Nova Scotia Resident to Volunteer Time, Expertise, to Help Animals Displaced by Disasters

Marcel Marcotte of Central North River Named EARS Regional Director

SACRAMENTO, CA (August 22, 2008) – United Animal Nations (UAN) is pleased to welcome Marcel Marcotte of Central North River, Nova Scotia as a volunteer Regional Director with its Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS), which shelters and cares for animals displaced by natural disasters and other crises, such as criminal seizures and hoarding cases.

As the first-ever EARS Eastern Canada Regional Director, Marcotte will monitor disasters that may affect animals in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec. He will network with emergency management and animal control agencies in those provinces and work with local authorities to operate temporary shelters for displaced animals as needed.

An Occupational Health and Safety Coordinator with the Metropolitan Regional Housing Authority, Marcotte was a Red Cross volunteer Team Leader who has responded to numerous disasters, including Hurricane Ivan in Selma, Alabama in 2004 and wildfires in British Columbia in 2003. He also spent a month in Badger, Newfoundland  on two occasions as part of an initial disaster response and then with the recovery team. He is certified in pet first aid and human first aid and CPR.

“We are thrilled to have someone with Marcel’s background in disaster response among our volunteer leaders,” said UAN Director of Programs Karen Brown. “Even before being named a Regional Director, Marcel was working hard to educate people in Nova Scotia about the need to include animals in disaster planning, and he has already made significant improvements in his community’s ability to act effectively when a crisis occurs.”

Marcotte trained to become an EARS volunteer in 2007. In October of that year, he spent one week leading a team of EARS volunteers at a temporary shelter for animals seized from a puppy mill in Portland, Maine . Prior to being named a Regional Director, Marcotte worked tirelessly to promote animal disaster preparedness among individuals and agencies in Nova Scotia and coordinated the province’s Disaster Animal Response Team.

“I was raised in a farming community and have been around and owned animals all of my life,” Marcotte said. “As a volunteer leader with UAN’s EARS program, I can combine my experience in emergency response with my love for animals.”

UAN has more than 4,000 EARS volunteers in the United States and Canada, including eight regional directors. Since 1987, UAN’s EARS volunteers have responded to more than 80 disasters, including a series of wildfires in Butte County, California in 2008; a tornado that destroyed Greensburg, Kansas in 2007; Hurricane Katrina in 2005; and wildfires in Missoula, Montana in 2003.

Founded in 1987, United Animal Nations is North America ’s leading provider of emergency animal sheltering and disaster relief services and a key advocate for the critical needs of animals.

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