Temporary dairy shelter, Nepal, May 2015. Photo by Phil Hunt.

The massive April 25, 2015, earthquake in Nepal brought devastation to the country’s people, economy and culture. Many in the international FPMT community responded to the crisis by offering prayers and making donations to FPMT’s Nepal Earthquake Support Fund. On the ground, the monks and nuns of Kopan Monastery formed the Kopan Helping Hands program and were immediately offering assistance to thousands of earthquake-affected people. You can read about their work and the work of the Namgyal Rinpoche Foundation in FPMT Charitable Projects blog posts.

In addition to helping people in need, FPMT students have been helping earthquake-affected animals, which are often overlooked in times of disaster. When the earthquake struck Nepal, Phil Hunt was already en route to Kathmandu. Hunt is an Australian FPMT student who along with Tania Duratovic coordinates the Animal Liberation Sanctuary, a project of Kopan Monastery. They also oversee Enlightenment for the Dear Animals, an FPMT project based in New South Wales, Australia, and Tree of Compassion, an Australian charity focused on helping animals, people and the environment.

Hunt arrived in Kathmandu on April 26 and was able to assess the situation at the Animal Liberation Sanctuary, which is located close to Kopan Monastery. The sanctuary itself had no physical damage and experienced only minor difficulties. Phil, with team members from Tree of Compassion, was able to go out and assist animals around the city and surrounding areas. In August 2015, Tania visited the sanctuary.

Goats at the Animal Liberation Sanctuary, Nepal, August 2015. Photo by Tania Duratovic.

These are some of Phil and Tania’s reflections on animal welfare after the earthquake and as Nepal continues its recovery:

When disasters strike, the first response is naturally to search for and rescue people. Animals are often forgotten in the chaos even though they are often injured and in desperate need of food, shelter and medical attention. Getting help for animals in a disaster is a challenge, but it can benefit the entire community as well as the animals themselves. Long after international rescue teams have gone, the assistance to animals needs to continue to ensure missed animals receive care and those under treatment return to health.

Fortunately, the resident “four-leggeds” at the Animal Liberation Sanctuary were only spooked by the earthquake. They ran immediately into their shelters when the earthquake struck and then ran back out again as the earth continued to shake, but were physically unharmed. Unfortunately, thousands of animals were not so lucky.

When any disaster strikes, the first thing most big non-governmental organizations involved in animal rescue do is an assessment of the situation. This often takes a week or more. In the case of Nepal, international NGOs for animals did not arrive until early May and most were gone a couple of weeks later. This left local groups to deal with the immediate situation and the longer-term follow-up.

Phil Hunt and Dr. Umesh Mandal with medicines, Nepal, May 2015

Phil managed to fly in to Kathmandu the day after the first earthquake struck and Tania, who has a long history of working in disasters rescuing animals and training others to do so (see “The ‘Roo from Black Saturday” and “The Hidden Toll of Australia’s 2011 Floods”), immediately began organizing medical supplies and funds for the animals in Australia.

The first few days following a disaster are crucial for animal survival. While many local people were naturally too afraid to move about and the rubble from damaged buildings made road access difficult, we took the opportunity to get out and assess what we could and liaise with other local animal welfare groups. We were well placed to treat animals because of the excellent connections that Animal Liberation Sanctuary veterinarian, Dr. Umesh Mandal, has with the Nepalese veterinary networks. Experience with farm animals, especially larger ones like cows and water buffaloes, was essential as many international teams were more accustomed to domestic pets, who fared better in the earthquake. In at least one district, many sacrificial goats being kept in houses and apartments in the lead up to a festival were killed or injured during the earthquake when the structures they were in collapsed.

The Need for Veterinary Aid

Our main priority was to treat animals in need as soon as possible. Initial searches were undertaken on motorbike as it was simpler to get around. As roads were cleared, we were able to organize larger vehicles.

