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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: October 2006

Harsh monsoons test rescuers

 

VISAKHAPATNAM--At least 49 people were reported dead in Bangladesh and 46 in India on September 22, 2006, following the ninth cyclone to hit the western coast of the Bay of Bengal in as many weeks. The animal toll was not immediately available.

 

"We are hoping to get some help to add to our efforts," e-mailed Visakha SPCA president Pradeep Kumar Nath. "Help is needed urgently for feed."

 

The Visakha SPCA continued assisting animals elsewhere along the stricken Bengal coast while rebuilding its own facilities, destroyed by a cyclone and landslides on August 3, just 11 months after a typhoon destroyed the previous facilities in September 2005.

 

"We send our deepest gratitude from the animals and villagers for the flood relief help we have received from the World Society for the Protection of Animals and individual donors," Nath said before the ninth cyclone hit. "So far we have been able to help more than 27,000 animals with over 66 ton of food, vaccinations, wound treatment and deworming."

 

The rising Vamsadhara River isolated some villages for as long as 10 days, Nath reported, "with broken roads, bridges, and in some areas a mile of chest-high water. The villagers have to walk up to nine kilometers to receive help. "

 

The Visakha SPCA had two mobile veterinary teams working in the Vamsadhara and Srikakulam regions. An unpleasant discovery amid the difficult conditions was an outbreak of blue tongue, a cattle disease best known in Africa, previously believed to have been eradicated almost everywhere else but also now occurring in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany. Rescuers and residents were also menaced by the previously rare debilitating mosquito-borne disease Chikungunya fever.

 

Trying to reach 15 marooned villages on a damaged road, "Our lorry fell into the river between Vizianagaram and Srikakaulam," Nath said. "The staff of four miraculously escaped while the lorry was precariously perched on one side. We summoned a crane to lift it out of the river. All were safe, although shaken, and continued their vaccination work. Then our men, including the vet, went through the standing waters walking over 3 miles to reach one village. Despite the difficulties, they completed their mission."

 

A similar report came from Mahesh Agar-wal, general secretary of Bharatiya Prani Mitra Sangh, who worked in nearby Andhra Pradesh.

 

"Nearly 160 villages lost dry grass and animal fodder," Mahesh Agarwal wrote. "Officially 100 animals were declared dead, with 800 missing, but unofficially the figure runs into the thousands. Nearly one month after the disaster the dead bodies of animals were still seen in the river and thousands of animals were temporarily sheltered on hillocks and bridges. After 25 days of flooding we were the first to enter a few villages to distribute fodder and medical aid to the animals."

 

Violent stampedes broke out several times as fodder was passed out, Mahesh Agarwal recounted.
Assessments from farther inland came from Humane Society International representative Sherry Grant and Rahul Sehgal, founder of Animal Help in Emergencies And Disasters. AHEAD is the first Indian organization to specialize in animal disaster relief.

 

Grant earlier founded the Bali Street Dog Project in Indonesia, while Seghal founded Animal Help Ahmedabad.

 

"All of the fodder land in [the afflicted part of] Orissa is gone. Most mud shelters for cattle are destroyed. Standing crops are gone, which impacts the fodder supply post harvest for late 2006 and early 2007," Grant and Sehgal wrote. "Animals have been been birthing, and the lack of grazing and fodder availability affects milk production, hence compromises the health of the offspring," as well as impacting the human food supply."

 

A government report estimated that 235,000 cattle, more than 9,000 buffalo, 53,000 "small animals," and 66,000 "others" were affected.

 

"Animals washed downstream are claimed by the villages they washed up into. This is creating problems as these animals are not branded," Grant and Sehgal observed.

 

They saw "no other international charities on the scene. India has turned away humanitarian charities guilty of coming in, taking pictures, and then leaving," Grant and Sehgal said. "Only two local animal charities with minimal resources are responding with fodder. The government delivered fodder to some areas we visited, but others have received none. Government vets have not been to inspect the health of the animals in any of the affected areas, according to all of the villages we assessed."

 

"We are not talking of the coastal areas," Grant and Sehgal emphasized, "which are regularly hit by floods and cyclones; we are talking about the inland areas which usually get normal monsoon rains that they depend on and manage as the water source for their crops and cattle. These are very poor rural villages self-sustained by dairy and wool production, and rice fields. This is not a region that produces handicrafts. These villages do not use cars, and few motorbikes were seen, but lots of bicycles and bullock carts. Many buildings have never had telephone lines or electricity. Those who had this infrastructure no longer have it, as it has been ruined. This is a difficult area to use cell phones in, as there is generally no signal.

 

"Fodder originally distributed on the highway was taken by refugees and used to make roofs on temporary shelters for themselves," Grant and Sehgal continued. "People For Animals is providing some villages with bags of husk fodder that is mixed with water and vegetable cuttings, such as peels and tops. We assessed the fodder distribution to animals who had not had food in the four days since the last PFA visit. The animals ate the food in a mater of minutes. They were very hungry. Cows were neck-deep in water looking for fodder and eating water hyacinth and anything else green.

 

"The animals are not showing signs of sickness associated with flooding and being wet for such a long time," Grant and Sehgal wrote, contrasting the situation with Rajasthan, on the opposite side of India, normally a desert but hit hard by flooding in August 2006.

 

"Rajasthan still needs herds treated," Grant told ANIMAL PEOPLE. "They are very sick whereas in Orissa the animals are fit but have no place to graze."

 

Grant and Sehgal recommended that experts should "Evaluate potential disease or illnesses that may affect the animals in the near future and provide preventative care," and "Research for future understanding why these animals are not showing typical signs of stress and illness from flood situations."

Ironically, Grant and Sehgal noted, "Villagers claim sick animals and want vaccines. But this is not part of the emergency, and they don't normally vaccinate."

 

Grant and Sehgal also recommended, "Community capacity-building to manage dry fodder stores for future floods."