I did not get a report out on September 6 as promised. Several team members are quite ill (including me). We are suffering from high fevers (mine reached 101!), stomach issues and congestion. I belief working long hours in the sun, little sleep, suspicious food, and the dust we are breathing in are some of the culprits. The only reason I had had some time to work on the Internet is due to my being quarantined.
Due to the sheer number of volunteers CAAT provides, the group has a very strong and important role in the ongoing relief work. Amazon Cares has only 5 people here (with only 8 employees I consider this quite a commitment). We closed our Veterinary Clinic in Iquitos, which provides essential funding to support our animal shelter (which I have learned is the ONLY shelter in all Peru)!
Members of the CAAT team came with many medicines and supplies to donate, however, they did not expect to perform this quantity of spay/neuter surgeries. Luckily both teams are sharing supplies and medicines, and every morning Veterinarian Esther Peña buys new medicines and supplies for team use. Amazon Cares is also paying for housing and meals for the entire team, as well as bus rental and most other transportation costs. The housing is in the home of Esther’s mother! Many thanks to Esther’s family for making room for this large group and providing delicious food (I know her food did not make anyone ill), and doing everything to make us feel comfortable.
The financial burden for all involved continues to grow. As of this moment, September 7 at 1 PM, our donations total $620. I do not enjoy begging for money, but the situation here is dire, and we need funds to continue helping animals in need. Please help us spread the word! The $620 are the donations collected from the website of Amazon Cares, which we are sharing with participating organizations.
Despite our desire to assist this region with ongoing efforts with the complete support of the Ministry of Health, the government has made clear that they can not support our efforts with ANY funding.
BREAKING GOOD NEWS! We have been joined by three wonderful people from the Best Friends Animal Society. This is the first major charity that has visited this region to examine the situation first-hand! They are well-known and may have the ability to do some of the things the grassroots organizations here would like to do. All the small organizations working here have pledged support, but, as I have reported, these groups are all volunteer-driven, with funds coming from our individual pockets. ASPPA and Amazon Cares are the only groups located in Peru. I am willing to donate 4 weeks per year to traveling to Ica (domestic flights and travel to Ica is @ $1000 per trip). However, this commitment is small if nothing else is being done here. ASPPA is made up entirely of volunteers, and they are usually only able to send help on the weekends.
I am so thrilled Best Friends is here to access the situation, and want to comment on other international charities and their involvement.
WSPA – The World Society for the Protection of Animals: They did not originally make any statements about animal welfare in the Earthquake disaster zones. Within two weeks however, they stated they were on the ground monitoring the situation. Nobody here has any knowledge of their presence.
Humane Society International: They spoke of sending a team of two down to access the situation. They never did so. They asked Donna Lasser, Director of CAAT, to visit the Ica Zoo and report on the situation there. The zoo animals are in desperate need of attention, a topic I have promised to report on, and will do so very soon.
•The latest news I have learned from the HIS website (for they never responded to Donna’s eyewitness reports) is that they are working with Grupo Caridad, Amigos de Los Animales (Lima) and a charity none of us have heard of (even ASPPA) called Huaw Huaw (this is how Peruvians spell the sound of a dog barking – like Wow Wow).
•After inquiries we have learned that HUAW HUAW can only send volunteer veterinarians once a week on the weekends. It would be so much better if we could work together, but it seems several groups are being propitious of their role here.
•Humane Society International also reports they are sending a team to help with the zoo situation.
•I have met Kelly O’Meara of HIS at a conference several years ago. HIS is a small offshoot of HSUS, but Kelly O’Meara is doing a wonderful job. I am saddened by the lack of contact with Amazon Cares, especially in light of our receiving an award from the Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF) in 2006. DDAF has since merged with HSUS.
Thus far there seems to be no response from a coalition of animal groups formed after Hurricane Katrina. These groups include Humane Society of the US (HSUS), American Society for the Protection from Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), International Fund for Animals (IFAW), World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), American Humane Association (AHA) and more.
Best Friends is a member of this coalition as well. After emails to other members with little or no response, Best Friends decided to step forward. We are all VERY grateful.
To be completely fair, I have been conducting much research into this topic, and some of the above groups may be providing support indirectly. I am busy translating man articles into English, and will put the report online tomorrow.
I want to thank Amy Maher of Noah’s Wish for emailing me and having telephone conversations with me about the situation here. Her interest in assisting is needed. Because they have a Memo of Understanding with the government to have 100 volunteers ready to do disaster relief during hurricane season, she is hard-pressed to send a team here. She felt the situation was being addressed by the groups on the ground, and wants to help publicize our efforts to help bring in donations.
Our Ongoing Work:
Yesterday the CAAT and Amazon Cares team worked in Chincha. The local university provided space, and all were pleased to work indoors with proper tables and lighting. The day was busy, with one gentleman arriving at 4 PM with 8 dogs!! Interestingly, the morning was spent spaying and neutering pets belonging to local veterinarians! All in all 30 dogs were sterilized and 50 given medical attention. Don’t let those numbers mislead you. For a team of 4-5 vets performing surgery, and the assistance of nearly 15 Vet Technicians and Assistants, this is a solid day of work!
More photos are up in the photo section of the site. These photos are press photos or are used with the permission of Molly Wald of Best Friends Animal Society and Jennifer Dodson of Canadian Animal Assistance Team. Molly has only been able to take a limited number of photos on her 1st day here. She visited Chincha, and I was thrilled that many of her pictures show dogs wearing red plastic collars. These are dogs CAAT / Amazon CARES has sterilized!!
I want to utilize words by Donna Lasser, the Director of the Canadian Animal Assistance Team (www.caat-canada.org), who very succinctly describes our work:
“There is no way you can reach us for interviews down here. I don´t even have an emergency contact phone number to give to my family members. Eight more other team members arrived yesterday. We have a bus that drives the twenty of us to Pisco, Chincha or San Andreas every day. We work from 8 am to 7 pm or so daily, feeding dogs in the streets, encouraging owners to bring their dogs in for vaccines, de-worming,and sterilizations. People are very open to anything we can do for their dogs. (Molly’s note: sterilization surgery is a tough sell, however). Last week I and another team member, Daniel, spent two days in talks with the Ministry of Health for Peru, trying to hash out a deal where we would do all of the above if they promised not to shoot the dogs, as they were threatening to do. Everyone who has lost their homes in the earthquake, 90 % of Pisco is flattened, are being housed in large stadiums in tents, with dogs running loose everywhere. As you can imagine, this is quite a public health concern and therefore the reason the Ministry of Health is so concerned. We go into the midst of the tent cities and set up our tables, and do health exams, vaccines, de-worming, and spaying and neutering if the people agree. We have seen a few cases of distemper virus already, and as always in South America, a lot of venereal disease in both sexes.”
