January 13, 2006
No one would blame Sherry Grant if she viewed 2005 as one long disaster. After all, the HSI Asia director began last year touring Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia in the wake of the tsunami that literally flattened entire neighborhoods where the massive wall of water came ashore on December 26, 2004. Later in the year, with her work in the tsunami-affected areas far from over, she would have to make trips to India and Pakistan to help the animal and human victims of the floods and earthquake that devastated those countries.
And yet, more than a year after the tsunami, Grant sees signs of hope in the affected areas, even in places where things are still far from normal. She sees not only new attitudes toward animal welfare, but also new cooperation between governments and disaster animal responders. Like Americans in the Gulf Coast came to understand after Katrina struck, people in South Asia have begun to realize that disaster responders must address animal issues if they expect to make a full recovery.
Where It All Started
More than 200,000 people lost their lives in the tsunami. Those left behind found their homes, their families, and their lives destroyed. Thousands of stray dogs along the coastal towns of Sri Lanka also survived the tsunami, but the animals caused more worry among the human survivors, who feared the spread of rabies. Not only did many survivors bring their pet dogs to refugee camps, but countless strays came out of hiding to discover their homes destroyed and their families gone. News reports indicated that the hungry dogs were eating contaminated corpses and spreading rabies, though few actual rabies cases appeared to be cataloged.
But in response to the fears, the Sri Lankan military was prepared to control the stray dog population through mass killings.
In an effort to prevent this from happening, HSI, working with The HSUS's Rural Area Veterinary Services and Disaster Animal Response Teams as well as with local animal welfare organizations, implemented widespread vaccination and sterilization programs, which helped convince the Sri Lankan government to hold off on the mass canine killings.
“A lot of what I’ve learned is being able to decipher what the immediate needs are and how to act on them,” reflects Grant. And what Grant realized about Sri Lanka and its stray dog population was this: vaccinating those animals for rabies or culling them would only putting a Band-Aid on a much larger problem. As long as there were unsterilized dogs, she understood, they would keep breeding. And trying to keep the stray dog population from exploding would be a losing battle.
What a Difference a Year Makes
By February 2005, Grant and local animal organizations working with HSI had convinced the government to put a halt to the culling plan for good. What's more, as teams of vets and relief workers moved from town to town, vaccinating and sterilizing dogs as they went, the locals liked what they saw.
“They became much more open to animal welfare efforts and organizations,” reports Grant. “Pretty soon, they were taking us to find more dogs that needed help. It really was a first step to changing their attitudes toward animal control. These vet teams in Sri Lanka are spreading the concept of rabies vaccination and sterilization of dogs in a scientific manner, community by community.”
In addition to the capacity building, HSI and its partners have also been able to create a lasting legacy.
The Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust was created to provide ongoing relief for animals in the tsunami-affected areas. The trust’s field clinics continue to capture, spay or neuter, vaccinate, and release stray animals.
As the rebuilding continues in Sri Lanka, a slow process according to Grant, the trust's teams continue to make steady strides for animals right alongside. Take, for example, the small fishing village of Karinda, where European NGOs built 200 homes for refugees. Before the homes were finished, the trust’s teams had fulfilled their goal of sterilizing and vaccinating 85% of the dogs in the area, giving the town’s human and animal residents a fresh start.
The trust’s work continues today, as teams continue to move from community to community, sterilizing and vaccinating about 35 dogs a day.
Out of the Ashes
One of the trust's most important legacies is the relationship it has nurtured between all of the vets and welfare organizations involved in the relief.
“Since the tsunami,” says Grant, “with one call I can mobilize vets from all over Asia to help. We’ve really managed to build a network of disaster responders in veterinary and government capacities.”
When cyclones brought torrential rains to the southern coasts of India, it was a team of Sri Lankan vets and animal handlers, supported by the trust, that was able to respond and assist an Indian SPCA, whose facilities were destroyed by flooding.
At present, HSI is working with the government of Ahmebadad and with an Indian NGO to sterilize 45,000 dogs in the next year, Grant notes. “What started off in Sri Lanka has spread to India,” she says.
Personal Reflections
When 2005 drew to a close, Grant faced a new year of disaster response. As she prepared to return to Pakistan and continue assisting the earthquake's animal refugees, she reflected on all of the devastation and, on the flip side, the hope she had seen over the last year.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life,” she says of the tsunami. “For human life, for animal life—it was just so catastrophic. It made everything I ever thought was huge in my life seem so small. The resilience of the people starting to rebuild has been amazing.”
And when she had just begun to recover from the relentless pace of the tsunami relief work, the rains came down on India and the ground shook in Pakistan.
“It was too much to take in all at once,” she wrote in her online journal.
But with the support of HSI and the Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust, Grant can draw strength and help more animals and the people they share their lives with.
