Natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and accidents can create mass casualty events for animals. Veterinary triage systems developed for these events save lives while facing difficult welfare trade-offs.
Veterinary triage in mass casualty events forces rapid welfare decisions under conditions of resource scarcity. The triage framework — prioritizing animals with survivable injuries who need immediate attention while deferring lower-acuity cases — mirrors human emergency medicine principles but with an additional layer of complexity: the euthanasia decision. Animals with severe injuries who cannot be saved quickly must often be euthanized to prevent prolonged suffering, even when resources might theoretically allow treatment later. This decision, made under extreme stress by emergency responders, requires both veterinary judgment and moral clarity. Programs that train veterinarians and first responders for these decisions in advance — rather than improvising during crises — substantially improve both welfare outcomes and decision-maker wellbeing.