WSPA - Animals in Disasters Blog

Operation Overview: Asia Pacific

Thanks to our vets in the field, our member societies and government assistance, the disaster response team has been able to relieve the suffering of hundreds of animals caught up in the natural disasters in Asia Pacific through the provision of much needed food and medical care.

Operation Overview: The Philippines

In the Philippines, the aftermath of the two cyclones caused severe flooding and damage to shelters. In one pound where the water level rose to 9 feet all the animals drowned and about 3,600 dogs were brought to evacuation centres. The WSPA team managed to provide food and medicine for animals rescued from the floods in the Marakina city pound and food for Muntinlupa city pound as well as hundreds of collars and leashes at the evacuation centers in Marakina and Muntinlupa.The mayor of Muntinlupa expressed his thanks to all volunteers who helped animals affected by flooding in his city. WSPA coordinated with city vets to distribute food and collars and leashes to the relief centers in each district. The Director of Bureau of Animal Industries also agreed to send the local government vets in these districts to vaccinate dogs for rabies and to report to his office on the number and health of dogs and other animals in the centres.

Dr Damian Woodberry, Disaster Response Team Leader

Operation Overview: Indonesia

The tsunami that struck Indonesia caused the death of thousands of people and animals. The worst affected areas were Padang, Pariaman and Padang Pariaman. Through coordinated efforts with our member societies Profauna and Yudhistira and government livestock department vets, hundreds of animals were provided with emergency and basic treatment and pet owners were given dog and cat food. Mineral blocks for cows and buffaloes were also distributed to livestock owners. We were also able to train staff and volunteers from Profauna and Yudhistira on disaster assessment and response.

Dr Ashish Sutar, Disaster Senior Veterinary Officer

Operation Overview: Samoa

The islands of Samoa have a significant dog population and people are heavily reliant on their cattle, pigs and chickens. The team distributed hundreds of cans of cat and dog food to the six worst hit villages, provided by WSPA member society, the Animal Protection Society of Samoa.  In addition, Hill’s Pet Nutrition from New Zealand donated 2 tonnes of its dog food to villagers for their animals.  The mayor of Saleaamua village, Tiumalu Amakisa, said: “Thank you so much for your donation. Thank you for what you do for us and our country.” 

We met an extremely luck family in Ulutogia who managed to escape unharmed from the tsunami, thanks to their dog. He sensed the water coming and started barking. Thankfully, the family looked to see what had frightened him and saw the wave coming. Their houses were destroyed but the people were able to escape with their two young children, their dogs and their neighbours too.

Dr Juan Carlos Murillo, Disaster Management Veterinary Co-ordinator

Earthquake drill Bogota

I've just returned from Bogota via a short stay in Boston to brieif our regional office on my work in Colombia. Although tired and a little bruised the trip was a huge success. Last weekend Colombia held the largest evacuation drill for earthquakes in the last ten years in Bogota.This as a huge event with every citezen having to evacuate their houses and a large number of rescue scenarios around the city. WSPA was asked to plan and run two scenarios involving rescuing animals from a collapsed high rise structure and to deal with a road traffic accident involving horses.

Present were representations from our teams from Colombia, Costa Rica and the UK and we also launched our Veterinary Emergency Response Unit based out of the veterinary faculty in Bogota. The event was a huge success and many international observers got to see how important it is to consider animals into emergency planning for urban risk situations. Im very proud of my teams and what they achieved having worked all the hours to make this a succes

Philippines: end of intervention

12 October 2009: Over the last two days we have left food, collars and leashes at the evacuation centers in Marakina and Muntinlupa, as well as food and medicine for animals rescued from the floods in the Marakina city pound and food for Muntinlupa city pound.

We had a quick chat with the Mayor of Muntinlupa, who thanked all volunteers who are helping animals affected by flooding in his city. He also told me that the latest weather prediction is that the water level will not return to normal for at least 14 days around Laguna Bay.

The city vet in Pasig said that there were no dogs in the evacuation centers in his district, and Quezon City vet said they had no animals in their pound rescued from the floods, so neither vet would take any of the food or leashes. Therefore, I have sent the rest of the goods to Laguna City.

Dr. Damian Woodberry, Disaster Response Team Leader

West Sumatra relief operations

12 October 2009: The worst affected parts of west Sumatra province has been Padang and Pariaman. Over the last few days we have worked with our member society Profauna and their volunteers as well as the government’s livestock department. We provided emergency first aid together with general pet health care by organising health camps in earthquake affected areas for companion animals in Padang City and domestic animals in Pariaman, near Padang, with WSPA. Our other main task has been the distribution of dog and cat food and mineral blocks for cows and buffaloes.

Dr.Ashish Sutar, Disaster Senior Veterinary Officer

Indonesia Update

I was in the city of Pariaman and Padang Pariaman regency for the last two days with the veterinarians from WSPA member societies Profauna and Yudisthira.

The officers from livestock services of  both the regions were also involved in the joint assessment with WSPA led team in earthquake affected West Sumatra province of Indonesia.The destruction of houses and infrastructure is evident and people have set up temporary shelters in front of their houses.

The animal shelter has not been too badly affected and is made of a wooden structure common in the area. However, the roof is made up of asbestos sheets and is partially damaged. The team has examined and treated over 60 animals for the emergency first aid during this assessment visit. The emergency first aid and health care is covering the basic needs at this stage for the earthquake affected animals in the assessment area.

Ashish Sutar ,Disaster Senior Veterinary Officer,WSPA

Manila update: Wednesday

We managed to get the delivery of food today, along with the collars. We took 10 bags of dog food, 150 collars and leashes and a small amount of medical supplies for the Marakina region city pound and evacuation center. This area had 6 to 9 feet of water, and all the animals in the pound drowned. All five of their vehicles are damaged, along with 70% of all  government vehicles in the area. The city vet has spent most of his time helping in the human relief center, while still looking after 24 dogs and 12 cats that they rescued from the floods. Because he is working with the relief operation, he has helped us get our relief for dogs onto the trucks to the evacuation centers. We have repacked most of the rest of the food and leashes ready to go to other relief centers tomorrow.

Dr. Damian Woodberry
Disaster Response Team Leader

Manila update: Tuesday

Today Dr Patacsil and I went to the Department of Social Welfare and Development Office Field Office for the National Capital Region. We were able to get very detailed information on evacuation centers in NCR. There are still 113 evacuation centers, with 79 886 individuals. Most of them are in 6 districts, Pasig, Muntinlupa and Marakina. After meeting with the Director of Bureau of Animal Industries, he has agreed to send the local government vets in these districts to vaccinate dogs for rabies and to report to his office on the number and health of dogs and other animals in the evac centers. We are also planning to use the city vets to distribute food and collars and leashes form the relief centers in each district. We have this already organised for Marakina and Muntinlupa, and will contact the other city vets tomorrow. We have purchased locally 500 sets of collars and leashes, 50 bags of dog food, and 2 of cat food. This will go to the evacuation centers and the city pounds in Marakina and Muntinlupa which were both hit hard by the floods.

Dr Damian Woodberry, Disaster Response Team Leader