News Updates

July 7th 2006 - Emergency Flood Appeal

Dear friends,

I have been ascertaining the flood affected areas near to our shelter and it has hit two major districts namely Srikakulam (130 kms to the Orissa border) and Vizianagaram (which is hardly 20 kms from us).

Although buffalos like to swim this water is stagnated and polluted as its carrying all of the red soil in its great flow. But we have seen to it that the buffalos are safe.

More than 30 villages in Srikakulam and 10 in Vizianagaram have been inundated severly .A total of more than 40 villages completely marooned straightaway. This was because of a major reservoir overflowing . The Totipalli reservoir has given way. And although Srikakulam is further away we are still very familiar with that area because of our work with the migratory birds there.

There are many many animals that badly need help with medicines, first aid, vaccinations. It is more even more work after the floods have receded and the rescue mission begins as the sufferings of the animals need to be met with our kindness. Already the people have been complaining that their cattle is affected with stomach upsets, severe pain, fever, loose motions and with the probable outbreak of Foot and Mouth and even possibly the Blue Tongue disease that had appeared just last year after an absence of three decades.

Therefore it is the most urgent need to save the stranded ones and vaccinate the thousands besides providing clean water.

Countless stranded cattle; this one tied to a tree above the flood waters for safe keeping.

While the humans were airlifted as they slowly return they desperately need help saving what is left of their animals. In the worst areas many (humans and no doubt animals too) are still perched on rooftops awaiting help from rescue teams (but the rescue teams will not help the animals). And as they could not carry on their daily chores, even the people are desperate for food and shelter. Our area does not get as much press coverage as others and if the humans are suffering so much you can imagine how much more the animals are.

Because of our past disaster management experience we now have in place the dedication and committment to hard work and understanding of what is needed to deal with the situation. Combined with our genuine love for the animals, our teams can be in place and material resources at the ready for purchase. We need to buy medicines, fuel for our vehicles and feed for the thousands. We urgently wish to send four teams of four each (total 24 people including drivers) for 21 days duration costing around Rs. 609,000 or USD 13,250 in this phase.

The breakup for four teams is as follows:

It is a shame that all the hardwork done last year to improve and protect all the animal's health has been undone but we currently have this beautiful relationship we built up with the farmers and can build upon that. Now they look to us for their needs as they have no help from or faith in the government who is not doing anything at all to help them. And nobody else is willing to go out to the villages and do this work.

The Buddha statue at a flooded river at high crest near Srikakulam.

Additionally, since the cyclone we have been trained in "EM technology" (originally from Japan) made of good bacteria which will fight bad bacteria in any system. This is a virtually free manufacturing process to make this liquid solution as a natural and effective phenomena which is so pure it kills bad germs and leaves clean water thereby helping to stop the spread of disease (especially in disaster areas). We could implement this now for the best of all health - animals, plants and even the human beings.

While we have worked actively to shore up our shelter which we dearly hope will protect against any future flooding or cyclones the same cannot be said of the villages. So needless to say ideally we now need to plan a permanent team under the guidance and assistance of whomever wants to assist because I fear this year there are going to be severe cyclones.

We have never had these floods in such close occurrences. Who can help us. We need to have an exclusive team permanently trained in place with all the equipments etc., and there must be a separate pool of funding for this. We offer concrete results, documentation, photos and last but not least the gratitude of the animals and the farmers. Reaching out to the villagers we always impart our humane teachings for the long term effect. We know the impact we can make and benefit we can bring to make a real difference. Therefore we particularly cannot ignore this current situation.

Thanking you for your kind attention,
Pradeep