Mounted search and rescue

["Sherry C. Hicks" <shicks@nwinc.net>]

I live in Chattanooga, TN. If I keep walking up my road past my house in
about 10 minutes I will cross the line into GA. It is also about a 5 minute
drive to AL from my house.

I am new to MSAR, but my husband has done water recovery for about 10 years
now. He is an exceptional diver. They get called to GA and AL all the time.
They have a group of dogs they work with in Birmingham, AL. Usually the
local authorities call us. It is really informal.


Ms Teri (Terilynne) Oliver wrote:
>I am only about 30 min from Alabama and perhaps 1 hr from GA...
>can you cross state lines?

It helps a lot for you to tell us exactly where you are.  You're 
in southeastern Tennessee.  Given these travel times, and how
thin SAR resources are in your region, you could well expect to
be called out across state lines.

That is easy for people and dogs to do, but a little harder for
horses.  How hard depends on state regulations in TN, AL, and GA.

Alabama and Tennessee both require proof of a negative test for
Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) not more than 12 months prior to
entry (or re-entry, for the trip home), plus a Certificate of
Veterinary Inspection (CVI) issued not more than 30 days prior
to entry.  Georgia requires the same, plus on the CVI a rectal
temperature recorded that is not over 102F.  All such rules can
be researched from the USDA APHIS Veterinary Services web page
U.S. State and Territory Animal Import Regulations (1).  Note
the proposed Equine Interstate Permit Program (2), which has a
trial phase implementation since January 2004.  States formally
committeed to participate include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.  However, South
Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee require changes
in their existing rules to allow participation.  Tennessee is
in the process of changing its rules.  This "Equine Passport"
would allow free movement of horses, and would require a new
permit only every 6 months.  For MSAR units that may be called
across state lines, this is Very Good News.

        Una Smith
        New Mexico

(1) http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/sregs/
(2) http://www.state.tn.us/agriculture/security/equinepermit.html