Many animals in the earthquake and aftershocks suffered physical trauma – such as fractures and wounds – as well as psychological trauma. Complicated wounds needed medication and ongoing treatment. Fractures needed skilled treatment and regular follow-ups to ensure infections or other complications didn’t occur and, if they did, were addressed. Without this skilled intervention, animals die from injuries or are crippled and have subsequent lifelong pain.

A “downed” cow being examined by team members in Nuwakot, Nepal, May 2015. Photo by Phil Hunt.

While there were many animals suffering from physical trauma as a result of shelters and buildings collapsing, many other animals we treated had complications that likely arose from stress and their poor condition before the earthquake. “Downed” cows and water buffaloes were an example of this. Also, a number of pregnant animals gave birth prematurely or collapsed and were too weak to give birth. Like the people themselves, most Nepalese animals are not particularly well nourished and most goats, cows and buffaloes are kept for milk and are underfed. Naturally, these animals did not have much strength to withstand the trauma and stress of the earthquake.

Calf in oil toxic shock, Nepal, May 2015. Photo by Phil Hunt.

In desperation, locals tried to “fix” the animal themselves, often with disastrous results because of their ignorance of veterinary medicine. In a village east of Kathmandu and high up a steep valley slope, for example, we encountered one calf partly covered with used engine oil to treat a skin condition. The calf nearly died from toxic shock.

Fortunately, many animals were rescued – calves born, mothers saved – thanks to the combined efforts of the team.

The Importance of Follow-up

Veterinary care is still required in the days and weeks after the first treatment. Fractures need to be checked and splints and casts reapplied as needed; wounds cleaned and dressed; medication regimes assessed and adjusted; minerals and supplements revised and so on. In such a large disaster it is difficult to provide the full treatment required when so much immediate care is needed in widely dispersed and difficult to access places. Some big NGOs had people to follow up, but many left not long after the first treatment was given. Without proper follow-up, animals continue to suffer and some eventually die.

Our team continued with this follow-up work until early August, three months after the first earthquake. The local team showed great tenacity and commitment to helping animals, even though aftershocks made any travel dangerous. Once the monsoon started, areas that had seemed stable began to move and collapse as rain seeped into the newly formed cracks in the earth. This happened to the track to the Animal Liberation Sanctuary, for example, which was blocked due to the collapse of a wall immediately after the first earthquake and then cleared only to once again be under threat when part of its slope shifted.

Temporary shelter for a calf, Nepal, May 2015. Photo by Phil Hunt.

Temporary Shelters

One of the first things villagers did after the earthquakes was to build temporary shelter for their animals. In one village, a buffalo was tethered in the rain and the family was distressed that they were not able to give the animal shelter. A young girl went out into the rain and hugged her, apologizing for taking her shelter. Throughout the disaster area, we witnessed reasonably solid temporary shelters going up for animals at a much faster rate than for people. Humanitarian aid meant for displaced people was often quickly repurposed. For example, tarpaulins could be used to repair damaged animal shelters.

How Small-scale Farming Contributed to Injury

It’s clear that some animals – birds, dogs, goats and male cows – fared better than other animals. People said that just before the earthquake struck, birds took wing; pigeons in the squares suddenly flew off. Street dogs were also said to have started moving before the earthquake was detected by people and because they are quick and agile, escaped falling material better than most. Goats are mostly herded outside of urban areas or are kept outside of buildings. Male cows, who are not owned by anyone, wander the streets and roads and were only at risk to nearby falling debris and collapsing buildings.

The main victims seemed to be female cows and water buffaloes, who are more often kept in a building or shelter of some kind. There was no escape for them. In and around Kathmandu there is a thriving small-scale dairy industry, and there has always been the village- and family-scale use of animals for dairy. At the family level, one or two females are kept in a building, sometimes directly below the living space of the people. They stay inside or can be tethered outside, but the majority of their time is within a building where they are easier to control, will not require fencing, will not eat valued plants, and will not find their calves and share their milk. It is far from the idyllic life we imagine when we think of “small-scale urban farming.”

