I was just remembering how after Katrina there were a lot of homeless and hurt animals.  I hadn’t even thought about how an earthquake would affect animals while I was watching the latest people-centric news on the Haiti earthquake, but apparently there are hundreds of homeless and injured animals who have lost their homes and owners due to the quake.  The animals are now wandering the streets, homeless, injured, and at risk for disease, dehydration, and starvation.  If you’d like to donate money to help the animals, there are a variety of wonderful organizations out there trying to round up, medically treat, hydrate, feed, and probably eventually find homes for numerous animals wandering the streets of Port-au-Prince.  Here are a few wonderful organizations.  Please donate!  (I’m sure someone else has a better list of this somewhere else, or there are organizations that should be listed — please put them in the comments, and I’ll add them to this list.)

The Humane Society International:

The Humane Society International Disaster Fund is working to help animals in Haiti — they have an international disaster fund you can donate to, and they also have a webpage with regular updates on what the situation is like in Haiti right now, as they rescue animals there. I’m really impressed with the Humane Society here — they seem to be the first veterinarian-led team to make it in to Port-au-Prince as of today.

From the Humane Society International Disaster Fund webpage:

January 22, 2010.  6:50pm EST

. . . as they drove into the country, they saw cattle grazing in fields, stray dogs and rubble everywhere. People are still fearful of getting too close to buildings in case of further collapse.

Today, the team traveled to a site where tent cities had been set up and found many more dogs wandering around the area. Aside from being hungry, the animals encountered there seemed to be in okay condition, but starvation, dehydration and disease remain threats, especially to the injured.

Our vet Rebecca, paramedic Lloyd and the rest of our group attempted to get to the U.S. Embassy, but the lines were so long they gave up temporarily. They did attend a meeting of Interaction, a coalition of non-governmental organizations of which HSI is a member, where security issues were discussed . . .

. . . tomorrow, they plan to visit the outskirts of the city to review the situation for farm animals and companion animals further removed from crowds of people and food.

The American Veterinary Medical Association:

The American Veterinary Medical Association currently has Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams standing ready in the Dominican Republic to tend to animals in Haiti as part of the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH).  If you’d like to donate money to support the teams, you can do so by donating to the AVMA’s general fund (unfortunately they don’t allow direct donations to the veterinary medical assistance teams in Haiti right now).  There has been no call for the teams to go into Haiti as of yet, according to Dr. Heather Case, the AVMA director for emergency preparedness and response, but you can follow the Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams on Twitter and see when they actually do go into Haiti — @AVMAVMAT.

The AVMA VMAT Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/AVMAVMAT

Latest (1/22) ARCH situation report on #Haiti #animal relief now available on AVMA.org website: http://bit.ly/8bB7oI

The United Animal Nations:

Also the United Animal Nations Emergency Animal Rescue Services has a great blog about rescuing animals in Haiti — they seem to be doing what they can.

From the United Animal Nations Emergency Animal Rescue Services blog:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010

http://unitedanimalnations.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti Earthquake 2010

Help is on the way

Good news - the Haitian government has formally requested assistance from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH). The ARCH field team is expected to arrive in Port-au-Prince on Saturday to begin assessing the earthquake’s impact on animals.

. . . UAN has already contributed more than $30,000 to ARCH, thanks to the generosity of our donors. One hundred percent of all the donations we’ve received for Haiti to date are going directly to the ARCH relief effort . . .

The Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH):

However, you can also donate money to the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti — the coalition the AVMA and UAN mentioned above are part of — and that money, as I understand it, goes indirectly to the Veterinary Medical Assistance Team and the United Animal Nations team mentioned above.  The Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti was cofounded by the World Society for the Protection of Animals and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).  I can’t find a way to donate to to the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti directly, but you can donate to its member coalitions.  Its members include the American Humane Association, Best Friends, RSPCA (UK), United Animal Nations, American Veterinary Medical Association, and the Kinship Circle.

To donate to the World Society for the Protection of Animals Haiti Disaster Relief, click here.

To donate to the International Fund for Animal Welfare Haiti Emergency Relief Response, click here.

To donate to the American Humane Association Red Star Animal Emergency Services Haiti Earthquake response — click here.

To donate to Best Friends Haiti Animal Rescue, click here.

To donate to RSPCA International, click here.

To donate to United Animal Nations Emergency Animal Rescue Services, click here.  You can also read their blog about rescuing animals in Haiti.

To donate to the American Veterinary Medical Association general fund, click here.

To donate to Kinship Circle’s Haiti Earthquake Relief, click here.

PS: does anyone know if there are any organizations that rescue abandoned pets in Haiti and then adopt them out to other countries?  Something like Tigger House but for Haiti instead of Afghanistan?  I’m sure there must be — but I just can’t find any online.  I’m sure they need donations too to pay for airfare of those rescued dogs/cats!

Categories : cruelty free