The Work in Sri Lanka post-tsunami - February 2005
www.tsunami-animal.org
The journey
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Displaced dog
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After the 15 hours of flying, it is another 10 hours by van to the South Eastern coast.
The journey is long and hot. The roads are narrow and bumpy. There is no such thing as a
luxury vehicle, so all the volunteers have to sit in an old van with no air-conditioning
and no seat belts. I wondered if I would arrive in 1 piece.
Arrived at midnight in Colombo, straight onto the van and started work immediately after
arrival in the morning. I now know why there are no other animal charities working there; it is too difficult to get to.
The Area where we lived
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The mobile clinic
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Children share food with
their dog in refugee camps
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We were based in Thrukovil, Pottuvil and Komari, all areas badly hit by the tsunami.
The areas are still flattened and not much rebuilding happening.
You can still see children’s shoes and clothing around and still a lingering smell of death
We rent houses damaged by the tsunami (the owners do this to save money to rebuild their homes)
We sometimes have no electricity and water for washing is from a well or a tap
The homes often have broken front doors. We sometimes get visitors during the night
(cow, cat, dog) in search for food! They are welcome!
We shared the house with up to 12 people with 1 toilet and 1 shower tap.
We sleep on mattresses on the floor with mosquito nets
There is no choice as there is nothing else in the area, all flattened!
The Food
We have bread/jam and banana for breakfast and lunch and dinner 3
was always the same i.e. vegetable or dhal curry with rice
It is too expensive to buy meat or fish
Nobody has been encouraged to go back to fishing and farming
You can imagine how hungry the dogs and cats are
We often end up sharing our dinner with the dogs that come around to beg for food
The dogs are surprisingly very friendly; indications that most people in Sri Lanka do not hurt them.
The Work for the animals and community
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Cats are also caught and desexed
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Dogs are caught humanely in large nets
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| | Dr Chris Barton with the Team (March 05)
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We consult the army (special task force) and they give us advise as to which
refugee camps have large numbers of stray dogs and cats. They then give us a
piece of handwritten paper that allows us to have easy passage from area to area.
There are a lot of checkpoints in the area
We go to the refugee camps and meet with the leader at each camp and explain
what we plan to do and give out handouts in Tamil .The handouts describe our goals i.e.
- Humane euthanasia of injured and very sick animals
- Desexing of all dogs/cats to stop the breeding
- Treatment of all – i.e. vaccination for rabies, treatments for mange and skin infections and all parasites etc
- Education for the people about caring for their animals
Every morning, we catch a tuk tuk (motorized rickshaw) to the refugee camps
We pile all our tents, equipment and medicines into the tuk tuk and set up a tent in the refugee camp
We stay for 2-4 days depending on the numbers of animals
We operate on 20-50 dogs /cats per day with 2-3 vets and 2-3 dogcatchers
They all receive a rabies vaccination, injections for parasites, antibiotics,
flea/tick treatment and multivitamins. The stray animals are let go, as there is nowhere to house them
The very ill or injured animals are euthanased humanely
We cannot euthanase all of them as the culture/religion will not allow that
Since the tsunami, our group has desexed over 6000 dogs mainly and cats .
The animals are tattooed and collared so they can be identified. (Count till August 2005)
Over 15,000 dogs and cats have been vaccinated against rabies.
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Dr Elaine Ong in Jan 05
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Dogs recovering
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Returned to where they came from
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The People
Most of the Sri Lankans are very caring people who love their animals, even the strays
They just do not have the means to care for them properly, so stopping the dogs and
cats from breeding is the most important thing to do. Each Sri Lankan family only receives
$60 from their Government to rebuild their lives plus funeral expenses
Unless they stay in the refugee camps, they receive not much else
The people who stay in the refugee camps get free clothing, shoes, food, water, toys, games, electricity etc
We all felt there was no incentive to get them back to their villagers and previous occupations
The Long term
We are training 4 Sri Lankan vets, 2 vet technicians and 2 dogcatchers to continue this
work in these areas as well as in the refugee camps. The Sri Lankan team is an incredibly
united, professional and efficient team. They have excellent surgical skills and have learnt very quickly
Most of all, they are all genuine animal lovers. Any euthanasia and burial is done with
utmost respect, even for a stray dog They have now covered the whole of the South east and
south coast and going back to catch the dogs we missed the first time around
Sherry Grant, the founder of the Bali street dog foundation has her Balinese teams in Aceh,
India and Sri Lanka to help since the tsunami and she is trying to lobby
the wealthy animal Charities for financial support
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Field clinic in the rubble |
All the veterinarians /nurses from Australia who have helped are volunteers
The only paid people are the Bali team and the Sri Lankan trainees
All money raised will go directly towards purchasing drugs/medicines for the volunteers to Carry over
I am intending to recruit Australian veterinarians and nurses to go and help with the training of
The Sri Lankan vets. Funds are needed to pay the Sri lankans, to run the van and to purchase Drugs.
Veterinary students can help as nurses. The nurses do a lot of work such as monitoring
of anaesthesia and putting up Iv drips with one hand!
So far it is the effort of a small team: The Balinese vets/dogcatchers who have risen to
help others since we helped them after the Bali bombings, 10 volunteer Australian vets
and nurses.2 from the UK, 1 from New Zealand and 2 from Malaysia. A few of us who had
helped in Bali reuniting to help and a few generous veterinary drug companies and a
few hardworking human nurses who have raided their hospitals for expired drugs/supplies!
UPDATE 2009
5 years on
Over 23,000 dog and cats sterilized!
The TAPA TEAM still works and travles along the East and South Coast
They kept working throuout the civil unrest
Last year in August they were invited to work on thestray dogs in the naval base
The Base was bombed , and fortunately none of our team was hurt
This shows how much risk they took putting their work ahead of their safety
Year after year we do not know whether the Team will be able to carry on he work
due to lack of funding .However at the last minute we find a funder
Robert Blumberg, our volunteer treasurer /Scretary works tirelessly and sends out hundreds of proposals
The TAPA is now funded by generous donors such a BRIGITTE BARDOT FOUNDATION
Best Friends USA amd Ahimsa foundation USA
I continue to send experienced volunteers to assist the Team
