BAWA rushes to save animals beneath clouds of hot ash UBUD, Bali, Indonesia––More than 4.2 million people, 350,000 dogs, and perhaps a million other animals from monkeys and chickens to goats and cattle, plus wildlife, are looking over their shoulders at a 30,000-foot column of steam, smoke, and ash boiling out of Mount Agung. […]
Leptospirosis: when a rescue goes to rat piss
Five of 10 puppies transported from Puerto Rico to Vermont fell ill NORWICH, Vermont––Posted Surfin’ Sato founder Aimee Porcaro Goodwin to Facebook two days before Thanksgiving 2017, “We just got the lepto PCR test results for Ollie. NEGATIVE!!! I’m so thankful!!” The “all clear” for Ollie, a puppy from Puerto Rico whom Surfin’ Sato […]
Bo the dog says “Help us!”
Monkey the cat says “Help us!” too $8,610.47 in bills due yesterday, and just $308.98 total to pay them with. That’s where we are, after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria sent ANIMALS 24-7 readership soaring over half a million for the year, but appeared to send our donations down the drain. Two months ago we […]
Flood & fire: global warming hits animal shelters from Puerto Rico to California
Disaster follows disaster GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico; SANTA ROSA, California––An October 16, 2017 flash flood forcing the Humane Society of Puerto Rico to evacuate all animals and personnel at a moment’s notice had much in common with wildfires impelling the evacuation of northern California animal shelters and sanctuaries a few days earlier. Despite the conflicting characteristics […]
What did we do during hurricanes Harvey, Irma, & Maria?
We were on the job! We knew longtime dolphin rescuer and advocate Rick Trout, of Tavernier in the Florida Keys, would be among our most valuable sources as Hurricane Irma roared in after devastating the Caribbean. Living in a house built as a storm shelter after the Category 5 hurricane of 1935, Trout sheltered neighbors […]
Distemper & transport incidents slow Hurricane Harvey rescue effort
Best Friends, after wrongly ripping the Houston SPCA via Change.org, has disaster on own watch HOUSTON, Texas––Best Friends Animal Society efforts to rehome dogs and cats collected after Hurricane Harvey have reportedly stalled, with 455 animals remaining at a temporary shelter at NRG Arena in Houston as of October 1, 2017, and an adoption […]
Hurricanes: most famous fatality was Molly the dolphin
Molly’s life was microcosm of marine mammal captivity history MARATHON, Florida––Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria killed more than 200-and-counting humans among them, from Barbuda to the southern end of the Coastal Bend region of Texas, but the best-known victim so far was apparently a dolphin, Molly, who was among the oldest dolphins on record. Molly […]
Hurricane Maria: St. Croix Animal Welfare Center welds the door shut
Whatever didn’t blow away was stolen ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands––“It is with a very heavy heart that we were forced to weld the door to our clinic closed today,” the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center posted to Facebook on September 28, 2017. Even before Hurricane Maria crushed the U.S., Dutch, and British Virgin Islands, […]
Hurricane Maria: monkeys hold on, horses endure
“Oh my goodness, how could anything have survived this?” CAYO SANTIAGO, Puerto Rico––Hurricane Irma mostly missed the renowned Cayo Santiago rhesus macaque colony, on an island just east of the Puerto Rican mainland, but Hurricane Maria hit it head-on, at full Category 5 strength. The thousand-odd macaques on Cayo Santiago are ninth generation descendants from […]
Hurricane Maria: first reports about animal aid from Puerto Rico
Destroyed communication infrastructure left rescuers incommunicado SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico––“Brutal winds left streets in the historic Old Town of the Puerto Rican capital, San Juan, strewn with rubble––collapsed balconies, fallen lamp posts, and dead birds, reported Dave Graham and Robin Respaut of Reuters the morning after Hurricane Maria ripped across the length of Puerto […]