At the Central Workshop in Kutna Hora in 2008, the work groups on ‘Rescue and Quarantine’ and ‘characterisation of Ark and Rescue Centres’ provided guidelines of what a Rescue Centre should be.
A Rescue Centre is any centre / station with free space for hosting autochthonous breeds (for a certain number of animals of a certain species) at short notice for a short time period in the event of an emergency.
Requirements are:
• Free space (stable, pasture, paddock)
• Flexibility in terms of sanitary status, possibilities for isolation
• Readiness for collaboration - agreement
• Registration as a rescue centre
It was intended that potential Rescue Centres would be found through the questionnaire, however, this was only of limited success. A second attempt was made to locate potential Rescue Centres by writing directly to stakeholders and holdings that seemed to be suitable. This was also only of limited success.
The ELBARN Partners agreed at the Partner Meeting in June 2009 that expert volunteers should be asked to visit interesting potential A&RCs to verify their existence and suitability, travel costs were reimbursed to these experts. Search tours were implemented by SAVE in Autumn 2009 to South-eastern Europe to visit interesting potential Ark &Rescue Centres (A&RCs) to verify their existence and suitability. This was especially necessary for Rescue Centres and also A&/RCs offering a unique feature which may be interesting to other A&RCs.
An inventory sheet was developed to record information which listed the number of animals already present, free space available, access, sanitary status, agreement to be part of the network. The criteria for suitable volunteers to undertake this work was drawn up.
Criteria for suitability as volunteer “verifier” of A&RCs:
• Good understanding of the aims and objectives of ELBARN
• Knowledge of the area especially: the needs of the area, the objectives of the Area Action Plan, the agricultural systems and breeds found in the area
• Trusted and proven working relationship with the ELBARN partners
Three verification tours were undertaken. The success of these tours shows that this concept could be useful in other parts of Europe, especially in those regions where contact to stakeholders is weak. As with all the further work required ELBARN, this idea has been incorporated into other, ongoing projects and/or become a small project in its own right. The map below shows that the tours through Southeastern and Eastern Europe have proved successful. Also, other visits to potential Rescue Centres in other parts of Europe (in conjunction with other travel activities) have reaped results. Therefore, it has been concluded that the only way to complete this network of Rescue Centres is to identify potential places through internet research and to visit them and discuss the ideas of ELBARN with the owners.
Map of ELBARN Rescue Centres (State: Jan. 2011)