With few resources available for testing local disaster response to animal issues, the 2018 launch of LADDER: Local Approach to Discussion-Based Disaster Exercises and Readiness was a significant step. This initiative, funded through the Smith-Lever Special Needs Competitive Grant Program, aimed to enhance local emergency operations plans (EOPs) and bolster communities' ability to handle animal issues during disasters. Now, we seek further support for LADDER: Local Approach to Discussion-Based Disaster Exercises and Readiness – Phase II, to continue and expand this crucial work.
Small and large animal needs are critical issues for disaster planning. The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act of 2006 amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to ensure local emergency preparedness operational plans address the needs of individuals with household pets and service animals (PETS Act, 2006). Planning for large animal response is also critical. Large animal response during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Harvey rescued over 1.6 million large animals in Louisiana and Texas (LSART, n.d.; Swartz, 2017; Swartz, 2018). LADDER provides local responders a comprehensive understanding of their existing animal response capabilities.
Behavioral education and the promotion of disaster preparedness are vital components of planning for individual and community resiliency. The incorporation of social and behavioral sciences is crucial in addressing the animal preparedness challenges that communities face. Games, as effective teaching tools, use behavioral and social sciences to translate complex ideas into a framework that people can understand and apply to real-world situations with lasting impact. LADDER, in its mission to enhance Extension professionals’ capacity for community disaster/threat education, utilizes gamification to improve skills in collaboration, communication, and community capacity building.
Emergency managers are often unfamiliar with animal response needs and the role animals play in local critical infrastructure. As a result, animal and agricultural issues are often not prioritized in Multi-Year Training and Exercise Programs (USDA APHIS & UK, 2017). Exercises play a vital role in national preparedness by enabling whole community stakeholders to test and validate plans and capabilities, and identify both capability gaps and areas for improvement (DHS, 2020). Using animal issues as the foundation for the exercise, LADDER facilitates local emergency managers’ ability to meet the full spectrum of local preparedness needs.
Rural communities often face challenges accessing preparedness resources.
Common barriers include:
· costs associated with training and workplace obligations
· many emergency management positions are not full-time
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, video-conferencing services have seen a ten times increase in usage. Adapting the original LADDER format to a virtual platform like Zoom (and maintaining the original hard copy form when social distancing is no longer required), will help rural emergency managers overcome challenges associated with planning and conducting exercises.

Size of affected population - All communities are home to significant small animal populations:
· 36.5% of households own dogs (AVMA, 2012)
· 30.4% of households own cats (AVMA, 2012).
Large animal populations are also prevalent in the US:
· 1.2 million livestock operations (cattle, sheep, goat, hogs) (USDA NASS, 2013)
· 7.2 million horses (American Horse Council Foundation, 2017).
With local Extension offices representing over 3,000 county and county equivalents, Extension is well-positioned to bridge the gap in local emergency preparedness to address animal issues in communities throughout the US (USDA NIFA, n.d.).

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for social distancing and recommending virtual work whenever possible (CDC, 2021), the global need to adapt existing resources to a virtual format is critical to ensure capacity building does not wane during the pandemic.

How long problem has existed - Animal issues in disasters gained national attention with the implementation of:
· Homeland Security Presidential Directive / HSPD-9 in 2004 to establish a national policy to defend the agriculture and food system against terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies (DHS, 2004)
· Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act of 2006 to ensure emergency preparedness operational plans address the needs of individuals with household pets and service animals following a major disaster or emergency (PETS Act, 2006)
· Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) of 2006 to add authorities and responsibilities for FEMA, ensuring pet rescue and shelter (PKEMRA, 2006).
The PETS Act and PKEMRA were passed to ensure human health and safety is not compromised during disasters. According to a recent article by Bruillard (2017), approximately 44 percent of people who chose not to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 did so because they did not want to abandon their pets, which resulted in human deaths. Bruillard also reported an estimated 100,000 pets were left behind resulting in up to 70,000 animal deaths throughout the Gulf Coast.
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, augmented the need for virtual tools to maintain preparedness activities (CDC, 2021).
If problem is not addressed - As recently as Hurricane Harvey in 2017, not all communities were addressing pet sheltering needs, compromising human safety (Bruillard, 2017). If this problem is not addressed, communities, especially rural, will lack the resources needed to address human and animal needs during a disaster.
Potential benefit to population group – The discussion-based exercise LADDER enables emergency managers to engage with their local communities to address animal issues in their emergency operations plans, in turn safeguarding human health. LADDER provides local jurisdictions a readily available, low-cost method for interdisciplinary testing of emergency operations plans, gap identification, and improvement plan creation. Expanding LADDER to include additional content, tools, and a virtual option will expand stakeholder engagement.