Animals in the Tsunami In all the chaos and horror of
the tsunami in South Asia, there
have been some remarkable
stories of heroism. And a few
quite touching reports to do with
animals.
How You Can Help Tsunami Animals
March, 2005
For the latest updates on the work funded by your donations to Best Friends Tsunami Animal Relief Fund, please visit the World section of our news site.
See also From Disaster..Heroes from the March/April issue of Best Friends Magazine.
Update on the Tsunami Animals
January 9, 2005
Many thanks to all of you who have helped by giving so generously to the Best Friends Tsunami Relief Fund!
The Fund has gotten off to a great start and is distributing much needed funds to local Asian animal rescue organizations struggling to help all the animals who survived the tsunami.
Kartick Satyanarayan of Wildlife S.O.S. in New Delhi, India, has written to us that when their team arrived to begin their work along the beaches of southern India, the first two villages they came to had been completely washed away. At the third village, survivors greeted them and brought forward seven or eight bruised cows to be treated, along with fifteen or twenty lame or bruised dogs, all animals injured by the debris carried along in the rushing waves. They traveled about thirty-five miles the first day, treating injured animals on the beaches.
From Colombo, in Sri Lanka, Robert Blumberg, who's been helping animals there for many years, writes to us that many people and groups are working together to help all the animals. Champa Fernando of KACPAW, of Sri Lanka, has been liaising with the government to pave the way for an outpouring of help from many international animal organizations (among them, the World Society for the Protection of Animals, Humane Society International, Animal People News, IFAW, RSCPCA, and Noah's Wish). KACPAW's mobile vet clinic was able in one day to vaccinate 110 dogs in five relief camps.
Thanks to CNN's Anderson Cooper and Hugh Riminton for carrying the story of Sri Lanka's sea turtles--though it was a heart-breaking story. Kithsiri Kanangara of the Bentota Sea Turtles Project said, "The waves wash all the hatcheries...all destroyed."
For twenty-five years Kanangara has worked to save the five species of endangered and threatened sea turtles that nest in Sri Lanka. The very day the tsunami struck, 20,000 turtle hatchlings were due to be released into the sea. Nearly all the hatchlings who had been ready for release were killed, still in their hatcheries, by the great waves.
Only one adult turtle remained, a beautiful green turtle; a few others were recovered later; some with their shells badly damaged. This represents a tremendous setback for the recovery hopes of the world's sea turtles. However, Kanangara, despite the huge loss, is still hard at work, setting a few hatchlings into the sea and caring for injured adults.
On the HSI Asia web site (www.hsiasia.org), the story is told of the two dolphins in Thailand--a story many of us have followed, from the time the dolphins were washed by the tsunami into a newly created body of water seven meters deep, from which they could not find their way out. After many rescue attempts, the mother dolphin was finally freed. There was no sign of her calf. Edwin Wiek of the SOS Wildlife Rescue Center in Thailand, who helped with the rescue, has studied all the photos and believes that they are all photos of one dolphin, that, in fact, there was no calf. Hopefully, he is correct, and if so, that is another happy ending!
Thank you again for all your help for the tsunami animals!
January 2, 2005
Tens of thousands of tsunami animals have been left homeless, in need of food and water. Local Asian animal rescue organizations are working heroically to care for them all.
Blue Cross of India's first task was to comb ravaged areas to cut loose goats and cows who were still tethered, unable to reach food or clean water, then to begin feeding all the many animals.
Thousands of animals have been found dead along the beaches of southern India.
Pradeep Nath of the Visakha SPCA of southern India is caring for hundreds of cows and, with his volunteers and staff, is feeding all the stranded dogs and other animals in twenty devastated villages. We talked to Pradeep, who had recently visited Best Friends' sanctuary, this week on the Best Friends radio show.
In Phuket, Thailand, the Soi Dog Foundation is providing enormous quantities of food to hundreds of dogs, some who've lost their people, and others who used to rely on handouts from restaurants that have now been washed away. A founder of Soi Dog died in the tsunami while helping others, and some of their volunteers have died or been injured.
A USAid worker, who has helped animals for many years, is distributing aid to local animal rescue organizations in Sri Lanka, one of the hardest hit countries.
(Many thanks to Merritt Clifton and Kim Bartlett of Animal People, who have been wonderful in putting us in touch with a number of these organizations.)
Under difficult circumstances, all these amazing people are bringing food, comfort, and safety to as many dogs, cats, goats, cows, snakes, monkeys, birds and other animals as possible.
The Best Friends Tsunami Animal Relief Fund has been set up in order to help. To contribute, visit our online donations section section, and look for instructions under the heading Best Friends Tsunami Animal Relief Fund.
Important Note: Contributions to tsunami relief efforts made in January '05 can be deducted on 2004 tax returns. For more information, visit the IRS website.
