Service dogs bring joy to children
At Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, a team of Labradors are sharing their love with both patients and staff.
- In Canoas, Brazil, hundreds of volunteers have set up a temporary dog shelter in an abandoned warehouse to care for dogs affected by recent floods.
- Volunteers aim to provide treatment and food to sick, hungry, and injured dogs and reunite them with their owners.
- Floods in Rio Grande do Sul have caused numerous evacuations and thousands of animals are estimated to be missing.
Hundreds of volunteers have set up a temporary shelter for dogs in an abandoned, roofless warehouse in the Brazilian city of Canoas, which has been hit hardest by flooding since last week. They want to treat, feed, and reunite sick, hungry, and injured dogs with their owners.
Their work has been at full speed since Friday morning as heavy rain is expected to return to the area over the weekend.
Floods in Rio Grande do Sul state have killed at least 107 people. State officials say another 136 people are missing and more than 230,000 people have been evacuated. There is no official tally of the number of dead or missing animals, but local media estimates the number is in the thousands.
A New York firefighter rescues a puppy that was hit by a car. “I would love to take him in.”
Since Sunday, a makeshift shelter the size of a soccer field has taken in hundreds of sick and agitated dogs from flooded areas. Between 20 and 30 dogs arrive every hour, many with injuries from being run over or near drowning. The shelter is sending some animals to veterinary hospitals, but some require medical attention and are too weak to be transported.
A woman takes a photo of a dog evacuated from a flooded area due to heavy rains at a shelter in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Hairdresser Gabriel Cardoso da Silva, 28, is one of the main organizers of the makeshift facility. He was from the neighboring town of Gravatai, which was not affected by the heavy rains.
“We came here on Saturday to help rescue people. As we were about to leave, we heard barking. Me and my wife were so emotional we were just crying. We… I have two dogs,” Silva said.
A social media campaign drew many people to the movement, as there was no government coordination for the displaced animals.
A lost dog who lived alone in the forest for over 6 years is safely rescued.
“We went from 10 volunteers on Sunday to 200 now. We have tons of food. Our community has chosen to embrace this, but a few days ago we felt so alone. I did.”
Every time a dog is reunited with its family, the hairdresser exclaims, “One less dog!” Other volunteers can stop and applaud as the entire shelter is covered in dog food, fight-preventing leashes and donations.
Cardoso’s cries are often mixed with the loud barks of small, nervous dogs, fights between distraught homeless pets, and the frantic movements of frantic families trying to find one or more of their loved ones.
Eder Ruiz da Silva Camargo, a garbage collector from Canoas, found two of the six dogs kept at the center after two days of searching. Hunter and Preeta were separated on Tuesday when they boarded different boats during the rescue operation.
“At that time they were very scared and ran off to the side so we couldn’t chase them. Now, thank God, we found them here,” Camargo said. said.
He and his wife, Jennifer Gabriela, 21, are hoping to find their four dogs, Bob, Meg, Polaka and Ravena, who are still missing.
“This is the third place we have come looking for them, which is great, but we still want to find other places,” Gabriela said.
Animal protection groups and volunteers have been sharing difficult rescues and heartwarming scenes of pets being reunited with their owners on social media, prompting Brazilians to send donations and bring veterinarians to the area. .
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A viral video showed a man crying as he held his four dogs in his boat after rescuers returned to his home and rescued them.
The plight of animals in southern Brazil made national news this week after a horse nicknamed Caramelo drew attention after being stranded for several days on a rooftop in Canoas, near a shelter.
A team in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state successfully removed Caramelo on Thursday, bringing a glimmer of hope to the beleaguered region as people called for help, nearly 24 hours after it was first discovered. Ta.
Carla Sassi, president of Grado, a Brazilian non-profit that rescues animals after disasters, said she met with state government officials in Canoas to discuss emergency measures to rescue pets. So far, only business owners and local residents have stepped up to save pets in flooded areas, volunteers said.
