Aiken Volunteer Mounted Unit and Aiken Department of Public Safety’s Large Animal Rescue Team have developed a partnership to serve our community.
Did you know Aiken and surrounding communities has a large animal ambulance available 24 hours a day seven days a week? Did you know there is absolutely NO charge for emergency responses? You can contact the team by calling one of the numbers below. To help facilitate a quicker response please contact a team member directly 24/7 at the number below.
Aiken Public Safety Dispatch: (803) 642-7620
Contact a LART team member directly by calling (803) 617-8446
The Large Animal Rescue Team, operated by Aiken Public Safety, was started over 10 years ago to fill a need at the request of the Aiken equine community. The team currently operates with 30 members of Aiken Public Safety and is the only full-time team operating in South Carolina. The team is on call 24/7 for large animal emergencies in and around Aiken County, and can respond to incidents further away with the appropriate mutual aid requests.
Over the last few years, this team has responded to rescue horses and cattle in the wake of Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence, responding to Marion County, SC for both. We have also responded to numerous loose horse calls, loose cattle, cattle on the interstate, horse stuck in mud, sick horse down in a field, and a vet assist to lift a standing horse off of an injured hoof. The team works closely with Dr. Lisa Handy as our on-call equine vet, and Aiken County Animal Control.
The team’s equipment is housed in two dedicated trailers (equine ambulances) with other resources available as well. ADPS Large Animal Rescue Team and ready to respond to your large animal emergencies day or night.
Although this team is operated by Aiken Public Safety, it is funded primarily by donations from the community for equipment and training needs. This team cannot operate without the gracious support of the Aiken community. If you would like to support LART by assisting with continued specialized training, trailer and equipment updates and maintenance you can do so by navigating to the Support page of our website for more information.
Aiken Volunteer Mounted Unit 