Late Saturday afternoon, we received a call about a Great Dane, named Luna, who was on the Lake Serene trail and unable to make it back down.
Our team arrived at the trailhead along with our equipment truck. We packed up our gear, including rescue litter and wheel, and hiked 2 miles up the trail to Luna and her owner.
On arrival, Luna appeared calm and bright and stood up to greet the team. However, she was trembling in her hind
legs and was sensitive placing all limbs. It was quickly determined that she was unable to walk down on her own and needed to be carried in the litter back to the trailhead.
We assembled the rescue litter, secured her in it, and then headed down the trail. Luna was calm and settled quickly into the litter for her ride. The first half of the trail was the most difficult with steps, fallen logs, rocky terrain, and stream crossings. The second half of the trail was easier terrain which allowed more efficient movement downhill. We offered her water on occasion during the ride down.
On arrival back at the trailhead, we helped her into her owner’s SUV and they headed on their way. We debriefed, packed up our gear, and headed home in the late evening hours.
We are thankful to have been able to help Luna and her owner get back to safety. We are always a phone call away when assistance is needed.
Watch the full video to see Luna's rescue in action.
WASART is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization. To learn more about us and what we do, please visit www.wasart.org.
It’s Day 2 of GiveBIG. As an all-volunteer nonprofit, these rescues are made possible because of YOU!
It’s Day 2 of GiveBIG! As an all-volunteer nonprofit, these rescues are made possible because of YOU!
We have no paid staff. Your donations help us buy technical rescue and emergency sheltering equipment, replace old and worn out equipment, keep our vehicles running safely, as well as our day to day operations.
We are incredibly grateful for your donations and support.
Just click on our GiveBIG fundraiser link to make a donation today www.wasart.org/givebig
#washingtonstateanimalresponseteam #wasartresponse #wasart #GiveBIG
We were excited for the opportunity to help an alpaca get safely reunited with her owner this past week.
We used safety fencing to corral the alpaca and then put a harness on her to bring her back to her home.
(Sound removed from video)
#washingtonstateanimalresponseteam #wasart #wasartresponse #technicalrescueteam
If your hiking buddy hurt her paws, would you know what to do? 🐾
Watch this quick video to learn how to wrap cut or burned paws so you can make it safely down the trail.
And, of course, we are always just a call away if you need our assistance. Huge thanks to our friends at Summit to Sound Search and Rescue who helped make this video.
#wasart #washingtonstateanimalresponseteam #pawwrapping #dogtrailfirstaid #summittosoundsearchandrescue
This past weekend, some members of WASART’s Technical Water Rescue Team were on hand at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new ƛ̕ax̌ʷadis Park in Kenmore, WA to demonstrate some of the skills used in water rescue. One of the essential skills is the ability to right a capsized raft. Check out the video below where they show how it’s done.
#washingtonstateanimalresponseteam #technicalwaterrescue #WASARToutreach
Last week, on December 1st, we received a call requesting assistance to lift a horse named Jordache who was in his stall and unable to rise.
When our technical rescue team arrived, he was in a sternal position near one wall of the stall. There was no way to lift him in the stall, so it was determined that he would need to be moved into the nearby pasture for a tripod lift. After careful cushioning and packaging, he was hauled on the rescue glide, directly outside through the stall door, and then to a central position beneath the tripod. The Becker bar was attached, in addition to the chest and butt straps, and Jordache was slowly lifted to his feet using mechanical advantage.
Once up, after giving him some time to become steady, he was able to remain standing on his own power and was released from the slings. Jordache was eating hay and treats. He was slowly walked around the paddock and eventually headed back for more hay. Our team then debriefed, packed up, and headed home.
We are glad to have been able to help Jordache and his owners. Many thanks to our volunteer responders who came out on this snowy December day.
#wasart #washingtonstateanimalresponse team #technicalanimalrescue
Paw Wrapping
If your hiking buddy hurt her paws, would you know what to do? 🐾
Watch this quick video to learn how to wrap cut or burned paws so you can make it safely down the trail.
And, of course, we are always just a call away if you need our assistance. Huge thanks to our friends at Summit to Sound Search and Rescue who helped make this video.
#wasart #washingtonstateanimalresponseteam #pawwrapping #dogtrailfirstaid #summittosoundsearchandrescue
On Monday morning, we received a call about a puppy named Layla who had gone over a cliff edge by Dirty Harry’s Balcony. Layla was stranded on a small ledge about 15 feet down. Her owner stated that she did not appear to be injured but there was no safe way to rescue her, as just beyond the ledge was a vertical drop of several hundred feet. The technical rescue team and gear truck were deployed.
