Our History

Florida State Animal Response Coalition, more commonly known as FL SARC, was formed in 2010 in partnership with the Florida State Agricultural Response Team (www.flsart.org) to provide a disaster response team supporting Florida’s pet friendly sheltering needs during disasters.

The impact was immediate. Team members responded to four major disaster events, including the 2012 Caboodle Cat Ranch hoarding case in Jacksonville, FL, caring for over 697 sick, injured and neglected felines with support from coalition partners including the ASPCA and Humane Society of the United States. Moving ahead, SARC provided emergency pet sheltering support for 6 Florida hurricanes and supported several hoarding cases & puppy mill rescues for several years. In 2020, SARC responded to the Covid Pandemic with the development of an interactive online version of the Level 1 and 2 courses, allowing our students to train from virtually anywhere in the world.

SARC resumed in person training statewide in 2021, then delivered our Level 1 Awareness and Level 2 Operations courses in August 2022 to over 80 Richmond VA emergency management professionals and students. Within days SARC deployed responders to support the ASPCA during the Kentucky Flooding Disaster, then returned home for Hurricane IAN donation management & sheltering response. Over $1 million in state and national donations was received and distributed in just under two weeks. Twenty five SARC volunteers contributed over 1200 man hours valued at over $36,400. After 12 years, over 4000 SARC students have graduated from our courses, with nearly 1000 of them registering as disaster responders.