Haiti Animal Rescue

[Freedom]

I wondered about animals (pets, livestock) in Haiti. This is all I can find:

HSUS - Humane Society of the United States is monitoring the situation.
"One difficulty is that there are no organized animal welfare groups anywhere in the country, and no animal shelters or veterinary schools. This lack of infrastructure will complicate any response."

Full story here:
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2010/01/haiti.html

January 14, 2010

Monitoring the Situation in Haiti

Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti, for the trauma and loss they’ve already experienced since Tuesday night’s calamitous 7.0 earthquake hit, with its epicenter not far from the densely populated capital of Port-au-Prince. News agencies report that thousands have perished, many are still trapped in the rubble of buildings, and hundreds of thousands of others are without shelter, medical care, or other life necessities. Governments and relief agencies are deploying to deal with what amounts to one of the worst disasters of modern times, with its impact compounded by the chronic poverty, deficient infrastructure, bare-bones medical care, and other problems that afflict the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.

When people suffer in this terrible way, so do animals. The HSUS, Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, and our global affiliate Humane Society International are working on a preliminary assessment of Haiti’s animal-care needs, taking into account the security, transportation, housing, and supply challenges that we would face in deployment. Fortunately, one of our veterinary teams had been conducting a program at a veterinary school in the neighboring Dominican Republic when the quake struck. We are looking to determine if they can get into Haiti to conduct an on-the-ground assessment. We are also communicating with human relief agencies, and looking to cooperate with them. One difficulty is that there are no organized animal welfare groups anywhere in the country, and no animal shelters or veterinary schools. This lack of infrastructure will complicate any response.

If you would like to support our disaster response work around the world, you can give here. Please stay tuned to the blog, and to humanesociety.org for continuing updates.


The same issues facing the aid efforts for humans. Too sad.

[Marigold2]

Yes I wonder about the animals myself, they have no voice.

[moosmom]

Although I do have a dear friend in Haiti, Father Rick Frechette, who miraculously survived the devastation, my first thought was the animals. Who will care for them??? I mean, God was certainly looking out for Rick, that's obvbious. But what about the animals???

The problem in Haiti is, over there it's RICH/POOR, no in between. I'd like to know what the rich folk of Haiti is doing to help their own country?

[pomtzu]

In seeing all the coverage of the Haiti earthquake, I don't remember seeing even a single dog walking thru the rubble. Kind of made me wonder what was up with that. Normally you see dogs wandering the streets in poor countries or where devastation has hit. Strange............

[moosmom]

Studies have been done on animals, their instincts during natural disasters, such as earthquakes, psunamis, etc. They have an uncanny instinct to "get outta dodge" before disaster strikes. They are amazing creatures.

[lvpets2002]

Its all so sad & devastating.. However I often wonder about the animals too.. I sure hope they are helping them too..

Now I have not heard about the rich people over there helping or not.. But I did hear the President of that Country state he was homeless.. However he also stated he would not be sleeping in the streets.. He has said his Thanks for all the Help they are getting more than once..