Gilpin County Animal Response Team (GCART)
GCART's purpose and concern is for the welfare of all domestic animals in emergency situations. GCART is designed to work with families that have had to evacuate their animals from a disaster. GCART is a volunteer group within Gilpin County that is responsible for sheltering of bother large and small animals that are displaced. This is a dedicated group of individuals committed to ensuring your animals are taken care of. GCART is looking for individuals that are interested in becoming a member and wanting to join our team. If you are interested please contact Melissa Lewis at 720-289-6788
GCART assists firefighters with the evacuation of animals in the event of wild fire, toxic spill, or other natural or manmade disaster they may occur in Gilpin County. Please download and complete the WINDOW form and place it in a easily seen location for first responders. They will then notify GCART to come get your animals if you are not there and let us know how many animals we are picking up. Change the form as your animal population changes.
For news and up-to-date information on GCART's training, opportunities, and meetings, please visit our Facebook Page
Melissa Lewis
Director of Emergency Management
mlewis@gilpincounty.org
720-289-6788
Address
2960 Dory Hill Road, Ste. 300
Black Hawk, CO 8042
Important Documents
Volunteers
Be in the Know
Does your livestock know how to be loaded into a trailer? Does your cat or dog go into a kennel? Have they ever done it or do you practice it regularly?
If not, then they won't be able to be loaded by GCART volunteers if they need to be evacuated because they will refuse to be loaded or kenneled and there won't be time to teach them at that point. The best that could be done if they won't load would be to open the gates or doors and let them fend for themselves during the disaster. How do you change this option? By calling GCART and scheduling a loading clinic for your livestock or if there is enough demand we will schedule a kenneling clinic for those smaller pets. If you don't have a trailer to practice with, we can bring one out to do the clinic and let them at least experience being loaded into a trailer. THIS IS VITAL if you want them loaded and removed during a disaster. If you have your own trailer, then PRACTICE with them. This is also important for your dogs and cats. Do they have a kennel? Are they used to being in it? If not PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE until they are comfortable being in their kennels. If you don't have a crate or kennel, call GCART and we will give you one that you can transport them in. Thanks to generous donations, we have several plastic crates we can hand out to dog and cat owners so you can move them when needed. If you need help with either your livestock or pets, please call GCART and arrange a loading clinic for them.