We can’t thank you enough. The outpouring of supportive feedback and donations towards our disaster relief fund to help animals in Haiti has been absolutely remarkable. We’re in a great position to deliver the long-term rehabilitation that the animals and citizens of this grief-stricken, battered country are so desperately depending on.
In the first days following the earthquake in Haiti, WSPA and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) came together to set up the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) so that animal welfare organizations wanting to help the animals of Haiti could work together and take joint action for maximum impact. ARCH now has 19 member organizations acting together in Haiti. The coalition has just completed an assessment of the animal welfare situation in Haiti in order to develop an effective course of action for the coming weeks and months.
The ARCH coalition plans to spend in excess of $1.2million in Haiti on short and long-term initiatives that will not only help Haiti’s animals but also the people who rely on them. Some coalition members (including IFAW) are currently in the field treating anywhere from 50 to 100 animals a day and others (including WSPA) are preparing for the long-term rehabilitation efforts from the safe corridor – Santo Domingo. The WSPA staff plan to return to Haiti in about a week to begin carrying out the formalized long-term plan that we’ve been frantically working on.
It may not seem exciting that we’re currently in the background working out the long-term course of action. However, it’s important work that must be done and when we return to Haiti we’ll do our best to share the first-hand accounts of what we’re witnessing on the ground. In the meantime I thought you would appreciate seeing this video from our coalition partner, IFAW. Watch as Dr. Dick Green recounts some remarkable stories from the front lines of the disaster.
As with any recovery operation that WSPA undertakes after a disaster, we are working in close consultation with the government and international agencies. At present we are in the process of working out a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Haiti, in order to plan the most effective way to rebuild and reinforce the country’s veterinary infrastructure. Although we are working with a proposal that could cost in excess of $1.2million, working together with our partners in ARCH means this financial challenge will be shared amongst us.
Donations you contribute to WSPA’s Animals in Disasters fund will be used to finance both the immediate and long term recovery work for Haiti and, if we raise more money than is required for our Haiti relief effort, we will keep these donations in our disaster fund to prepare for any future disasters.
Once again, thank you for supporting WSPA’s work and the ARCH coalition enabling us to respond to crisis with the urgency required. We’ll continue to update you as this critical mission progresses.
