Kinship Circle Disaster Animal Response Team is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization. We activate for animal victims in disasters, when primary local resources are depleted. Kinship Circle DART works in agreement with officials and nonprofits to offer skill, stamina and leadership — in a spirit of cooperation that best serves animals. Our disaster responders serve within established emergency frameworks and reflect a wide range of training/certification in areas such as: search-rescue, field strategy; veterinary and first aid care, emergency sheltering; volunteer coordination and management; water-boat rescue, firefighter skills; large animal rescue, technical animal rescue, wild animal rehabilitation; food/water (shelter-in-place) programs… Kinship Circle DART deploys for animal aid across the United States and around the world. Notably, we are the first U.S. animal organization on the ground for search-rescue in Japan, after a devastating earthquake and tsunami shatter the Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima. Our volunteers (in alliance with Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue-Support, JEARS) wear protective hazmat Tyvek suits, masks and goggles to rescue companion and farmed animals stranded in radiation-risk zones.

When Brazil Mudslides entomb humans and animals beneath a rolling sea of mud, rock and debris, KC-DART partners with NGO EstimAcao to save as many victims as possible. In Chile, we assist Socorro Animal Chile (SACH) in the aftermath of a mass Chilean earthquake and tsunami. We travel to tent camps and towns along Chile's ravaged coast to provide long underserved communities with veterinary first aid, meds and treatment. In Thailand floods, water spills into streets, homes, businesses. Animals wait from rooftops and porches. Others, submerged chest deep, frantically swim toward dry spots — any surface taller than a meter and half. They cling to these tiny islands, crying in darkness. One newspaper said it would take Noah's Ark to save them all. Kinship Circle unites with Save Elephant Foundation and SCAD Foundation (Street Cats & Dogs Of Bangkok) for emergency sheltering, field and water rescue, food drops, veterinary aid.

Kinship Circle Director Brenda Shoss bonds with Mabel, a Basenji mix rescued from a bridge over floodwaters. Mabel is skeletal and listless, her pelvis dislocated. At the disaster shelter, her tail rarely wags. Yet she gets all goofy when she hears her name. During recovery, the Bangkok street dog with deer-like grace glues herself to Brenda. Once stable, Mabel flies 9,000 miles across the world to join Brenda's family: three cats, three dogs, a son and husband. Mabel is a daily reminder why Kinship Circle travels halfway around the world. Each animal is a story, words unwritten until found and loved.

In the U.S., Kinship Circle Disaster Animal Response Team confronts hurricane, tornado and flood destruction as climate change pushes natural disasters into a year-round crisis. Animals are left behind every time, placing KC-DART in perpetual standby mode. Some U.S. disaster events we aid animals include: Hurricane Ida, Hurricane Michael, Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Matthew, and Louisiana Floods. Your gracious support lets us take action for animals forgotten in disasters… and animals hurt by greed, cruelty, hate. Kinship Circle is a 501c3 nonprofit charity, 100% funded by donations. Your gift brings refuge to animals. Thank you very much for your empathy and kindness!