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Disaster Relief Becomes Recovery Relief

Refugee and dog in the Kamari Camp

17 March 2005

As tsunami disaster relief has become recovery relief, HSI’s field teams have continued in the plight to not only stabilize the animal welfare of the animals affected by the tsunami but take this opportunity to better their welfare previous to tsunami. HSI and Vier Foten (VP) are working together in Eastern Sri Lanka. Both teams are sharing the same goal of bettering the lives of the tsunami animal victims and coordinating their efforts. HSI is working in the refugee camps on the east coast from Arugam Bay north to Thrikuvuil and VP is working in the affected areas on the south coast in Habradua.

The purpose of HSI programs in the tsunami stricken areas is to reduce the risk of rabies and stabilize the community refugee dog populations through vaccination and desexing. Many other diseases these dogs suffer from and are being treated for include transmittable venereal tumor, blood borne parasites, and scrotal and testicular infections along with ectoparasites, fleas and ticks.

Most recently HSI and VP have come together to form the Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust. This trust gives anyone and everyone worldwide the ability to do something for the animals of Sri Lanka. It is an independent trust in which any person, group or charity can donate and come together from all over the world and work on an immediate short-term project or long-term project. The unique ability of this trust is that the donors are able to put their own name on a project and do not have to be under any larger NGO or organization. During the disaster relief efforts of the tsunami HSI and VP have been training Sri Lankan veterinarians in field clinic work. It will be these veterinarians that will carry on the work of the trust. This trust will leave a legacy for Sri Lanka and its veterinary community.

Although HSI’s disaster relief coordinator and Asia Director, Sherry Grant and Robert Bloomberg are concentrating their efforts on the trust fund, work in the field has not stopped. The HSI Field clinic has currently vaccinated and spayed/neutered well over 1,000 dogs and has worked through 5 different locations. Having begun their work in Arugam Bay they followed the coast to three refugee camps in Komari, then onto Thirukovil where they presently are working in Mandane – vaccinating and neutering 350 dogs in 7 days.

Thirukovil has the largest refugee camp with over 4,000 refugees residing there. It was just recently divided in half because with its increasing population they were unable to maintain sanitary conditions. With an estimated 650 families present there are hundreds of dogs roaming through the camp and two packs on the fringe in the forest. Females in heat are the reason for the increased packing and aggression of the dogs.

The refugee camps Komari 1, Komari 2, and Omarni 3 in Komari were rife with dogs. All the dogs operated on were present at the camps but ownership was varied. Just as the humans had, some of the dogs had found refuge in the camps as water and food were present at any given time. The refugee communities have been grateful and have been wonderfully enthusiastic with the presence of HSI.

“A number of times people came up to team members to specifically to thank us for our services and for doing a good job for their community in trying to stop people getting bitten and handling the problem of there being too many dogs”, says Charles Foster, a visiting veterinarian from Australia. It seems to be an event for the children in the camps when HSI arrives. Many of the children use all their efforts to try and catch dogs in hopes of impressing the HSI team.

Within the camps, the field clinic is established in tents, just as the refugees live. The overwhelming heat and harsh conditions continue to be a hurdle that the team must overcome.

Not only are the clinic conditions hard but the team’s living conditions prove to be demanding. The team lived in the devastated town of Komari in one of the last few standing buildings. With no water or electricity, bathing was done at the local well and all activities past sunset were done by candlelight. Later they acquired a generator which provided enough power for a few lights, becoming a blessing to the team but might otherwise seem like an expected amenity to a common westerner.

“For the team to work effectively in such circumstances it is essential a strong team spirit is fostered and the team enjoys the work and has fun! We had a great time together and that, I believe, is one of the main reasons we were successful as a team and in the program”, says Nigel Kittow, a veterinarian from New Zealand who volunteered for two weeks.

The Sri Lankan field clinic has been a fantastic program because it has become an international veterinary hub with veterinarians and volunteers from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, UK, and America. The most recent veterinarians and technicians to volunteer in the HSI’s Sri Lankan field clinic include Dr. Nigel Kittow (NZ), Dr. Sarah Lien (USA), field clinic tech David Pauli (USA), catcher and veterinarian, Dr. Susan Mounger (USA), veterinarian Suresh Chand (India), veterinarian Suresh Sharma (India), Dr. Venturmilli Srinivas (India), and Dr. Charles Foster (UK) who brought with him $13,000 worth of donated veterinarian medicine. Pet V Care veterinarians from Sri Lanka also continue to cycle through the field clinic on a weekly basis.

Currently working in the clinic is husband and wife team Mike and Dr. Rebecca White (UK), nurse Greta Llyod (Aus) who brought thousands of dollars of medicine to donate, Dr. John Skuja (Aus), lead veterinary technician Nana Prayoga (Indo), Dr. Elaine Ong (Aus), Dr. Natasha Lee Yupaheng (Malayasia), nurse Greta Lloyd (Aus), veterinarian technician Ishan Ramesh (Sri Lanka), and the driver known as the “Purple Van Man” (Sri Lanka). Dawn Peacock from the UK, has taken over the Sri Lanka field clinic coordination from Grant, and will continue through April.

In Banda Aceh additional programs continue to be developed by HSI and Yudisthira Animal Welfare International. Thanks to Animal People and HSI there is now a small mobile clinic being operated by a team of 5 persons from YAWI. The mobile clinic works similar to the Street Dog Foundation in Bali, Indonesia, and has been successfully vaccinating and desexing around 25 cats and dogs a day in the affected regions. In addition to the ongoing spay/neuter program a team consisting of 3 persons from YAWI have been continuing their daily feeding program.

A new relief team of YAWI vets and nurses along with Grant will be heading back to Banda Aceh on 2 March to asses the success of the implemented programs and reassess if there is a need for any changes. Grant has planned to develop additional programs for Aceh.

- Piper Grant