed horse is a ballistic missile." And the corollary: "Hay is the only sedative that always works on a horse."

If you love animals and want to meet interesting people, seek out your local emergency animal response organization and volunteer. You don't need to have any skills -- they'll train you. For every person who knows how to go out in a hurricane and rescue a horse from a river, they also need someone to feed a cat, take a dog for a walk or simply fill out a form. In a disaster, there will be no shortage of ways to help -- but the time to get your training is before that help is needed.

If you're already involved in emergency animal response, what else would you like people to know about volunteering? Leave a comment below.