A year ago, Lloyd (BS ’83, DVM ’89) was working 24-hour shifts to care for animals displaced when New Orleans was evacuated in advance of Hurricane Katrina. Based in a makeshift vet clinic—an equine expo center located halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge—Lloyd and his team worked to diagnose, treat and stabilize about 3,000 injured, emaciated and contaminated animals.

“Some people question why resources are used on animals,” Lloyd says. “But pets are the No. 1 reason why people won’t evacuate.”

Lloyd is team commander for Veterinary Medical Assistance Team - One (VMAT-1), which brings 60 veterinarians, technicians and support personnel together for rapid response to disaster. He was a charter member of the team, created in 1994 by the American Veterinary Medical Association after vet services were incorporated into the Federal Response Plan. Three additional VMATs have since been established; seven more are planned.

About twice a year, Lloyd and his team are deployed—with 24 to 48 hours notice—to respond to situations that range from natural disasters, including animal diseases like avian flu, to high-profile events that may be terrorist targets: the 2004 Republican National Convention and the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, for example. They also responded after the World Trade Center collapse in September 2001, where they cared for 300 international search-and-rescue dogs.

“Not many bodies were found,” says Lloyd, who received two awards for his service during that time. “It was very challenging emotionally.”

Lloyd grew up in Athens and still has a home—an earth-bermed house he built himself in the side of a hill—in Winterville. He splits his time between Georgia and East Setauket, New York, on Long Island.

When not responding to a disaster, Lloyd helps VMAT members prepare for deployment. Sukie Zeeve, deputy administrative officer for VMAT-1, recalls training at an animal sanctuary in Florida, where Lloyd taught his team to blow dart big cats, bears and primates—a necessary skill for capture and medical care of displaced wildlife. One large-animal vet was particularly nervous, but Lloyd encouraged her to go first. After she successfully felled a tiger she said, “I can do anything!”

“Mark makes everything fun so that people learn without realizing it, and before they know it they’re doing things they didn’t realize they could do,” Zeeve says. “For VMAT members, that’s important.”

Lloyd has also shared his skills with the academic world, serving as an adjunct professor or field faculty member for Tufts University, the University of Maine and Vermont College. He has a “will teach for airfare” policy that has taken him to Germany, Brazil, Spain and the United Kingdom.

But Lloyd’s first love is wildlife conservation. He uses his unique combination of skills as a consultant to help zoos plan for disasters, create strategies for adding to their collections, or work toward accreditation. Although “semi-retired,” Lloyd wants to author a book or two and plans to focus on conservation work in the future, though he’ll continue working with VMAT even after he steps down as commander.

In the meantime, he and his team are staying prepared. During the summer, they completed a four-day training session with the Blue Devils Horse Platoon, an Army reserve equine unit, in Dexter, Mich., where they learned about equine medicine. The team is working to establish an agreement with the U.S. Equine Federation and the American Association of Equine Practitioners to provide VMAT services in situations that aren’t federal disasters, but where their skills would be useful.

Lloyd enjoys educating people about the positive role of all animals in the natural world.

“My main mission,” Lloyd says of snakes, for example, “is to simply get people not to kill them.”

(above) Veterinarian Mark Lloyd (BS ’83, DVM ’89) enjoys his favorite form of psychotherapy with Petie (left) and Lobo on his property in Winterville. Lloyd is also a wilderness canoe and camping guide with experience in remote regions including Ontario, Canada, and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska.

Photo by Dot Paul