The five National Veterinary Response Teams are part of Health and Human Services and the National Disaster Medical System.  The NVRT are highly trained teams composed of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, toxicologists and other medical and lay support personnel.   They can deploy within 12-24 hours to a disaster area and are self sufficient for 72 hours.

When a Federal Disaster, either natural or man made, is declared and a request for NVRT assistance has been made by the State Veterinarian, teams are deployed to the affected area.  Teams are capable of performing assessments of the veterinary infrastructure, establishing a veterinary field hospital, animal decontamination/HazMat, providing care for US & R and Cadaver dogs, and identifying public health issues.