International animal organizations are working to gain access to animals in massive flooding following the cyclone in Myanmar:
• WSPA, World Society
• HSI, Humane Society International
• IFAW, International Fund For Animal Welfare
Wildlife Friends of Thailand and Best Friends are ready to help in Myanmar if/when visas can be obtained to enter the country.

There is little food and essentially no clean water for people or animals... Much of the Irrawaddy River Delta is still under water. Among animals in need are millions of cattle and buffalo. As was the case following the Tsunami, for example in the Andaman Islands, when huge volumes of salt water have washed over land, the salt destroys the ground. The rice paddies are destroyed, as well as any grass or hay that could provide food...

A WSPA disaster assessment and response (DART) team arrives in Myanmar following a WSPA delivery of 31 tons of animal feed... Based on UN and Myanmar government rapid assessment figures, WSPA estimates that as many as 48 million animals may have been wiped out by the cyclone — a figure equivalent to the entire human population of the country.

DART team leader Dr. Ian Dacre said: "We can't wait to get in and start delivering aid to animals... Our plan is to work alongside humanitarian agencies and use the logistic framework that they have established to distribute aid." WSPA is the first animal welfare organization to be granted access to Myanmar and will work to distribute food, prevent spread of disease and alleviate suffering among surviving animals...

RELIEF EFFORTS: www.network.bestfriends.org/News/25499.html
The 7.9 earthquake that struck in the Sichuan Province on 5/12/08 may have killed as many as 50,000 people...

Wolong National Nature Reserve has reported that all 86 pandas living there are safe... Animals Asia Foundation
sanctuary for bears rescued from bile farms, in the city of Chengdu (not far from the epicenter of the earthquake) sustained
significant damage — but all the bears and staff are unharmed... Animals Asia Founder Jill Robinson, with a vet team, are in
Dujiangyiang — one of hardest hit areas — to help animals.

Chinese dogs save lives after devastating quake: http://network.bestfriends.org/eastasia/news/25698.html
Animal News From Chinese Earthquake: http://network.bestfriends.org/eastasia/news/25681.html
Update on Recent Disasters in East Asia - How to Help: http://network.bestfriends.org/eastasia/news/25621.html

5/27/08: We arrived again at our temporary registration and collection station in Dujiangyiang and found a queue already forming... Sad owners were holding their precious family members one last time before they would have to give them up. What choice do they have?

Already the tented areas where are bursting at the seams...and neighbours just inches away are not always so tolerant of dogs... But dog culling is not the answer and in Dujiangyiang at least we are able to offer a little help and hope for people so clearly fearful for the lives of their pets.

After setting up the veterinary table, our first visitor was a lady holding her two small Pomeranians. Miss Xiao Ru Lan told us their names were Niu Niu (Little Girl) and Fei Fei (Fat Fat)... Incredibly, during the earthquake Niu Niu had run away and hadn’t been seen for 9 days. Miss Xiao finally found her quivering in their damaged apartment...

DONATE TO EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FOR ANIMALS IN CHINA: www.animalsasia.org/
CLICK ON: Donate To Earthquake Relief (left side of page)

ANIMALS ASIA EARTHQUAKE RELIEF
The earthquake that devastated parts of Sichuan in the spring of 2008 left many people unable to care for their much loved dogs and cats. Together with local shelters, we are caring for as many of these animals as possible until their owners are ready to reclaim them. The earthquake also badly damaged four buildings at our Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Chengdu. These will need to be rebuilt at great cost. Please give generously so we can help repair the devastation of the earthquake.

Animals Asia and local animal welfare groups are jointly sending a letter to the county authorities pleading with them to spare those dogs who still have families.... We are also offering to supply the authorities in Qingchuan with vaccinations for rabies and other diseases in a further effort to show them that the family dogs would be protected and not a risk to the public. We hope they see these gestures as a better option than culling.

EDITED FOR LENGTH, read full blog entry: www.animalsasia.org/blog/
5/26/08: Driving in to Dujiangyiang, we passed so many people leaving their now-destroyed homes... Christie, Rainbow, Heather, Wendy, Hong Chuan, Suki, Howard, Rocky and I first arrived at a tented area, connected up with two local vets, members and volunteers from the Chongqing Small Animal Protection Association, Purina which is providing us with dog food and Intervet which kindly passed over rabies vaccines in a cool-box.

First, we talked to officials in control, who told us no dogs were there. We wondered how they could be sure until we saw a government notice that said any dog found in the camp would be killed. We had already printed out a notice... saying we would collect all dogs and cats and provide them with a safe, happy foster home until they were ready to be returned.

Rainbow quietly put this beside the government notice — “a contrast to the current ‘solution’,” he said. Officials promised to call us if they did find any dogs. We said we could be there in a few hours... Within a few minutes a woman called who’d picked up a Pekingese on the street. She had fallen in love with “Pan Pan,” but couldn’t take him as her apartment was destroyed. Quickly vaccinating him, we plopped him into a cage...and promised his new owner we’d take good care of him until she was ready to claim him...

