WSPA South America’s Ricardo Jimenez has sent us this update from Colombia where he joined recent efforts to rescue animals from some of the worst floods the country has seen.
“Heavy rains associated with the La Niña phenomenon have seriously affected the country with 154 people reported dead and over 1.3 million people affected, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The National Government has even declared a state of emergency for 28 out of the 32 provinces in the country.
A WSPA team spent two days visiting a disaster zone near to the capital, Bogota, in Mosquera, which is an agricultural area with many dairy farms and plantations. During the assessment, we observed that the farmers were dealing well with the evacuation of their livestock (over 4,000 animals) but we were concerned about some horses left in flooded paddocks, which were not even reachable by boat at the time.
Inland, free roaming dogs and cats and some goats and horses were given first aid and some preventive treatments. Partly thanks to evacuation assistance from WSPA, local authorities ensured that the dairy cattle were taken by their owners to higher ground.
WSPA soon returned to the scene to try to rescue as many horses as possible which was an onerous task. Eventually 20 horses and 5 bulls were rescued from the waters, suffering from varying degrees of injuries, hypothermia, skin infections and dehydration. The rescued animals were then taken to a farm,
located away from floodwaters, and are currently awaiting their owners return, although some will be re-housed.
The floods are still ongoing and so we are continuing to monitor the situation for any further assistance which may be necessary.
