Port-au-Prince (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Several animal rescue groups are closely monitoring the situation in Haiti after Tuesday's earthquake left much of the island nation in ruins. In a country where little resources and emergency services are available to humans, many Americans are wondering about the animals as well.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has posted this message on their website:
An earthquake of magnitude 7.0 shook the nation of Haiti on January 12, near the capital of Port-au-Prince.The damage is severe, and high loss of life is expected. Humane Society International and The Humane Society of the United States are working with other animal welfare and humanitarian organizations to determine how best to assist animals and people affected by the disaster. We have offered our support in providing care to affected animals and will post updates as they become available.
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, a no-kill animal welfare organization in Kanab, Utah, was very active in the Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts, but no formal statement about the Haiti situation has been posted on their website yet. Animal rescue groups faced enormous challenges in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, from being granted access to New Orleans to search homes for abandoned pets to dealing with the care of thousands of homeless animals in the months that followed. Best Friends and other rescue groups will no doubt face even greater challenges should they decide to help the animals of Haiti.
See some of the amazing rescue work that Best Friends did after Hurricane Katrina.
Stay tuned for more information and how you can donate to help the animals in Haiti...
Comments
Although animals will undoubtedly have suffered from the Haiti earthquake, I do not expect to see a large scale animal rescue operation for pets. Most animals in Haiti are apparently considered food. In very impoverished areas "food animals" include cats, dogs, bunnies, birds, snakes.
Veterinary assistance teams were already on the ground in Haiti to assist with livestock issues. One VMAT is apparently on standby.
Currently, the only safe way I know to help alleviate the suffering in Haiti is to give money to a reputable humanitarian aid group.
I received requests from several national animal welfare organizations to donate money in emails referring to Haiti. But when I checked all of them were merely 'observing' the situation.
It may be best to see who really deploys, what they really do once they are IN Haiti BEFORE donating any money.
This is NOT Katrina on steroids. At least not yet.
That's great advice Frans - we need to wait and see what animal welfare organizations actually end up going into Haiti and rescuing animals. Please stay tuned as I will keep writing articles with the latest information. Whether animals are considered food or not, they are living beings and many American citizens are concerned.
I am donating to humanitarian efforts and waiting to see who actually goes into Haiti. I did not see dogs roaming around on all the news coverage. Then again would the USA have room for a mass evacuation of third world country's dogs? I would not think there were too many vets in Haiti or that the health of the dogs are a priority for them, as the people have a difficult time surviving themselves.
I heard dogs barking while listening to live night time reports on CNN. Surely, just like every other country on the planet, there are many animals there. How many survived the devastation is the question.
Pre-earthquake, animals there were probably suffering and starving, just like many of the people. I've seen photos of animals eating from piles of garbage.
Knowing how dedicated these volunteer rescuers are, they'll surely get in there as soon as they can to care for, feed, even humanely euthanize all the animals they can.
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