HILO, Hawaii — Two black Dexter cows are being moved by five emergency response trainees — without using prods or commands — at Kulaniapia Farms in the mountains behind Hilo on Hawaii Island. The cows prefer to walk single file in a semicircle, cannot see directly in front or behind them and will stop walking if they are crowded. The trainees are learning these animal behaviors and more as part of a five-day course that will prepare them to rescue animals during a disaster.
The training is run by Code 3 Associates, a Colorado-based nonprofit focused on disaster response and animal rescue, and the Hawaii Animal Kuleana Alliance, a grassroots nonprofit that was started by five women during the 2018 Kilauea eruption, when they created and mobilized an online network of animal lovers to help move and house about 1,200 critters.
“It was my dream to have a class and start an actual group of responders in Hawaii Island, because (during the 2018 eruption) we were all looking for help,” said Syndi Halualani-Texeira, the executive director of HAKA.
HAKA received funding from Hawaii County’s Kilauea Recovery Grants, which supports projects focused on long-term resilience for communities directly affected by the 2018 Kilauea eruption, for the five-day animal search and rescue training.
This is the first time Code 3 has taught its animal search and rescue course in Hawaii. From Feb. 25 to March 1, participants learned about small and large animal rescue, using ropes and knots to make an emergency halter or a pulley to get an animal across a river, animal emergency sheltering, livestock behavior, emergency responder safety and more.
Learning to save animals
On Feb. 28, during the classroom portion of the day, Garret Leonard, an instructor with Code 3, taught about 20 students at the Haihai Fire Station in Hilo how to move livestock. “We have to understand a horse's thoughts and movements and how they work together. We have to understand our own thoughts, movements and behaviors, to understand how what we do affects the horse,” said Leonard, who wears a large belt buckle he won at a roping championship. He emphasized emergency responders must remain calm for the animals to remain calm too. “A horse can hear your heartbeat from four feet away,” he said. After each class, students take a quiz to ensure mastery of the material.
Later in the day, during the in-field training, the students apply this information, interpreting the position and behavior of two cows in order to get them to move to where they need them to be. One of the five trainees, who are all wearing bright green HAKA shirts, is appointed as the leader. The leader instructs another trainee to move forward, but to remain at a distance, so as not to disrupt the cow’s flight zone (“the area upon which an animal will let you enter its space without reaction”). Another trainee steps back, so as not to crowd the animal as it moves down the hill. Another comes near to the cow’s shoulder to get it to turn. Together, the five trainees slowly tweak their own movements in order to move the two Dexter cows from one corner to the other corner of their pen.
At the end of the week, participants received a certificate of completion from Code 3, which developed the course’s curriculum with the guidance of Colorado State University, and they are now prepared to help save animals during a hurricane, flood, fire, or volcanic eruption. However, many of the participants will take follow-up courses that provide more in-depth knowledge and technical skills for specific scenarios.
Creating a team in Hawaii
“The turnout for this course has been extraordinary. There's all sorts of age groups here, people of different backgrounds coming together with the intent to really build our community response efforts,” said Regina Dodaro Romero Serrano, who attended the five-day class and has been volunteering with HAKA since 2018. “There's a position for everybody. The idea here is that we work as a team.”
As trainees develop skills, they will be better prepared to take on specific roles during disaster response. One person might excel at swift water rescue, another at ropes and creating anchors to stabilize animals to transport them, and another will be great at handling large animals. Together, they will create a fully equipped team.
On the continental U.S., there are multiple disaster response teams equipped to help animals, including those with Code 3, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
“It's going to take several days before anybody from the mainland is going to be able to get over here,” said Leonard. “We know that the longer it takes to get a response team in, the longer the disaster is gonna last.”
Now, Hawaii Island will have its own professionally trained team with HAKA that would be ready to deploy quickly in an emergency. Perhaps, they could also deploy to neighbor islands.
Prepared for the next disaster
Jaime Rosier, who is a professional dog trainer and behavior consultant, has been saving animals during disasters since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She helped on Maui after the 2023 wildfires, and most recently with the Eaton Fire in Altadena, which is her hometown, trapping animals who were still in the burn zone and helping displaced residents find pet-friendly housing.
“This week’s course has really solidified the idea that it is super important to work with a team who has skills and has a communication system set up, because you can be so much more effective,” said Rosier.
While Rosier has a lot of experience helping in disaster situations, she said the training provided her with a lot of technical expertise, such as how to use ropes and knots to help a down and injured cow or how to navigate a swift water rescue, and how to work with large animals.
Rosier, who now lives on Maui, and is staying at an off-the-grid cabin at Kulaniapia Farms with other attendees who are not based on Hawaii Island, is hoping to bring what she is learning at the training to her new home and to other disaster relief situations in the future.
“I'd love to see a team, a HAKA team, develop on Maui,” said Rosier.
Focusing on animals
When Kilauea erupted in 2018, sending lava into neighborhoods in lower Puna, some residents refused to leave without their pets. Halualani-Texeira, the executive director of HAKA, was the person they reached out to, and with the help of other animal lovers that connected via Facebook, she contacted Paradise Helicopters, which flew to residential areas cut off by the lava flow and helped evacuate at least three individuals, three dogs and two cats to safety.
“For a lot of people, their animals are their families,” said Halualani-Texeira.
Along with the strong bond between humans and pets that may keep an individual from leaving a disaster situation, people also won’t leave larger animals, such as horses, cows, sheep, llamas, alpacas, donkeys or goats, behind because they may have strong bonds with them or they may be part of their livelihood.
“I think every animal has the right to have a chance, and one way we can give them a chance is by bringing them out of a bad situation,” said Leonard.
Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at michelle.brodervandyke@charter.com.
