As Colombia and India’s Tamil Nadu state struggle to cope with their worst floods in years, and Myanmar battles in the aftermath of Cyclone Giri, WSPA teams are assisting affected animals in each country.
The Colombian Department of Riseralda in the west of the country’s vast central area, has been one of the most adversely affected by the heaviest rains in 40 years, and was the next area WSPA South America, itself based in Colombia’s capital, identified for relief work.
Following on from recent WSPA rescue work in the the Valle, Atlántico and Sucre areas, and government assistance in the northwestern Antioquia Department, we identified the need to assist animals in the municipality of La Virginia. The area was flooded by the waters of the Cauca river, one of the largest in Colombia, and needed urgent food, vaccines and other treatments for companion and farm animals.
So, on Tuesday 14 December, WSPA, together with local member society, Sociedad Protectora de Animales y Plantas de Pereira (APAP) and the Colombian Veterinary Emergency Response Unit, began distribution of food and veterinary medical assistance to some 500 animals, including 230 cats and dogs, 50 horses and other equines and around 60 cattle. APAP now hopes to assist around 1,200 animals in La Virginia and to extend efforts to some small municipalities nearby.
The company Mars Andino (Masterfoods Colombia), kindly donated one ton of Pedigree dog food which has arrived in the area.
After finishing an assessment of the damage caused by cyclone Giri in the Asian nation of Myanmar, better known as Burma, WSPA has been given the go-ahead to begin relief operations. Staff from WSPA’s offices in Thailand and India, together with local veterinary volunteers and the governmental livestock department in the Sittwe area, one of the worst affected, are beginning to vaccinate approximately 10,000 cattle and buffalo from foot-and-mouth disease.
The work will be completed this month, together with providing emergency veterinary care and veterinary infrastructure development for the country’s needy vets.
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Meanwhile, on 16th December, WSPA’s New Delhi office sent a team to the country’s south eastern Tamil Nadu state to assess the need for animals, following recent heavy flooding which has killed more than 170 people, and left coastal areas waterlogged and 5,000 hectares submerged.
WSPA is working together with local animal welfare organisation Blue Cross , member societies AWBI and PFA and the Clocal government animal husbandry department, which is already distributing fodder for livestock and conducting vaccination programmes. WSPA will identify if there will be a need for further assistance in the coming weeks and will assess the situation in the two worst-affected areas.
