News Updates

May 2010: Emergency flood alert – Cyclone Laila

Dear friends and supporters of VSPCA,

Please excuse this rushed report to inform you of the problems in our area. As you may know VSPCA collects funds to go out and rescue stranded and sick animals in distress when there are natural disasters. Please see our past work here.

First the shelter report:

We are worried about the front and the back stream – when there are rains (we have been experiencing heavy rains for the past three days) these are dangerous streams that can flood us.

We have shifted all the star tortoises to a higher place; all the birds to higher areas; all the ducks to higher ground and also the rabbits. The dogs have been all kept indoors in the kennels. Cats are OK and can climb up. We have asked at least ten workers on extra payroll to stay overnight.

Our shelter managers (Raj and Sarada) are staying overnight while Pradeep is taking care of this area and meeting and communications and materials . We purchased 20 raincoats and another 10 for the workers. The rest of the workers (40) have raingear from other disasters.

The biggest problem is the 300 loose cattle who have no sheds (another 350 cattle and buffalo have sheds). If these 300 are brought in during the day there will be no possibility to clean and give them food. Therefore alternative feeding is going on. It is still raining very hard and we are doing our best to remove waterlogging, etc. Given the experience with past cyclones the shelter has also been built on five feet high structures with strong metal with good drainage to resist thewater rush from the hills and streams.

We have kept all feed and medicines in the natural disaster rooms.

The only upsides of the cyclone are that we now have more water in our wells and borewells which were quite dry. The shelter plants and trees (although we lost several in the storm) are intact. The severe heat has come down considerably. It is only because of past planning and new drainage systems – and your support – that our shelter has survived!

Aside from our ongoing needs for food, medicine and animal birth control, currently our urgent needs for the shelter include: one genset, a new vehicle (another one is down due to old age) and a new submersible pump.

Now for our disaster outreach work:

We are concerned for the animals in the 400 km area surrounding us. The graphic at right shows the coastline as of 20 May (courtesy of the Deccan Chronicle).

For ongoing news about the cyclone, click here.

This is a hurried note to inform you all as we cannot sit by while animals need our help. Kindly consider donating any amount for our efforts.

Lots of other news from our activities we will posted another time. We have several new sponsorship stories – please read about Smoothie, Mika, Balram, and more.

Please see our ongoing updates on Facebook (you do not have to be a Facebook member to view them).

On behalf of all at VSPCA,
Eileen Weintraub
VSPCA Volunteer for Global Outreach