One of the deadliest natural disasters in human history has killed nearly 150,000 people, wiped out entire communities, and, according to one source, literally pushed the entire country of Sri Lanka slightly. The underwater earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia and the resulting tsunami affected the animal kingdom, too, but disaster experts, including our staff with HSI Asia, are just beginning to get a picture of the depth and breadth of the destruction.

And the picture developing appears to be in black and white: some good news, more bad.

Anyone following the news has certainly watched or heard these contradictory, black-and-white reports; several media sources have already reported that most wild animals escaped the tsunami unscathed, crediting the creatures' "sixth sense" for their miraculous survival, yet other sources have claimed widespread death and destruction among animals, whether wild or domesticated.

The truth is much more complicated and regrettably ugly. While some animals may have successfully fled to higher ground prior to the wall of water that flattened the landscape, many others were not so lucky. Our colleagues in India report that entire beach communities along the Bay of Bengal have been wiped out, humans and animals equally obliterated, with small packs of roaming dogs now feasting on the remains of goats half-buried in the sand. It stands to reason that other areas, particularly those with a similar mix of people and agricultural animals, have suffered the same fate.

We also have first-hand accounts from our HSI Asia team, which has been dispatched to the worst-hit areas in South Asia. The team, consisting of HSI Asia Director Sherry Grant and Dr. Putu Listrianai Wistawan, the co-founder and director of veterinary medicine for the Bali Street Dog Foundation, has already stopped in Sri Lanka and Thailand, where animal deaths have been limited mostly to pets. At the same time, many dogs have survived, particularly in Thailand, but these homeless creatures find themselves scrambling and scavaging for food and water. And like most pets, they will eat or drink things that are not good for them, like contaminated water.

To help these homeless canines in Thailand, Humane Society International has contributed $10,000 to the Soi Dog Foundation animal rescue project in Phuket. The first $2,000 of this grant will go toward the direct care of homeless dogs, whether providing food and water or immediate veterinary treatment to the animals. The rest will help fund a "field clinic" in Khao Lak, which will provide treatment, care, and food for both livestock and domestic animals in the area.

While in Phuket, Grant also helped coordinate the rescue of two Indian-Pacific humpback dolphins, an adult and an adolescent, who were carried over the tree tops by the tsunami and dumped into a makeshift lagoon. The dolphins apparently rode the tsunami into the previously dry lagoon, which now has seven meters of water in it.

The first attempt to rescue the dolphins on Tuesday, January 4, didn't pan out, but the following day, teams managed to return the adult to the open ocean. On Friday, January 7, Edwin Wiek of SOS Wildlife Rescue Center visited Khao Lak and helped local residents dredge the lagoon; their efforts turned up nothing. Wiek then examined photos taken over the past few days at the lagoon; he determined, by carefully noting skin markings, that the dolphin in every picture was the same animal. He concluded that there never were two dolphins in the lagoon, only the adult who now swims free.

And speaking of Wiek and life-saving efforts, the wildlife expert has begun making regular trips to a small island off Thailand in a dinghy purchased by HSI for his work. The island apparently was devastated by the tsunami, leaving few inhabitants but at least 50 deer. Those deer have no clean water, so Wiek is literally piloting the dinghy over to the island to provide the animals with barrels of fresh water.

In the meantime, HSI has dispatched a small team of livestock veterinarians to Sumatra, where it is believed that agricultural animals took a large hit from the tsunami. Grant and Listrianai will join the veterinarians later this week and begin assessing the damage as well as providing food and water and treatment to those surviving cows, goats, chicken and other animals. "Our efforts in Sumatra are critical to helping residents get back on their feet," says HSI Executive Director Neil Trent. "These people rely on their animals not only to generate income, but also to feed their families. We want to make sure that any injured animals get healthy and are properly fed and watered."

Trent notes that getting a grip on the animal issues in all the affected countries, even at a time of unfathomable human misery and loss of life, is important. Not only is it necessary to dispose of animal remains (human remains, too) to contain the spread of diseases like cholera and typhoid, but it's vital that organizations like HSI work to jumpstart the economies of these devastated communities—economies largely built on animal agriculture. After all, rebuilding the local agriculture can help a community feed its own citizens, an important step in making people once again self-sufficient.

Other animal-related reports from South Asia:

• According to an Associated Press report, a mother in Chinnakalapet, India grabbed her two youngest children when the tsunami hit her village, hoping her 7-year-old son would follow behind them. He didn't; he hid in the family hut, just 40 yards from the shore. The mother thought she would never see her son again. Lucky for the boy, the family dog grabbed the child by his collar and nudged him up the hill to safety. The hut was gone when the water finally receded.

• A veterinarian from Medan, Indonesia, noted that Banda Aceh, the main city of Aceh province in northern Sumatra, is all but leveled. He noted that few, if any, animals likely survived the tsunami, and that there would be little to do for animals except help to dispose of their bodies. He suggested that surviving animals would be forced to drink open sewage and may likely die from subsequent gastrointestinal problems.

• In Bali, Indonesia, members of the animal welfare group Yudisthira marked their payday by giving generously—several donated nearly half of their pay—to the relief efforts in Sumatra. The group then used their mobile animal clinic to collect donations and filled their van with bottled water, canned fish, milk, and dried fruit to send to regions affected by the tsunami.

• Near Nagapattinam, India, witnesses reported dead cattle littering the fields as aid workers conducted mass burials of unclaimed human corpses brought in on tractors.

• Margot Park, manager of the HSI-sponsored Soi Dog animal rescue project in Phuket, reported that problems with animals were beginning to surface. Even as she sheltered stranded tourists who barely escaped the tsunami, Park noted that dogs on the beaches lack food and water because the food stalls and restaurants that previously sustained them were all swept away. But the destruction was so overwhelming that even the local dogs were "totally dazed—didn't want to touch food," Park lamented. "This all makes many other things so petty."

Grant says that any animal welfare advocates working in the midst of human tragedy have three immediate goals: to remove animal carcasses to prevent the spread of disease; contain starving dogs scavenging for food; and preserve the lives of farm animals needed by subsistence farmers. In addition to preventing suffering whenever possible, these goals are part of the agenda for human survival as well.

Click here to contribute to Humane Society International's Disaster Relief efforts.

Check out the links below to read more about HSI's involvement in the unfolding crisis in South Asia.