Pet shelters appealed for financial support online for affected stray animals and other pets due to Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai).
The Philippine Animal Welfare Society on Monday, December 20 said that its Disaster Relief and Response Team has conducted relief operations to their shelters in Cebu City.
Cebu City is among the provinces in Visayas and Mindanao heavily devastated by the onslaught of Odette last week.
PAWS shared the update on its Facebook page on Monday, December 20.
“ON THE GROUND. The PAWS Disaster Relief and Response Team is in Cebu right now, distributing relief to the animals and some supplies to Island Rescue Organization (IRO)- a Cebu-based animal welfare organization with two shelters,” it said.
The organization is also currently looking for ways to send supplies to another shelter in Bohol, which is also badly hit by the typhoon.
PAWS then called for financial aid to help support the team’s relief efforts.
“We thank those who have sent holiday donations for our shelter animals but we are knocking on your kind hearts once more- this time to allow us to help fellow animal shelters ravaged by the storm. Note: We can only buy supplies from the area now and would need cash donations,” it said.
You can course your cash donations to PAWS through the bank details and other donation channels provided in the post.
In a separate post, PAWS shared photos of its team’s relief operations in Cebu City.
One of the photos showed a stray dog hugging one of the members of PAWS’ disaster relief team. It gained the most traction with 2,000 reactions.
“The animals are hungry but they seem to want to ask us questions: ‘What happened? Where have all the buildings and the people gone?’“ Sharon Yap, PAWS team leader for disaster relief for the animals, was quoted in the post.
Another shelter Community Alliance for Paws-Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte also knocked on dog lovers’ hearts on Facebook to help provide financial aid and relief goods for its volunteers in the area.
“To our CAP Community: We apologize for not releasing regular updates about our shelter. Our team of volunteers are also affected by #OdettePH,” the group said.
“Rest assured the Rescues’ needs are being taken care of regularly, thanks to your continuous donations! We will post about our activities when the situation here is better,” it added.
The group listed the following relief items they need:
- Food – rice, canned goods, noodles, biscuits, etc.
- Drinking water
- Hygiene kit – soap, shampoo, alcohol, sanitary napkin, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.
- Blanket
- Slippers
- Clothing
- Solar lamps
Prior to Odette’s landfall over several parts of the country, some Filipinos reminded one another to take their animal companions with them during evacuation.
READ: Pet owners told to keep animals safe amid ‘Odette’ threat
The Department of Social Welfare and Development said that its Disaster Response and Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC) recorded a total of 1,805,005 people or 452,307 families affected by Odette, as of Monday.
Other provinces that felt the typhoon’s wrath include Southern Leyte, Dinagat Islands, Surigao City, Siargao Island, Caraga region and MIMAROPA region.
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