Dr. Umesh looking at the remains of a building that crushed 2,700 chickens when it collapsed, Nepal, May 2015. Photo by Phil Hunt.

As the agricultural sector in Nepal follows the West’s industrialization model, more and more farms are turning to intensive livestock production. In the drive to produce more milk and maximize profits, female cows and buffaloes are kept in larger herds and kept pregnant and lactating for as long as possible. While small in Western terms, these dairy farms can have six, ten or twenty animals confined in a building all day. Like their small-farm sisters, there is no escape when an earthquake strikes.

Goats too are increasingly being kept in larger herds and confined for longer periods within man-made structures and most injuries to goats during the April 2015 earthquake were due to their confinement. Intensive farming of chickens has also become more common. Our team came across one such farm where over two thousand hens died when the building collapsed on top of them.

Rebuilding

While the immediate treatment and main follow-up period for animals is over, the rebuilding of Nepal will take much longer. Rubbing salt into the wounds, so many Nepalese have had to destroy what was left of their homes by themselves – by hand – before they could start rebuilding. For most outside the cities, it is difficult to contemplate using better earthquake-resistant construction methods that they simply can’t afford.

Goats Ösel and Kalu, who are friends, at the Animal LIberation Sanctuary, August 2015. Photo by Tania Duratovic.

At the Animal Liberation Sanctuary

At the Animal Liberation Sanctuary, we took in two new rescued goats during the earthquakes. One was a young male, now named Ösel, who was rescued by Tenzin Ösel Hita and the members of his pilgrimage group on the day of the first earthquake. The other is Kalu, an old goat who was initially rescued from slaughter 10 years before. He lived on the roof of an apartment building that was badly damaged in the earthquake. Kalu and Ösel are now close friends and are fitting in well in their new, safe environment. We are very grateful that the sanctuary, only recently completed after so many years of planning and construction, made it through without any injury, loss of life, or structural damage.

Not for Everyone

The conditions for rescuing animals can be very trying and also dangerous. There are the normal problems of the elements – heat and dust or rain and mud – as well as bad roads and exhausting travel. In addition, after an earthquake there are ongoing tremors, landslides, fallen power lines and unstable buildings. And there are always unpredictable and scared animals to deal with! Long days stretch into the night. (This was especially true on trips outside of Kathmandu when it was not possible to stay the night.) Many veterinarians are used to skipping meals and this tendency is exacerbated in disaster situations, even on follow-up visits. Perhaps the most difficult aspect is the distress when you cannot help an animal as much as you would like. It’s heartbreaking when there is simply no remedy available to help. You cannot help the animal nor can you help the poor villager who is desperate for the animal to live. At those times, all you can do is pray and say mantras and focus on those that you can help.

A water buffalo with a broken femur, Nepal, May 2015. Photo by Phil Hunt.

Something for Everyone

Disasters can happen anywhere at any time. It is important that you have a plan for what you will do for your animals should a disaster strike (see the “What to Do in a Disaster” section of “The Hidden Toll of Australia’s 2011 Floods”). Write to your local authorities and ask that they include animals – pets, farm and wildlife – in their disaster response plans. The next time you hear of a disaster, please remember the many animals that are also affected and include them in your prayers and dedications.

A calf and its mother, Nepal, May 2015. Photo by Phil Hunt.

Tania Duratovic and Phil Hunt are co-directors and co-founders of Enlightenment for the Dear Animals, an FPMT project that aims to help people benefit animals, and coordinators of the Animal Liberation Sanctuary, which is a project of Kopan Monastery in Nepal.

Learn more about Enlightenment for the Dear Animals and the Animal Liberation Sanctuary Project on their website. You can support the project by visiting their information page on fpmt.org.

You can read more updates from the Animal Liberation Sanctuary on FPMT.org.