THE TSUNAMI that pounded South Asia just after Christmas with the tragic loss of thousands of lives has created a second tier of victims: animals.
Dogs are homeless in Thailand. Cows, water buffalo and goats have died in Sri Lanka. And farm animals are roaming destroyed grazing land and drinking polluted water since their owners have died, said Sherry Grant, Asia director for Humane Society International.
Humans and animals have a “dynamic connection,” Grant said during a three-country tour of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
“The animals and their well-being... connect to the humans because they are the providers” and can generate economic recovery, she said. Subsistence farmers “need those cattle, they need those oxen to pull their ploughs, to work those fields.”
In India, the Blue Cross told the Humane Society that thousands of dead animals lined beaches after the tsunami struck. It also said that all the animals at the Point Calimere wildlife sanctuary, including 1,800 black buck, were probably dead.
Dogs are roaming what appear to be their hometowns in Thailand, some of which are devastated and lifeless after the tsunami killed thousands of people in the area. Wiek said volunteers have supplied 800 kilograms of dog food in the last few days.
“I think they all knew something was coming and they fled to higher ground,” said Wiek, director of the Wildlife Friends of Thailand Rescue Centre.
To relieve the pressures, the Humane Society will likely provide financial aid, equipment, create dog feeding programs and clean watering holes.
Grant also noted that dogs were important companions for humans, but devastated families now had to decide if they could feed one more mouth.
Meanwhile, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), the international UN-recognised charity representing nearly 500 member organisations worldwide, warned that the humanitarian tsunami tragedy is likely to be mirrored in the plight of affected animals in the crisis-hit region of South East Asia.
Although wildlife is likely to have escaped largely unscathed, WSPA is concerned at the fate of domesticated animals unable to flee the force of the tsunami and those surviving animals whose fate is so closely linked with that of the people in the region.
With decades of experience in dealing with animals caught up in disasters, WSPA is mobilising and coordinating resources from animal welfare organisations around the world in an international relief effort to help the animal victims of this disaster. The exact nature of this response will be informed by a series of assessments, currently underway by WSPA’s network of member societies in the region.
Major General Peter Davies CB, WSPA Director General, said, “The effects of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami have become a tragedy of truly horrendous proportions for people and animals alike. In the countries badly hit by this disaster, livestock and working animals are vital to the lives of rural communities that depend upon them for their very survival.
Surviving animals are likely to be at increased risk of disease and infections that typically follow in the wake of natural catastrophes and we can only begin to guess at the numbers of trapped, sick or starving animals that, like their owners, are in desperate need of help.
Supplies of vital veterinary medicines, such as antibiotics, can make the difference between life and death for animals in the aftermath of disaster and helping animals has a real impact on the long-term process of people rebuilding their shattered lives, particularly in farming communities.”
The Soi Dog Foundation is a volunteer and not-for-profit organization with the aim to better the lives and living conditions of the street and stray dogs in Thailand.
The most important tasks, the physical work of helping the street (soi) and stray dogs, is done in Thailand by volunteers. Soi Dog Foundation supports this work through efforts of volunteers working in The Netherlands.
The Soi Dog Foundation has been doing its best to help the animal victims of the tsunami in Thailand. A SDF volunteer worker named Margot said: “We do get comments now as to how I can focus on dogs when there are so many people suffering. I understand that many people don’t realize this, but animals also suffer tremendously when disasters like this happen. Fortunately, people are really pulling together to help each other – a disaster like this truly brings the best out of people.
People who suffered through this are not able to help the animals themselves, even though many want to - the temple in Kamala is a good example. This place is totally ruined and three monks perished as well, together with about 15 of their dogs and some a few cats living there.
“There are now about ten dogs left who have are now finding their little place amid the ruins of in the bell tower which is still standing. While I was feeding there the other day, two monks who used to live there, were taking a look at what was left of their beloved temple.
Fortunately, one of them was the abbot, the head monk, who did everything for the dogs and who has taken several dumped pups off our hands and raised them. Now, he cannot do this anymore - he looked so stoic but it was obvious that he was hurting and incredibly sad. He was so happy to see that his dogs are being fed - when I saw him, I was bringing drinking water in large bottles, which I poured into a few big pails I just bought - I hope they stay there!
“On 31 December I received word that 150kg. of dry dog food would arrive in Phuket Town at about 11am - my friend Suriya had organized this. My partner Rock and I picked up the food and immediately went to several volunteers’ houses to drop off what they could use - no restaurant food is available anymore and these people cannot afford to buy all the food to replace this….
“Then there are the countless local people who do their bit and still need to be located. Went back to Kamala to check on the stray we found - nowhere - but a few others had arrived that we later found out were beach dogs from the same hotel the Swedish tourists who stayed in my house escaped from.
They seemed to be fine and needed water mostly, which we gave them. We went on to check Bangtao beach where we found a few dead dogs in the water - treated a few dogs along the Laguna beach for mange - fed the dogs at the top of that beach, Layan beach as well. These have been left there by the people who were running the beach restaurant there, two of the four are missing and a new little black one had arrived. And it goes on and on.”
* Closer to home, the Luton Canine Association raised the staggering sum of £1,100 in donations to the Tsunami Disaster Appeal on the third day of their recent three-day show.
Secretary Ben Reynolds-Frost told OUR DOGS: “The Committee discussed doing something to help the victims of the disaster, so it was agreed that we would hold a raffle on the final day of the show. I kept on the PA all day making no apologies for telling people we wanted their money and we received lots of large, generous donations.
Some people didn’t even want raffle tickets, they were happy just to give us the money. In this way we raised £1,000 - and then gained an extra £100 thanks to the generosity of the raffle winner.”
* Donations to the animal victims of the Tsunami Disaster can be made online to the various organisations, website details as follows:
WSPA:
http://www.wspa.org.uk
Humane Society International:
http://www.hsi.org.au
Soi Dog Foundation:
http://www.soidogfoundation.org
Wetnose:
http://www.wetnose-campaign.com
