Thailand’s worst floods in decades were triggered by heavy monsoon rain that began in July. More than one third of its provinces have flooded. The government has said it will be impossible to protect all of Bangkok and the capital continues to be under flood alert.
WSPA is monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. We have a team based at our Bangkok office who are anxious about their own companion animals, as well as the escalating situation for others in the area.
The scale of the situation is likely to be huge as flood waters are expected to remain for several weeks. There are reports of over 14 million livestock affected, not to mention unknown numbers of companion animals belonging to the 2.4 million people caught up in this disaster.
On Thursday, two WSPA Disaster Assessment Response Teams (DARTs) began work on the ground to assess the situation.
The first team worked with Wildlife Friends of Thailand (WFFT) at the Emergency Operations Centre in Ayutthaya. We assisted with setting up a temporary shelter that is expected to hold 100 animals for the next two to three weeks. We also were also able to assist with the rescue of eight dogs, three puppies, two cats and nine kittens by boat. The animals we’ve seen are clearly stressed and in need of food, water and veterinary treatment.
The second DART team joined Prof. Dr. Mongkol Techakumphu and three veterinary students from Chulalonkorn University to visit Nonthaburi Province, where they distributed feed to companion animals and provided veterinary treatment. We were pleased to see one food distribution centre where local people can come to collect food for their animals too.
More work and further information is needed at this stage to determine how best we can help Thailand’s animals. Over the next few days our teams will continue their assessments in the field and we will continue discussions to confirm how best we can work with government and other agencies and groups to help those animals in need.
We’ll update you with more news as soon as we can.