Upon arrival at the trailhead parking lot, we were greeted by friends of Layla’s owner who kindly offered to help carry gear up the trail. After handing out extra water for hydration on this hot summer morning, we headed up the trail, hiking close to 2 miles and 1200 feet elevation, in 3 separate groups.
Upon reaching Layla’s owner, we assessed the situation and a rescue method was planned. Layla indeed appeared to be uninjured on her small ledge and was free to pace back and forth a short distance.
The situation required technical rigging to lower an attendant to secure Layla and raise them both back to the top of the cliff safely. A twin tension rope system was set up. We lowered an attendant over the top of the cliff and down to Layla’s small ledge. After Layla was secured, the rope system was changed from a lowering system to a pulley system to haul them both back up to the top of the cliff.
Once at the top, Layla was leashed and reunited with her owner with a happily wagging tail. Layla was readily drinking water, eating treats, and soaking up all the pets and praises from everyone on scene. She was able to hike back down the trail with her owner and friends and posed for a few quick photos at our base gear truck. The team then debriefed, packed up, and headed home.
We are so glad to have been able to reunite this adorable puppy with her owner who made the right call and asked for assistance. We are also thankful for the help of the owner’s friends on that hot summer day.
WASART is an all volunteer organization and we are appreciative of all
WASART: People, and Partners - Raise the Hoof 2020 Invitation
WASART's Rory Kelleher discusses how people feel when their animals are returned, and why our partnerships with other organizations are so important to everyone's success.
Raise the Hoof 2020 is underway! The silent auction is open for bidding NOW! Visit https://wasart.org/raisethehoof for all the details. Bid early, bid often, bid HIGH!
Bipod redirect with piggy-back
Thanks to everyone who contributed and/or shared yesterday's amazing GiveBIG fundraiser! We're feeling very loved and supported by you, the community we serve. We raised almost $8k, about 80% of the way to having the tripod for the north paid for. Here's a video from this weekend's training with original tripod, set up in a bipod configuration.
More about what's going on here: Though we'd normal try to have this equipment set up as a tripod for stability, we were practicing the rigging systems for the bipod, and thought we'd try it out as a redirect. The redirect part is why you'll see the ropes going up to the apex (blocked by the tree) before going down the embankment where we have Joey the mannequin tied to the glide. The redirect makes our job safer by easing some of the more difficult physics problems when a heavy load transitions over an edge.
Even more technical info for those who find such things interesting: we have a 6:1 block and tackle set up on the apex, and a piggy-back with a 3:1, giving a total of 18:1 mechanical advantage.
Sideways drag rescue training
Today's training included the sideways drag starring our mannequin horse, Joey. A couple of technical notes on this video:
Usually we keep someone on the horse's head to keep the horse calm and help prevent injury. In this particular setup it would not have been realistically safe for someone make their way up the incline with the horse, so we found a way to work around it.
You may also hear "stop" being called in the middle of the drag. Normally we stop everything when someone calls stop and address the issue. In this case, it happened at a critical moment in the middle of the drag and we kept going because in a real situation it would have been safer for the horse to continue. Large animals are mostly calm when they are in motion and attempt to get up when the motion stops. Had it been a real horse, it would have tried to get up at a dangerous time and since the operation was not in danger we proceeded.
A quick peek behind the scenes from the Sheila rescue -- once Sheila and the team were at the top of the trail, Sheila got a little chance to rest and Dr. Ryan Peters checked her out.
One more little bit on the Vedder Mountain rescue from last weekend: Rory had on a helmet camera, and we thought we'd share what it was like to be on the ropes. You can get a good feel for the underbrush he and Ed (Summit to Sound Search and Rescue) were dealing with. Remember they were looking for some sort of dog of indeterminate size and coloring who got quiet when they were near. Ed is the other person in the video.
We also put it on YouTube, which makes it easier to see large: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKbkMtjPbx8
Sound was a big part of the Vedder Mountain/Sumas rescue.
We took a recording and put it with some pictures if you'd like to hear what we heard. :)
The dog vocalizations are at the end.
Sep 4, 2013 10:06pm
Here's a video clip from the Shelter Training we did recently explaining the correct way to put a rope halter on a horse.
You can also see it on YouTube here: http://bit.ly/1fAOCzJ
