Animal disaster response team heads to Samoa

Yahoo News 2 Oct 09;

WELLINGTON (AFP) – A disaster response team specialising in the welfare of animals was heading to Samoa in the wake of the devastating tsunami, the World Society for the Protection of Animals said.

"Animals were often the forgotten victims of disasters, yet their survival and well-being was critical for the recovery of the communities which rely on them," the society's New Zealand manager Melissa Brown said Friday.

The disaster response team, led by the society's Costa Rican-based disaster management veterinary co-ordinator, Juan Carlos Murillo, was due in Apia on Saturday, she said.

Its first task will be to assess how many animals have been affected and provide emergency veterinary care to those in need.

The people of Samoa are heavily reliant on their cattle, pigs and chickens, and the islands also have a significant dog population.

A disaster has been declared for the whole of Samoa which, along with neighbouring American Samoa and nearby Tonga, bore the brunt of the tsunami generated by the 8.0 magnitude earthquake which struck Tuesday.

At least 148 people were killed including 110 in Samoa, mainly in the south and southeastern districts of the main island Upolu.

The toll is expected to rise as search teams continue efforts to locate missing people and aircraft circle over the coast looking for bodies at sea.