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Haiti's Animals Not Forgotten
Posted: Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 5:45 p.m. EST
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Photo credit: WSPA/IFAW
| Tracy Reis, the American Humane Association’s program manager for Animal Emergency Services, will be in Haiti on Thursday to join the international effort dedicated to animals affected by the earthquake.
Reis will arrive in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as part of the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti, an organization led by the World Society for the Protection of Animals and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Reis will work with coalition members in the Dominican Republic and Haiti to implement a feeding program for community dogs and to offer immediate veterinary aid to animals in Haiti. The efforts are conducted in cooperation with the Haitian government, particularly the Ministry of Environment.
"We are discussing the need for a vaccination program in order to prevent the spread of diseases amongst the animal populations,” said Jean Marie Claude Germain, the Haitian minister of environment.
In addition to deploying Reis, American Humane’s efforts include:
• Identifying volunteers from each group in the coalition and gathering skills and resource information about them so the most effective teams can be sent to Haiti.
• As the first professional animal welfare organization to join the coalition, American Humane donated $25,000 in funding and expects to provide more money.
• American Humane’s Red Star Animal Emergency Services volunteers are preparing for deployment by updating their vaccinations and receiving other medical assessments.
• American Humane notified more than 200 trained and FEMA-certified animal rescue responders on its response roster. Some qualified responders may join teams in Haiti once long-term mission objectives are determined.
To date, $150,000 has been raised to support the coalition’s work. Among the various challenges faced by the coalition members is being able to secure a suitable site for medical supplies for animals while human needs are met first.
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Haiti's Animals Not Forgotten
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