History

The current AATA Animal Attendant Program was conceived and formulated by Joseph N. Santarelli, and Martin Atock the then Co Chairs of the AATA Equine Committee in 1994, as the first ever Equine Attendant Registration program in the world. 

It was an effort of our Equine Committee representing industry Leaders being proactive in their efforts to self regulate and elevate the standards within our industry and therefore the welfare of the horses being shipped world-wide.  It came as a direct result of years of unqualified and unsuitable grooms being put on flights and responsible for horses without the knowledge, or experience to do so.  

This  AATA industry led initiative evolved from AATA making contact with over 33 countries and more than 75 companies  as well as the Ministries of Agriculture in most of the developed nations in the world.  This initiative was led  by the Equine Committee over a two year period.  We became particularly encouraged to pursue our initiative by various Government representatives around the world, and in particular by Minister of Agriculture Elliot Morley speaking at our International conference in Burnham England in 1999.

EU directives  requiring the employment of ‘competent’ animal handlers during transport were then issued, but the Directives failed to define what "Competent" meant. Individual Member states were required to interpret these Directives in their own individual ways.  In the UK, “competences" were very clearly outlined and a Government sponsored body already existed for assessment of such competences.

At the request of the Equine Committee of AATA, Mr. Tim Harris, the AATA European secretary approached The National Proficiency Test Council in Great Britain (NPTC) to establish an examination or assessment of competence to be carried out by their own trained assessors.  This assessment had to be independent, acceptable to the Government, acceptable to other EU Member states and other parts of the world, and acceptable to industry.  Mr. Steve Hewitt of the NPTC proved to be forward thinking and welcomed the opportunity to establish such a plan.

It took years of effort, trial and error before the first group of grooms were registered under the program. The AATA entered into a contractual agreement with NPTC to administer the program.

We began registering Equine attendants in 2000 and our plan became recognized on an international level for its uniqueness and foresight.

The Equine Committee tried unsuccessfully to have the Live Animal & Perishable Board of IATA recognize our program and add it to requirements within the LAR, (Live Animal Regulations of IATA) but continued to promote and register grooms from around the word.  The LAR is considered to be directly part of transport legislation throughout the EU.

The LAR did however include the word “competent” as a requirement for animal handlers, but failed to specify what this meant.

The AATA approached the LAPB of IATA in 2003 to consider adding text to the LAR in an effort to define competency.  During a meeting in Montreal, the AATA withdrew its formal request and agreed to participate in a working group within the LAPB to establish text defining competency.  The committee did in fact agree on terms of definition and the new text was approved by the LAPB in October of 2003 and will be published in the next issue of the LAR. 

The Board of Directors of the AATA appreciates and supports the efforts of the working group of the LAPB in their cooperation in this effort.

Once this text was approved, the AATA decided to phase out the simple AATA registration Program entirely, opting for the AATA independently assessed Animal Attendant program.

Since the events of September 11^th, security of airline crews and personal has been tightened, and has created a greater interest in the AATA Animal Attendant program.  In response to this world-wide security crisis, our attendants are now required to submit a 10 year criminal background check from a government authority showing a clear record before they can be eligible for acceptance into our program.

All applicants applying for registration within our program effective Jan 1^st, 2004 must submit to independent assessment through NPTC assessors before they can qualify as AATA Animal Attendants.

Today, AATA has a well established Animal Attendant Program for equine grooms with competency assessed according to NPTC requirements. 

AATA is in the process of developing a similar registration and assessment program for attendants of Zoological and domestic animals. [Details]