In 2008, Hurricane Ike devastated the upper Texas coast with many animals lost and many more suffering needlessly.  This storm triggered a request for the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences to form a deployable veterinary emergency team.

The Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team (TAMU VET) is comprised of veterinary faculty, staff, and senior veterinary medical students. Since the inception, the TAMU VET has been deployed for Hurricanes Rita and Gustuv, the 2011 Grimes County Wildfire and Bastrop Complex Wildfire, an Alzheimer’s patient search in Brazos County in 2012, and the 2013 West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion.

via CDC – Blogs – Public Health Matters Blog – Animal Rescue: Caring for Animals During Emergencies.