WSPA - Animals in Disasters Blog

WSPA assesses situation in drought-stricken Kenyan region

East Africa has been experiencing its worst drought in 60 years, with more than 11 million people threatened by starvation in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. The vast majority of those affected are nomadic communities who depend on livestock for their livelihoods.

Therefore, a WSPA Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) will travel to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, this weekend to ascertain the needs of the affected communities in one of the country’s affected districts, Mwingi. The team will be led by Sergio Vasquez, the Disaster Veterinary Officer in Latin America and the Caribbean, along with members of staff from WSPA’s Veterinary Emergency Response Unit (VERU). The Donkey Sanctuary will also be providing a member of staff from their Kenya office to join the WSPA led team.

We will update you on the situation during our assessment. 

 

WSPA begins intervention in Bolivia’s snowbound west

WSPA will assist tens of thousands of Bolivian animals affected by this year’s severe snowfalls that have covered pastures and left animals susceptible to hypothermia and malnutrition in the department of Potosi.

A state of natural disaster was declared in the south-west of the department of the Andean nation following early season snowfall that began in July. To date, no animals are reported to have perished, but the persistence of snow threatens the survival of livestock.

For this reason, a significant WSPA intervention will take place in the coming weeks. A total of 87,300 animals, including camelids and sheep, which 1,877 families depend on for their livelihood, will be assisted.

WSPA, together with the governmental body, SENASAG, will provide doses of de-wormer and multivitamin so that all the animals in need will receive the emergency relief required to survive this period.

We will co-ordinate our efforts in tandem with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which will distribute seed to renew pastures and help build animal shelters in Potosi. Working with the FAO in the South American nation ensures that efforts are maximised in providing different forms of essential relief that are not duplicated.

WSPA reports back from Argentina’s volcano relief operations

On the ground in Argentina attending to animal’s affected by the eruption of Chile’s Puyehue volcano, WSPA South America’s Ricardo Jimenez has sent us this eye witness account:

“The Argentinian government had declared several locations as disaster zones in the provinces of Neuquen and Rio Negro, which were badly affected by the eruption of the neighbouring Chilean volcano, Puyehue. I arrived in San Carlos de Bariloche with a WSPA team to deliver a relief operation to assist 120,000 animals owned by small farmers in the region.

Most of WSPA’s assistance for the province of Rio Negro is focused on delivering food to mainly sheep and goats unable to forage because of the thick ash layer covering the pastures. In addition, over the weekend, the team were stocking up supplies and distributing oats and forage as emergency food for horses in semi-rural communities. This included, for example, a big group of horses on an abandoned farm being cared for by a neighbour without the means to feed the animals himself.

Baya is just one of the horses at the abandoned farm, which was formerly a prosperous organic farm but is now covered in volcanic ash. She has not been able to properly suckle her young as she has not eaten enough grass to produce sufficient milk. When we arrived at the farm, the foal, which would normally only live on milk, put its muzzle into the oats and claimed its share.

WSPA also visited impoverished communities around Bariloche that rely on working horses to transport firewood from high altitudes to the city to use as firewood during the winter. These communities also rely on selling the wood to neighbouring communities as a source of income.

The horses live in backyards and normally graze in the surrounding fields. Now, however, with relentless cold weather, many of them are in bad shape, unable to forage enough food in order to be able to work as their usual food source is buried many centimetres under the thick layer of ash. Those animals clever enough to remove a big layer of ash with their muzzles suffer from teeth deterioration in exchange for just a few blades of contaminated grass.

All these horses will need feed supplies until the grass has sprouted again on the fields around Bariloche, which will take a couple of months. Unfortunately, these horses are not entitled to governmental help as livestock would be because they are not considered as contributing significantly to the regional economy.

WSPA is also preparing educational material in collaboration with the National Agriculture Technology Institute (INTA) which will be handed out to animal owners, detailing how they can better protect the welfare of their animals over the tough months to come. The main topics covered in these materials are nutrition, animal health, management and shearing.

Our Argentinian member societies, FABA and Fundacion Collunche have also been very active in supporting WSPA's relief efforts. FABA has donated important medical supplies that will be very useful for a shelter which is taking care of the abandoned dog population in the town of Villa La Angostura, while WSPA will feed these animals in need.  Fundacion Cullunche is helping WSPA with the organisation of  food trucks that will be heading to the disaster zone, while their veterinarians will assist in offering medical treatment to companion animals.”

Further updates from the field will be posted soon.

Vietnamese animals to receive relief, while efforts continue in two other emergencies

Heavy flooding following Tropical Storm Haima has affected half of the districts in Vietnam’s Nghe An Province, killing at least 3,500 livestock. In response, a team from WSPA’s Asia Pacific office, located in Bangkok, travelled to the area to assess immediate and longer term needs in the aftermath.

Our Disaster Assessment Needs Analysis (DANA) found that surviving animals were at risk from diseases such as foot and mouth disease and hog cholera, as well as being in need of feed.  As a result, around 1,700 pigs are being provided with food supplies for around two months, while veterinary care is being administered according to local need. WSPA is also providing protective sheeting for cattle shelters which were damaged by the flooding.    

Our ongoing efforts in Argentina in response to volcanic ash fallout from Chile’s Puyehue volcano have now been significantly extended. A further 80,000 livestock will now benefit from food distribution in the province of Rio Negro, bringing the total of animals assisted in the region to approximately 120,000 livestock and 400 companion animals. This extension of WSPA’s work means that 100% of the affected animals in the department of Pilcaliyeu will now receive feed.

In India’s state of West Bengal, we are undertaking further emergency relief efforts, as well as preparedness work, following our DANA in response to recent flooding. To date, six temporary ‘veterinary health camps’ have provided care, including de-wormer and minerals, to 3,578 animals, owned by 720 households in rural areas.

Protective sheeting has also been given to 500 households dependent on livestock, due to shelters being damaged by the flooding. Additionally, feeding operations continue: over the coming weeks more than 8,700 cattle in 27 villages will receive deliveries of feed.

A Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) from WSPA India has been preparing vulnerable communities in Veterinary Disaster Management in order to cope with events like flooding in the future.  Animal owners are to receive training, in collaboration with local agencies.