On January 20, 2010, just days after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook the impoverished country of Haiti, SPCA International sent in an animal response expert to assess the impact on Haiti’s animal population and distribute aid. With the experience our team has had in other major disasters, especially in under developed countries, we had a fairly good idea of what to expect in Haiti. Each disaster has its own unique logistical challenges though and Haiti is proving to have many.
Animal response team member, John Peaveler took extraordinary risks to assess animal conditions and assist injured animals and people as he traveled. Similar to many under developed countries, the Haitians place no importance on animals unless they are used for transportation or they are a source of food. Haiti has a large population of stray dogs and a small population of cats who are left to fend for themselves and each moment of everyday is a struggle for them to survive.
There are countless stray dogs suffering from malnutrition, mange and old, untreated injuries in Haiti. John responded to each situation in the most appropriate way, saving some animals from harm and others from a slow, painful death through humane euthanasia. Fortunately, John found that because a majority of the dogs live outdoors it seems most were able to move out of the way of falling debris during the earthquake. For this reason the animal population did not sustain anywhere near the same number of injuries as the human population did.
Our assessment of the Haitian cat population has resulted in a surprising and sad report. We found that cats are almost non-existent in Haiti. Sadly, it was discovered that Haitians eat cats, which may be part of the reason we saw so few. When people are desperate to find food they will do what they must to survive. Normally stray cats in under developed countries are plentiful and they are usually incredibly resourceful when it comes to finding food, however the unique dynamics in Haiti seem to have had an adverse impact on the species.
One animal population that will need a great deal of support going forward is donkeys. These animals are used primarily for transportation and the people will begin relying on them even more heavily because the earthquake destroyed many cars. Even though the Haitians value their donkeys, they usually do not take very good care of them. This is due in part to having very little money and a lack of education on proper care. Malnutrition, due to poor quality food, and internal parasites are common ailments.
While in Haiti, SPCA International made contact with the Christian Veterinary Mission (CVM) team, a group that has been working in Haiti long before the January earthquake. CVM received a SPCA International Shelter of the Week grant in 2009 for their innovative efforts running the “Give a Kid a Kid” program. We are proud to have been of service to the CVM team while in Haiti and SPCA International has awarded them a sizable financial grant to help their work in the aftermath of this disaster continue for months to come.
When a disaster strikes, there is always an initial outpouring of aid. However, as the weeks pass the support often begins to dwindle. The needs in Haiti are enormous and people are going to need help for months, and even years, to come. SPCA International has made the commitment to continue our efforts in Haiti beyond what we have already achieved. We plan to continue to support on-going vaccination programs to protect against rabies, a program which is vital for the welfare of Haitian animals and people. This program was underway by CVM, in cooperation with the government of Haiti, prior to the earthquake and SPCA International will do all that we can to ensure this lifesaving program continues. In addition, we plan to assist in developing and sustaining a vaccination, treatment and community education program for donkeys.
Each time SPCA International responds to a disaster we learn a great deal. This accumulation of knowledge ensures that in future disasters we will be able to do more to save and support animals. The earthquake in Haiti produced unimaginable suffering and the SPCA International team is proud to have been able to alleviate some of the pain for both animals and people.
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