Press Release

Clinton, ON – March 31, 2010.

LAR Course for Emergency Personnel and Horse Owners

Large Animal Rescue (LAR) is a method of interacting with large animals in a rescue situation. LAR training teaches how to keep safe while working with large, possibly injured animals; and how to keep the animals safe. When a response involves multiple agencies, you need to know the roles of each agency and how the agencies will interact.  A course in LAR covers scene safety and management, how to use the equipment already available on most fire engines, and how to improvise.

REACH Huron is offering  an introduction to Large Animal Rescue, as well as Disaster Preparedness on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at REACH Huron. Horse rescue has been Instructor Michelle Staples’ passion for almost twenty years. Once she and her husband Michael retired to the north coast of California , Michelle became active in her community. She obtained her Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification, NDART membership, became an instructor in both CPR and CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), joined the local disaster preparation committee, wrote a county plan for animals in disaster, an emergency pet first aid class, an advanced CERT class for organizing neighbourhoods, and a CERT class for animals.

In 2003, Michelle learned about Large Animal Rescue training when she organized a class in her area. Dismayed to learn of the lack of trained responders and lack of awareness by horse owners, she researched and wrote a book on Large Animal Rescue and has been actively promoting LAR training through her book and a website on the subject. Michelle now divides her time between Burlington , Ontario and Point Arena , California .

“We are pleased to be able to provide this training for the horse owners and emergency personnel.” says Melanie Prosser, Director, Program Services at REACH Huron. “It was a program we were planning to offer to our own Municipality Emergency Services, but with Michelle’s generosity, we have been able to expand the offering to neighbouring Municipalities and towns. We hope representatives from every fire, police and veterinary practice will attend, as well as horse owners.”

For further information about this course, and REACH Huron in general, please visit www.ReachHuron.ca or call 519 482 3998.

The Regional Equine & Agricultural Centre of Huron Inc. (REACH Huron) is a non-profit corporation functioning as a "motel for education", offering innovative programming, as well as recreational activities to support the equine, agricultural and other industries.