The Chester County, County Animal Response Team is part of the Pennsylvania State Animal Response Team (PASART). We are part of a coordinated effort between several governmental, corporate and private entities dedicated to the preparation, planning, response and recovery for animal emergencies in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The team's mission is to develop and implement procedures and train participants to facilitate a safe, environmentally sound and efficient response to animal emergencies on the local, and county level. Chester County, CART adheres to the principals of the Incident Command System (ICS) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) used by most local, state and federal disaster response organizations.

It is our goal to establish a communication and coordination system, thereby facilitating a rapid and effective response to emergencies that affect any animal, any time, anywhere. Helping the animals helps people by decreasing the health and safety threats to humans and animals. We will minimize the economic impact of emergencies that affect animals. We will prevent or decrease the spread of disease during emergencies and minimize the loss or separation of animals from their owners.

We will provide the initial assessment and response for animals affected by a disaster or emergency in our county. If our resources are overwhelmed, or when specialized resources are needed, the manager will call upon PASART to coordinate and deploy additional resources.

We are currently looking for funding and volunteers so that we may be able to provide shelter for animals in disaster and emergeny situations. We are also preparing strike teams that will be able to respond rapidly to Large Animal, Small Animal, Farm Animal, and Exotic Animal emergencies, within our county and we may be called upon to respond to neighboring counties.