Hurricane Patricia: Delivering aid to the animals of Mexico

04/02/2016

When Mascota City, Mexico, was hit with floods following Hurricane Patricia last year, your valued support meant that we were able to deploy trained vets and support staff at the first sign of threat. Since November our Disaster Response Team have been hard at work on the ground in Mascota City.

The message is clear: don’t forget animals in global discussions on disaster risk reduction, disaster plans and investments

The small colonial town (whose name translates as “Pet City”) was relatively unscathed by the Category 5 hurricane but was unfortunately subjected to flash flooding shortly after. Farmer, Don Felipe Peña, lost three cows in the floods and was shaken up after the ordeal he and his animals had gone through, “It was unbelievable, really. The water was almost covering the fences,” he recalled.

One of his cows, Chinita, was fortunate enough to survive the rising waters. Chinita is only five months old but managed to swim through the fast-moving flood waters and save herself. When we met her she was still in a state of stress but our disaster vet Juan Carlos Murillo, pictured above with a relieved Chinita, used low-stress handling techniques to calm her down and check for any injuries.

Disaster preparedness saved up to 200,000 animals

Mexico executed an excellent preparedness response for animals during Hurricane Patricia. Pets were even allowed into evacuation shelters for the very first time.

Your support ensured our involvement in the Mexican government’s disaster protocols in September and subsequently managed to reach out to two million people and 200,000 animals with our risk reduction messages. The animal loss and injury could have been significantly worse during Hurricane Patricia if these messages had not got out to the public.

To find out more about our disaster management work please visit our Animals in Disasters page.