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Dog’s day in Sri Lanka

LOKE POH LIN

 

Apr 26:

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An international team of volunteers went to the rescue of dogs in Sri Lanka.

Veterinarian Natasha Lee tells LOKE POH LIN how they spayed, neutered,

vaccinated and healed these silent victims of the tsunami.

 

IN Sri Lanka, as post-tsunami relief work continued, disaster relief slowly

became recovery relief. Apart from the multi-national efforts to help human

beings get back on their feet, there were programmes to help the animals as

well.

 

The Humane Society International (HSI) Asia was one such organisation which

shipped out a group of volunteers and worked their way through refugee camps

on the east coast from Arugam Bay north to Thrikuvuil. The purpose of HSI

programmes in the tsunami stricken areas is to reduce the risk of rabies and

to stabilise the community refugee dog populations through vaccination and

spaying/neutering.

 

The HSI field volunteers have to date vaccinated and spayed/neutered well

over 1,422 dogs and have worked their way through five different locations.

Having begun their work in Arugam Bay, they followed the coast to three

refugee camps in Komari, then onto Thirukovil.

 

Within the camps, the field clinic is established in tents, same as for the

human refugees. The heat and harsh conditions continue to be a challenge.

Living conditions are also demanding. The team lived in the devastated town

of Komari in one of the last few standing buildings. With no water or

electricity, bathing was done at the local well and all activities past

sunset were done by candlelight.

 

The Sri Lankan field clinic has been a fantastic programme because it has

become an international veterinary hub with veterinarians and volunteers

from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, UK, and

America.

 

Representing Malaysia was Dr Natasha Lee, 25, a practising vet with Klinik

Kembiri Setapak, part of the SPCA Selangor. An energetic member of the HSI

team, she shares with us her account of the heartbreaking and yet

humanifying experience on the beautiful but devastated island of Sri Lanka.

 

“Standing on a beautiful beach on Arugam Bay on the east coast of Sri Lanka,

looking out into the sea, I can understand why this place is considered to

be one of the most exotic destinations in the world.

 

“What a shame that the one thing that attracts tourists the most to this

natural beauty, is the one thing that has brought the greatest destruction

to these people. Their lives will never be the same again.

 

“One might think that those who were most unfortunate would be the people

living in poor rural villages whose lives were destroyed by just one sweep

of the sea, but think again. There are those that many do not give a second

glance to. These are hidden away, suffering in silence. These are those

whose cries are not heard. I'm talking about the animal victims.

 

“No one can deny that animals always come in second to their human

counterparts, but they do indeed need help. This is where HSI comes in. It

is giving a voice to these silent, forgotten victims. HSI has set up a team

for Sri Lanka to lend a hand in rebuilding the lives of God's magnificent

creatures. And I am fortunate enough to be part of this team.

 

“The team comprises volunteer vets and nurses coming from various countries

such as Australia, New Zealand, England, India and Indonesia.

 

“I am a veterinarian working with the SPCA in Kuala Lumpur, and I understand

the plight of animals, tsunami or no tsunami. I have always believed that by

helping animals, we're indirectly (or directly) making life better for us

humans too. What comes around goes around. Hey, it's the circle of life.

Mahatma Gandhi once said that 'The greatness of a nation and its moral

progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated'.

 

“HSI started its work at Arugam Bay, and worked its way up north, town by

town along the east coast of Sri Lanka. Most of these towns have been

destroyed by the waves. Only a couple of houses remain standing. Thankfully,

by the time I was there, the rubble had already been cleared. Some of the

families had already begun rebuilding their houses. However, there are still

many people left homeless. NGOs from various places have set up 'refugee

camps' where homeless people can place their tents as a temporary home.

Clean water is provided to them in large tanks and is refilled everyday. And

many of these families living here have dogs.

 

“Being in Sri Lanka in March, about three months after the disaster, the

crisis at the moment is that there are just too many dogs. These dogs, owned

or strays, are free to roam around, attacking livestock, stealing food,

biting people and spreading rabies (a particularly fatal disease if not

treated immediately). The obvious solution would be to kill all the dogs.

But this is not (and never will be) the solution.

 

“The villagers need to keep the dogs as guard dogs, discouraging burglars

and protecting the household from poisonous snakes, as well as having them

around as loyal companions. Some of these dogs were allowed to wander around

freely, especially after the tsunami, as most homes had been destroyed. As a

result, there were many unwanted births, and this created the strays

problem, making it difficult to control rabies.

 

“A much better long-term solution for the control of rabies is to vaccinate

every dog in that area. And it would not be successful without first

controlling the dog population by spaying or neutering these dogs. And that

was just what we did there — killing two birds with one stone.

 

" We set up temporary tents at each refugee camp as our 'operating theatre'.

Then the team talked to the villagers, explaining exactly what we were

doing. Many villagers willingly brought their dogs to be neutered and to

have their rabies shots. Some were a bit reluctant at first, but they soon

changed their minds when they saw that no harm was done to the dogs. Some of

them even brought their sick dogs to us, which we treated with whatever

medication we had at that time.

 

“Our team also went out on dog-catching sprees, to catch the wilder dogs

that roamed that area. Once they were neutered and treated, they were free

to get up and go.

 

" I'm sure you can imagine what a spectacle it was for the villagers! People

were amused as we fumbled around to catch the dogs with our big nets. They

must be thinking that we're a crazy bunch of people. I'm pretty sure I

caught a few glances of faces that seemed to say 'I can do better'. Curious

eyes were always glued to the surgery table as children and adults alike

stood at the doorway of our tent. It was nerve-wracking at first for me to

have so many spectators for a surgery (as I am used to doing my surgeries in

closed room back home), but I soon got used to it.

 

“All the dogs look like our local mongrels in KL except that they're mostly

brown or white with brown patches. Occasionally, one or two black dogs can

be seen. Interestingly, about 80 per cent of these dogs are males. I guess

most of the people keep males simply because of the old thinking that 'males

don't produce puppies'. But males are very aggressive, and we could hardly

see any male dog without battle scars. A number of them even had infections

and abscesses due to fights (which were treated, of course).

 

“Not all our efforts were spent only on dogs. We treated other animals as

well, when the need arose. Many of the villagers herd goats, and one day we

found a goat limping around our tent with a little kid hopping alongside

her. One of her hoofs had a big wound and was infested with maggots.

Naturally, we quickly pounced on her to get her wound cleaned. Happily

reunited with her kid later on, she was on her way to recovery.

 

“On an average, we managed to give rabies vaccinations and neuter about 200

dogs in a week. And there were roughly 500 dogs in each camp. When we were

finished in one camp, we simply packed up and moved on north to the next

town, to another refugee camp.

 

“One of the most rewarding aspects of being a vet is not the monetary gain,

or having the prestige and title that comes with the profession (not that

there's much anyway), but in hearing just a simple ‘thank you’ and the

feeling of being appreciated for the work we do. Hearing just that from a

simple villager in this rural part of Sri Lanka, who can barely speak

English in the first place, brings a smile to my face and makes this entire

trip worthwhile. And seeing this man carrying his dog and walking back to

his tent, I know that I have touched at least one life (ok, two — the man

AND his dog), and that I had made a difference.

 

“As I leave this place, HSI Asia is strongly working towards making this

community project a permanent one. And I hope it does, as the benefits of

this task will be seen in the long run. With plenty of support, it might

just be possible to have ZERO rabies casualties in the future.”

 

For more information on the work of HSI and the SPCA, visit these websites

respectively: www.hsiasia.org. and www.spca.org.my.

 

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