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About us
Animal Technical Rescue USA (ATRUSA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2026 and based in Washington, DC.
Our mission is to build a strong, professionally trained network of animal technical rescuers across the United States.
We are a mission-driven nonprofit dedicated to fundraising, coordination, and development of animal technical rescue capacity in America.
We invest in people and in preparedness.
Hurricane Katrina left 600,000 pets stranded. Most never came home.
When levees broke in New Orleans, rescue boats passed dogs clinging to rooftops. Families refused evacuation without their animals. Some died trying to save them.
The 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and thousands of animals.
Horses were burned alive in their stalls. Cats suffocated in homes their owners couldn’t reach.
Texas froze in 2021. Ranchers watched cattle die by the hundreds. No rescue system existed to save livestock worth millions.
The 2026 blizzard proved nothing had changed.
Emergency crews mobilized for people. Roads cleared. Shelters opened. But for animals trapped in collapsed barns, buried under snow, stranded without food or water, there was no coordinated response.
Why? Because no one was trained to execute it.
Animals aren’t accessories. They’re family members who sleep in our beds. Working partners who earn our living. Livestock that feed our nation.
When disaster strikes and a horse is trapped in floodwater, good intentions don’t save it. Technical training does.
When a dog is pinned under debris, courage alone fails. Specialized equipment and practiced hands succeed.
Untrained rescue attempts kill animals and the people who love them enough to try.
- We close that gap.
- With training.
- With preparation.
- With rescuers standing ready before the next headline is written.
The next disaster is coming. Will trained rescuers be there?
American Disasters Demand World-Class Training
ATRUSA trains American rescuers using methods proven in disasters worldwide.
When British teams freed livestock from flooded Yorkshire farms, they developed techniques used in U.S.
When Australian responders saved animals from bushfires that consumed millions of acres, they forged protocols deployed in California.
When European specialists evacuated zoo animals during catastrophic floods, they created systems adapted for American emergencies.
Disasters don’t respect borders. Neither does expertise.
ATRUSA connects American rescuers to an international network of tested professionals, teams who’ve worked real catastrophes, not theoretical scenarios.
This isn’t imported theory. It’s battlefield-proven rescue refined across continents and brought home.
When blizzards paralyze the Midwest, our protocols draw from Alpine disaster response.
The result: American communities protected by rescuers trained to global standards.
Because when your animal is trapped, you don’t want a beginner. You want the best methods money can buy, from anywhere on Earth.
ATRUSA delivers them.
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After spending decades in aviation safety and public service, Ms. Miller is bringing the discipline of global aviation standards into a new arena: animal technical rescue.
Her decision to act came after closely following international animal rescue operations and training programs, where she recognized a critical gap – while the mission is vital, consistent standards, certification, and operational rigor are often lacking.
Drawing on her experience with the United Nations and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), she saw an opportunity for a framework grounded in international standardization, certification, and accountability.
That vision led to a formal partnership with Aleksandar Gavrić and Animal Rescue Serbia (ARS), a leader in technical rescue with decades of field-proven expertise. Together, they work to elevate rescue practices through globally aligned standards.
“At its core, this is about safety,” she emphasizes. “In aviation, we don’t improvise, we rely on systems, checklists, and continuous verification. The same level of discipline should apply when lives – human or animal – are at risk.”
Her approach reflects the principles used by the Federal Aviation Administration, widely recognized as setting some of the world’s highest safety benchmarks, including rigorous documentation, incident investigation, and structured oversight. These same elements are now being adapted to animal rescue operations.
She points to Gavrić’s training philosophy as a defining factor in the partnership. “There are no shortcuts,” she says. “The standards are demanding, and certification must be earned through real-world performance, not just classroom instruction. That level of rigor is what builds trust and capability in extreme conditions.”
Ms. Miller shares Mr. Gavric’s philosophy that emergency preparedness is not just technical, it’s human. “Preparing for an emergency is also about building teams. It’s about communication, coordination, and shared responsibility. One person can miss something, but a trained team working together creates a system of safety.”
Through ATRUSA, she is now leading a broader effort to bring aviation-grade discipline – checklists, teamwork, standardization, and accountability – into animal technical rescue, to build safer, more effective response systems that can be applied globally.
- A nationally recognized animal technical rescue network in the United States
- A structured certification pathway for American responders
- An internationally connected nonprofit rescue support system
- A model of preparedness that protects animals, people, and communities
Communities don’t strengthen by chance. They strengthen because rescuers are trained before disaster arrives.
Professional standards don’t just save lives. They decide who lives and who dies.
ATRUSA exists to ensure that when disaster strikes, trained rescuers are ready, so that no animal is left behind.