- Image by IFRC via Flickr
When she stepped off the plane, it looked like a war zone. Tracy Reis of American Humane emergency services, and part of the ARCH Mission started by IFAW and WSPA in Haiti, gave her exclusive interview to Steve Dale on his WLS “Steve Dale’s Pet World”radio program.
Reis gave an update on what’s happening on the ground. The assessment process continues, while field medicine and antibiotics are being administered to sick and injured animals. Dogs, goats, pigs, chickens and a handful of cattle are everywhere. Dale asked Reis about zoonotic disease worries, rabies in particular, and about distemper that could prove to be devastating to the population of wild, domestic, and community dogs. (Community dogs are owned by no one but fed and cared for by the neighborhood. Food is left for them but often they are left to find their own water according to Janice Girardi of Bali BAWA in my interview with her.) You won’t believe what happened with the rabies vaccination program that was being administered before the quake hit.
Dale asked about the state of the food problem for people, aftershocks, and where people are sleeping, touching on security issues. (He also wondered how Anderson Cooper looks so clean and coiffed, but I think that’s just Anderson Cooper:)
Check out his excellent interview with Tracy Reis and his blog at Chicago Now.
Steve Dale is a leader in the animal welfare community in Chicago, a Certified Pet Dog and Cat Behavior consultant, writes a syndicated pet column for the Chicago Tribune, is an author, recipient of the AVMA Humane Award, and that’s just for starters.
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As with several other animal concern posts I've read about Haiti, the interview with Tracy Reese shows that, in these disasters, not all suffering is human.
That's impressive. I'm glad Steve Dale is doing this in the face of "why animals, not people" criticism that these actions tend to engender — especially ironic coming from people who do nothing!
Yes, and if disease amongst the animals can be kept in check, further suffering will be averted. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Rod.
I agree, Edie, and it was great to hear that many animals Reese has seen are in fairly decent shape considering the circumstances. I still can't get over the rabies vax snafu she reported. And as to the whole conversation about "why worry about animals when people are in trouble"refrain we so often hear, that kind of comment shows a remarkable lack of understanding of how at the root of everything we are all interdependent–and that is not limited to only humans.
Hi Mary, I posted about IFAW's involvement with animals in Haiti, and agree that this is a topic that concerns all of us. If groups like IFAW tends to the animal population, then the people of Haiti will be healthier too. It's not a them versus us scenario. Thanks for posting.
Yes, it's great that national and international animal welfare organizations are working to help animals. After all, we're all in this together and if an outbreak occurs in animal populations, people can and do suffer. Thanks Michele!
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