Update from the Field: Hurricane Dean

December 2007

1.0 INTRODUCTION:

Hurricane Dean struck Jamaica as a Category 5 Hurricane on Sunday, August 19 2007, but sparing us total devastation by veering south west at the last minute. An assessment of the damage undertaken by us, Noah's Ark indicated that over 41- 45 dogs were directly affected by Hurricane Dean, from 5 different areas. Of that amount, 6 died, including 2 kittens and a pup.

During the period of the Hurricane, the island experienced heavy rainfall and extremely strong winds forcing persons to abandon their homes and seek higher ground, many without their animals.

The heavy rains that lashed the island during the passage of the hurricane did not spare man or animal and as such, almost all suffered some in some way. The level of rainfall received further saturated the soils which were just recovering from heavy rains which affected the island, just over a month before. This resulted in numerous landslides and breakaways, causing many animals to be trapped. There were instances of cows and goats being bogged down in knee deep mud fields. The owners were nowhere to be found & in fact did not return to the area until 3 days later ~ therefore Noah's Ark enlisted the help of some young men from the area and paid them a small fee to help rescue the animals from the bog.

The south coast of the island was the hardest hit with the capital Kingston suffering as well with massive displacement of animals, with some being killed from collapsing structures and drowning (some were stupidly left chained by owners who fled).

Immediately following the passage of "Dean," the first objective of Noah's Ark was to put in place plans to respond to the disaster after the hurricane. The plans included:

  • Activation of transportation: Asking friends and family to assist in offering their vehicles to transport animals to safer areas or for medical treatment. One or two agreed, most declined citing their own immediate challenges.
  • Identifying the immediate dangers to animals and moving to limit or remove these dangers entirely.
  • Establishing contact with the local shelter to put them on alert that Noah's Ark was bringing in hurt or animals in need of shelter, which we did.
  • Develop roster/ schedule of Noah's Ark volunteers (5 people helped) and assign each to specific rescue tasks.

2.0 NATURE OF EFECTS ON ANIMALS:

Many dogs sustained minor injuries, i.e., cuts and abrasions, especially to the face and ears. Two dogs suffered broken limbs which were quite severe and required immediate attention. A preliminary assessment carried out later by Noah's Ark, in the downtown areas of Kingston revealed vast amounts of dogs and cats starving and having no shelter whatsoever as whatever they had before was now destroyed.

As a result of the saturation of many areas, combined with the erosion effects of overflowing gullies the access to many low income areas had been reduced. Often the only way to enter was on foot as the environment was covered in heavy silt and debris. It was therefore a challenge to get food to the residents who asked for help to feed their dogs.

Noah's Ark assisted a total of 41 dogs; 11 puppies; 6 cats; 3 kittens; 6 goats; 1 kid goat; 2 cows; and 2 Guinea hens

A special rescue case by Deborah Binns

The day following the hurricane, Deborah Binns of Noah's Ark, armed with long bits of rope and gloves, was busy in a nearby field removing goats and cows stranded in a boggy field. The goats were easy to get out and the bigger cows were easier to move as they used their own strength to move while the two men with me pulled on the rope tied to them.

Bellowing loudly, the cows finally made it to safety, thanks to Rocky and Melville, two gardeners who are employed at homes nearby. But there was one cow that refused to budge and was standing knee high in mud not willing to move. We coaxed the best we could and yanked on her rope but still she didn't budge. Then we saw why he wasn't moving. Her little calf was caught in the thick brush nearby. We didn't see him as he was so still and made no sound, probably exhausted from being there all night and day struggling.

The mother cow kept turning to look in the direction of her calf and we eventually saw him in the thicket. The men and I made our way along the verges where it was not so muddy and eventually got to the calf. That's when he started to fidget and thrash around. You could see the fright and nervousness in his big dark eyes as we approached with the rope but he was wedged in pretty tightly and couldn't move. That was probably a good thing.

We got the rope over his head and tried to calm him by stroking his nose. He started bucking a bit then the mother cow began making her way towards us. We pulled and pulled until the calf started to pull also. Like any concerned mother, she watched us the entire time and bellowed to us, maybe saying leave her baby alone. I don't know if she knew we were trying to save her calf, but I think if she was a bull she would have charged us! The rain started falling heavily once again adding to our misery and our hands were sore even with the gloves, but we kept pulling and urging the calf to move.

Eventually, as if responding to the mother cow's bellows, he began fighting to get free. Finally, his hooves got a hold of solid ground and he was free. We got the mother cow out of the field and the little calf ran over to her wasting no time to find her udder. She lowered her head to nudge him as if saying "welcome back son."

We need more happy endings like this.
<<back to Jamaica page