Will animals and people get the help they need?
By Sharon St. Joan, Best Friends NetworkA report on the BBC News online, May 23, 2008, is expressing caution, following UN head Ban Ki-moon's meeting with General Than Shwe of the Myanmar government and the agreement by the generals to allow in "all aid workers" regardless of nationality.
Ban Ki-moon called the agreement reached with the generals a breakthrough, indicating that he was very pleased, but adding that it remains to be seen whether there will be follow-through on the agreement.
The terms appear still unclear. It is also uncertain that U.S., British, and French warships, carrying aid supplies will be allowed to dock. Equally unspecified is whether or not, western aid workers will be allowed to travel into the Irrawaddy delta to distribute aid.
Some groups, such as the well-known group Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontieres) were already in place helping people in the delta when Cyclone Nargis struck. Doctors Without Borders has been continuing their work and bringing more food supplies into the country.
Aid for animals may be allowed inWSPA, IFAW, and Wildlife Friends of Thailand have been poised on the border between Myanmar and Thailand since the cyclone struck, waiting for permission to enter.
WSPA is now announcing that a disaster relief team of livestock vets, led by Dr. Ian Dacre, will be heading into Myanmar early next week. They have been invited by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to aid the animals. Their estimate of the number of animals who have already died to due Cyclone Nargis is 48 million, with millions more at risk.
Best Friends is in on-going contact with people inside Myanmar and is gathering information on the status of dogs, cats, and other animals and locating local groups within the country who are either helping animals already or who may be able to help them.
Zoo animals need helpYangon itself, the former capital, which is on the coast, suffered heavy damage. A report from inside Myanmar has alerted Best Friends to the condition of the Yangon Zoo, where many large trees were toppled by the cyclone.
Violent winds resulted in some of the animals getting out of their enclosures, and some are still loose.
Here is a one-minute You Tube video on animals freed at the Yangon zoo by the cyclone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dXFk_UuCd8&feature=relatedA resident of Yangon has sent Best Friends this description:
"Yangon is a very old city and has been called the Garden City with many mature trees lining the streets and roads. A very large portion of those trees fell during Nargis. In Yangon Zoo alone, it was estimated that about 300 trees fell. Yangon Zoo celebrated its 100th birthday just a year ago. Post Nargis, the animals in the zoo are also affected by the limited food supply."
Dr. John Wedderburn, moderator of the Asian Animals Protection Network has personally investigated a huge number of zoos in Asia. This is his assessment of the Yangon Zoo, from the Asian Animal Protection Network website.
"1. Yangon Zoo
Visited in June 2004. I was told this was a dreadful zoo and, knowing how poor the country is, I guessed that would be true. However, I was very pleasantly surprised. Yes, there were some unacceptable cages but there was an atmosphere of caring and many signs of efforts to improve the lot of the inmates. The animals appeared to be treated with dignity and not the ridicule that is the hallmark of the really bad zoos".
Earlier this year some of the animals were moved to a new location in what is now the capital of Myanmar, Naypyidaw. Sadly, some of the elephants were separated from their elephant friends by the move. The animals have also suffered in recent years from budget cuts. However, the impression given by John Wedderburn above would suggest that the zoo staff and management are doing their best to care for the animals with kindness.
There are around 700 animals in the Zoo--on 58 acres. These include 60 species of mammals, 70 species of birds and 20 species of reptiles. There are many species of deer, monkeys, and large cats. Among the reptiles are turtles and snakes. A lovely lake and waterway is home to swans and other water birds. There are herons, egrets, storks, geese and ducks. Raptors include fish eagles and Brahmany kites; there are parrots, including rose-ringed parakeets, cockatoos and macaws.
The zoo and the animals seem to be in a state of disarray at the moment following the cyclone. They are going hungry due to food shortages, and they need to be returned to their enclosures.
Top photo: © Neneo / Dreamstime.com
Second photo: Wikipedia /Rhesus MacaquesThanks to Karen Straight for contributing information to this article.How you can helpWe will be posting any updates as soon as we have them, as well as a way to send donations to help the animals in Myanmar. We anticipate having that information within the next few days.
To look at AAPN's report on zoos, please go to:
http://www.aapn.org/zoopage.html