People who lost everything in an 8.8 quake and tsunami can't even feed themselves. They don't want to watch their animals starve to death.

Though we travel north and south of Concepcion, we routinely run out of sutures, latex gloves... One of our veterinarians in Chile now, Dr. Dan Meakin, even performed surgery on a dog in an open field. At times we can't afford the van rental to ferry our team, vet supplies and food...

• Too many dogs roam the narrow corridors of this cramped tent city.
• People cannot even feed themselves. How can they afford to feed their dogs?
• Strays, drawn to the camp, mix with caregiven dogs to up the population even more.
• Dogs defecate everywhere. No one disposes feces. This is a public health concern.
• In Chilean culture, animals don't live inside homes. Here, animals live inside tents
  that are so closely aligned, there is literally no outside space around them.
• Some animals well behaved. But some cause conflict with other dogs.

People here are tossed together by an earthquake and tsunamis. They know that help doesn't come quickly. Still, most truly love their animals. They've welcomed our treatment visits since the quake.

• Kinship Circle teams establish a daily tent-city route to regularly treat mange-fleas-parasites and distribute food. However, we cannot leave full, unopened food bags because evacuees are likely to sell the food, rather than feed their animals.


• During tent city rounds, additional veterinary aid requests are recorded and submitted for vets to return another day. This enables them to better manage their time and organize supplies.
  


• Kinship Circle teams build a dog park "corral" area within tent cities, to contain dogs for people without room or who don't want dogs inside their tents.


• We work with tent city "mayors" to implement a poop-and-scoop program. For example: Assign duty to different youths each day. We also post signs that advise evacuees to "pick up after your animal." We can supply poop shovel/rake that would likely have to be given to the mayor each day, so people don't sell them for money.

• Suggest a dedicated team of four people plus a local translator volunteer.
• Rent a vehicle for the team to do daily rounds.
• Volunteer rental house is available for two months.
• Get GPS coordinates; mark maps with 30 tent city locations.

A TWO AND A HALF POUND MIRACLE: He came into this world on a crash and wave. The floppy-eared puppy was born just days before an 8.8 earthquake and tsunami swept over Chile’s coastal towns. We don’t know how he escaped tsunami waters that left five to six feet rings around buildings. And we don’t know where he hid as structures collapsed into rubble.

We do know that the puppy we dubbed Francisco de Tubul, found in the village of Tubul, did it alone. Perhaps his mother and littermates died in the disaster? Somehow, a creature — crippled, starving and diseased — stayed alive long enough for us to save him...

4/24/10: While searching for the evacuee camp in Tubul, the team notices a female dog and one of her pups eating from a pile of smoldering garbage. We stop to feed them and eye another puppy in a distant field. We wonder why the pup does not approach the food along with several other dogs.

We discover why as soon as we reach him. This dog has terribly deformed legs. His eyes are dull and fearful. When his misshapen legs don’t allow him to flee, he drops his head timidly and tries to hobble away from us.

But the lure of food overcomes his fright and he winds up devouringthe grub. During the entire meal he lies on his belly. His front legs cannot bear his weight.

The puppy’s “wrist joint” is so distorted that his paws splay out at 90° angles. He must limp around on his inside lower leg while his paws flip out uselessly.

We immediately decide to ferry him back to Concepcion. He will surely die if left here to fend for himself. In addition to malformed legs, the pup’s worm-filled abdomen is severely distended. His hair and skin are scrappy with mange.

Local children watch the entire rescue with great interest. One of our veterinarians asks the children what they should name the puppy. They agree on “Francisco.” We attach “de Tubul” to recall the place of his birth and salvation. We depart with Francisco de Tubul safely in tow.

4/26/10: This morning’s vet appointments end in good news for two of our rescues. At the University of Concepcion, a veterinary ophthalmology specialist examines the little dog, Pirate, who has an eye wound. We fear he needs surgery, but the vet believes antibiotics can heal his condition.

Francisco de Tubul travels with us to the University of San Sebastian, where most of the SACH vets are alumni. His twisted limbs are x-rayed and several teaching vets and students stop by to view his deformity plus review x-rays.

The treating veterinarian even takes photos to document Tubul’s case. The x-rays reveal that his bent-in limbs (as if he walks on his knuckles) are due to malnutrition.

Tubul was likely born just in time for the earthquake and tsunami. Fortunately, surgery is unnecessary to straighten his limbs. Because he is so young, the vet says that leg splints and good nutrition should correct the deformity in about one month.

Tubul requires continuing veterinary care until he has healed enough for adoption.

PLEASE HELP FUND OUR AID IN CHILE — FOR ANIMALS LIKE TUBUL. We need veterinary supplies now, purchased in Chile, or we cannot continue...