Saving the dogs and cats of war
Volunteers bring food, water to Israel's scared, homeless pets
CNN, Thursday, August 3, 2006
MAALOT, Israel (AP) -- Taking advantage of the night, when Hezbollah usually stops firing rockets at northern Israel, a dozen youngsters venture into deserted streets carrying water containers and small bags of dog food.
Some of the animals left behind by the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have fled Hezbollah rocket barrages over the past 21 days are dying, but Israeli rescuers are taking action.
"We see ourselves as part of the humanitarian effort in this war," said Yadin Elam, director of the animal welfare organization Hakol Chai. "Animals are unable to move to a hotel in the center of the country. Our job is to help them, because they are the ones who cannot help themselves."
When the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah guerrillas erupted almost three weeks ago, at least 300,000 of the 1 million Israelis living in the north fled the region, sometimes leaving their pets behind. Many thought they would return in a day or two, said Julia Meiler, a volunteer with Hakol Chai as she put a water container on a street corner in the northern Israeli town of Maalot.
As Meiler stepped back a few cats cautiously approached the water, soon joined by many more. After a few minutes the street corner turned into a mewing gathering of a dozen cats. Many animals let Meiler pat them. She said it was a hint that they were not strays, but that they had been abandoned or fled their homes following a rocket attack.
A few blocks away, a small dog with with long, gray hair hid behind a bench. It took the volunteers a lot of patting and soft-talking to get him out of his retreat. Only after a while did he start to eat cautiously the pet food they brought him.
While many of the animals have been abandoned, others fled their homes when hundreds of rockets rained down on northern Israel, putting them into a type of shock, said Zafrir Volansky. He runs a veterinary clinic in the northern town of Nahariya.
"When they find themselves near rocket hits, dogs can get hysterical because of the noise and run aimlessly for kilometers," he said. "Some animals are shaking, others stop eating and drinking. Cats tend to find a shelter in a dark and closed place and stay there, sometimes for days."
The government doesn't yet have accurate estimates of the numbers of disoriented or abandoned animals, said Youval Hadani, from the Agriculture Ministry's veterinary department for Israel's northern region. However, he added that "several hundred and maybe a few thousand" animals need to be fed or rescued.
"Some people asked us for help because they couldn't go to a hotel in Eilat or Tel Aviv with their cats and dogs," he said. "But others just left, sometimes leaving their pets without food and water, and even in some cases tied inside their homes."
The flight also has left strays desperate for food.
"Stray animals are dependent on food found in trash containers and water dripping from air conditioning," explained Noam Vardi, a volunteer with Hakol Chai. "In situations where more than half of the residents are gone, like in Maalot, stray animals slowly die."
While some volunteers patrol the streets to help feed the animals, it is not enough. Animal welfare organizations have put posters in public places asking the remaining residents of Israel's northern towns to put water containers on the streets and to contact them when they see animals in distress.