By day’s end, we had 49 dogs, 2 cats and 1 kitten rolling into Chengdu... We’re returning to Dujiangyiang as it seems our notice is doing its job and we’ve had calls alerting us that more dogs are waiting to be picked up...

May: The Chaiten Volcano, which had not erupted for thousands of years, began to spew ash into the air. Thousands of people were evacuated within a 30-mile radius. They were not allowed to bring their animals with them.

Domestic animals, farm animals, and wildlife are all severely impacted by the ash that continues to fall. Although the ash is said to be non-toxic, the layer of ash impacts breathing, movement, and coats water sources and vegetation, making it difficult for birds and other animals to survive...

The Chilean group CEFU (Coalition for the Ethical Control of Urban Animals) is an umbrella group for the animal rescue effort. Abergando un Amigo (House a Friend), within CEFU, is playing a key role in rescue efforts.

Reype (rescate y rotectionrescate y proteccion animal, Coyhaique, XI Region, Chile) took 1,000 kilos of food for animals and medical supplies from Coyhaique to Futaleu. From the University of Santo Thomas, veterinarians are helping. They need these supplies:
• cat and dog food
• pots and containers for water,
• Amoxicillin, Bitencil, anti-inflammatory (ketoprofen), Bromexina, Polivitaminicos, Thiopental

It is reported that no one other than the military is allowed to enter the city of Chaiten... Thanks to Karen Straight for providing much of this information for Chile.

CHILE: The Spanish website of Abergando un Amigo (House a Friend) has information about the Chaitan relief effort, and banking information as to where you may send a donation: www.albergandounamigo.cl/

CHILE: Reypa has these websites, in English (the first is also in Spanish):
www.reypa.org/pages/help_us.html
www.thepatagonianfoundation.org

CHILE: the Spanish website of CEFU: www.cefu.cl/

You Tube video on animals freed at the Yangon zoo by the cyclone:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dXFk_UuCd8&feature=related

A resident of Yangon has sent Best Friends this description: "Yangon is a very old city and has been called the Garden City with many mature trees lining the streets and roads... In Yangon Zoo alone, it was estimated that about 300 trees fell... Post Nargis, the animals in the zoo are also affected by the limited food supply."

...There are around 700 animals in the Zoo, on 58 acres. These include 60 species of mammals, 70 species of birds and 20 species of reptiles. There are many species of deer, monkeys, and large cats. Among the reptiles are turtles and snakes... There are herons, egrets, storks, geese and ducks. Raptors include fish eagles and Brahmany kites; there are parrots, including rose-ringed parakeets, cockatoos and macaws.

The zoo and the animals seem to be in a state of disarray following the cyclone. They are going hungry due to food shortages, and they need to be returned to their enclosures. VIEW AAPN's REPORT ON ZOOS: www.aapn.org/zoopage.html

5/28/08, Fred O'Regan, IFAW, fred@ifaw1.org — We are in a race against time to help the people and animal survivors of the massive China earthquake. The numbers are staggering: over 65,000 people have perished, over 12.5 million livestock have been lost, and countless dogs and cats are homeless, injured, and starving to death...

IFAW’s Emergency Relief Teams are providing food, water, vaccinations and other supplies... Our biggest task now is to prevent the spread of epidemic diseases between humans and animals...and 300,000+ livestock are waiting for help. Agencies in the epicenter are in desperate need of more supplies: 100,000 tons of livestock feed; rabies vaccine for animals and people...

DONATE ONLINE: www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=196375&msource=DR080501001

DONATE BY MAIL: IFAW International Headquarters
290 Summer Street; Yarmouth Port, MA 02675; USA
ph: 508-744 2000; 800-932 4329; email: info@ifaw.org

5/21/08, China Daily — For days after the May 12 quake, Western media wondered what had come of the giant pandas held in nature reserves in the region. Xinhua recently reported two of the endangered bears still missing and five zookeepers dead at the Wolong Nature Reserve, located near the quake epicenter. In other quake-flattened areas, more than 100 trained sniffer dogs from government and private organizations are also straining to help soldiers and rescuers seek out buried survivors.

Many worry that pets have suffered from the deadly quake as well. Increasing disposable income levels and changing demographics contributed to rising pet ownership in China between 1999 and 2004, figures from global marketing researcher Euromonitor International showed.

Young adults and the elderly, in particular, showed piqued interest in raising pets. Cat and dog ownership both rose during that time, with the rate of canine owners nearly doubling. Total pet population in the country also increased in 2006, latest figures have showed.

United Animal Nations, a non-profit organization, designs programs to help animals in case of natural disasters. It offers several ways for pet owners to better prepare for such disasters. A traditional collar and tag or an implanted microchip will help identify the animals later, for example.

Hurricane Katrina, which pounded the United States' southern coasts in August 2005, catalyzed a massive animal rescue operation. More than 250,000 pets were stranded and left to swim through heavily polluted floodwater and scavenge for food, PBS, which aired a documentary on the subject, reported. Some pets became feral after their owners fled the hurricane's destruction.

Last year, the Humane Society, an animal welfare group, sent emergency funding to Peru following an 8-magnitude earthquake south of its capital, where hundreds of pets and farm animals were abandoned.

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