Dogs find refuge under cars on bridges, (c) Kinship Circle — Cries For Help

Cries For Help

Lek Chailert, CEO/Senior Director/Founder of Save Elephant Foundation, with husband Darrick Thomson, Operations/Rescue Director, lead crews for water rescue. Lek writes to Kinship Circle director Brenda Shoss: “Dear Brenda – I send pictures of animals rescued. We also have hundreds more for the last eight weeks since we start animal rescue. Some photos show you how deep the water. Some show how people are desperate for help and they need food for animals. Every time the truck and boat go to [flooded] areas, hundreds of people ask us for animal food and they stand in long lines to wait for it. Most places are like ghost towns. No people stay but we always hear the dogs cry for help. Many people decided to stay home with their pets on the second floor. They call to us to bring food. Teams work from early morning till late night, non-stop and eat in the boat. But we always smile when we can bring food and rescue the poor animals”

A SAFE PLACE FOR ANIMALSVolunteers greet animals at the Bang Poo shelter, to unload and transfer them into clean enclosures. The ride back is so bumpy and stressful that cages are quite messy upon arrival. Animals hungrily devour food and some sip the first clean water they've had in weeks. They settle in for the night, with veterinary checks and intake to follow the next morning. No one in today's group requires special meds or treatment at a veterinary clinic. All should recover under basic care, nutrition and clean water. And hopefully, most will move on to something better. A new home. A family. A safe place, at last.

A 3-legged dog rescue at shelter, (c) Kinship Circle — We work with SCAD Foundation (Street Cats & Dogs Of Bangkok) at an emergency shelter in Bangkok. Volunteers constructed and manage the site for animal flood victims.

© Kinship Circle, Thailand / Cara Blome

Pup rescue seeks attention at shelter (c) Kinship Circle — We work with SCAD Foundation (Street Cats & Dogs Of Bangkok) at an emergency shelter in Bangkok. Volunteers constructed and manage the site for animal flood victims.

© Kinship Circle, Thailand / Cara Blome

A dog wades chest deep in floodwaters (c) Kinship Circle

Along Canals

Dogs are marooned over deep waters, (c) Kinship Circle — Along Canals

Dogs balance on narrow ledges over water, (c) Kinship Circle

Thailand residents walk or paddle small boats. Many are accompanied by dogs who splash playfully, oblivious to danger. With no fresh water, they drink dirty floodwaters. More animals roam dry bridges on either side of the klong. Among those rescued are an older black male who appears to have no eyes and very few teeth. He finds refuge on a bridge, but is skeletal because he can't fight off younger dogs who nab food scraps. A second big guy has a bizarre injury that looks as if fur has completely grown over one eyeball. Two scrawny pups on another bridge lead 7 rescuers from their temp home under cars on a wild chase. Shouting (in Thai and English), “Over here! No, wait, they're over here” the volunteers finally catch the little boogers to bring them safely back to the emergency shelter.

Scared Cats Search For Food At NightAs night descends, cats emerge on roofs. They hide in daylight hours, then hunt for food at night. Volunteers toss food bags up to tin-slated rooftops. They break open upon impact and cats gather around scattered food. Feline rescues are housed at SCAD Bangkok's cat shelter, to separate them from hundreds of dogs at the disaster shelter As the sun sets on this flooded neighborhood northeast of Bangkok, we drive the injured, sick, and vulnerable animals back to the emergency shelter.

Kinship Circle works with Save Elephant Foundation, SCAD Foundation (Street Cats & Dogs Of Bangkok), Soi Dog Foundation, Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, plus more Thai and int'l organizations united for animal relief in Thailand's historic floods. TWP Coalition/Thailand Animal Flood Aid conducts emergency sheltering, field and water rescue, food drops, veterinary aid.

Rescue Video by Save Elephant FoundationAnimals cling to trees. Some are trapped on porches. The video (below) takes you down streets where water lines rise over homes and businesses. It also brings you inside the Bang Pu emergency shelter, an industrial site in Bangkok donated for traumatized animals. Kinship Circle team members Lexie Cataldo and George McKeehan are both interviewed at the shelter against a backdrop of injured, sick, bewildered animals.

A soi (stray) dog finds a dry ledge, (c) Kinship Circle

Naps are better with your buddy, (c) Kinship Circle

Dogs take cover under cars (c) Kinship Circle

Loading gear for search-rescue, (c) Kinship Circle

Darrick Thompson of Save Elephant Foundation — Darrick Thomson runs Save Elephant Foundation with his wife Lek Chailert, the internationally known group's founder/director.

© Kinship Circle, Thailand 2011-12

Cats hide on ledges over floodwaters (c) Kinship Circle

Emma, Beth and Wendy at shelter, Kinship Circle — L to R: Emma Sant Cassia, Lead Shelter Veterinarian; Wendy Edney, SCAD Foundation GM; Beth Schmidt, Kinship Circle IC.

© Kinship Circle, Thailand 2011-2012

Pups at flooded temples are starved (c) Kinship Circle

Cara Blome with flood puppies, (c) Kinship Circle — Cara Blome, a photographer/filmmaker and animal responder for Kinship Circle, cuddles one of many pups found at flooded temple grounds.

© Kinship Circle, Thailand 2011-2012

Reunions, Refuge or Death — Team #2 On Ground

Kinship Circle Team #2 Members Arrive In ThailandOn 11/20/11, the first members of Kinship Circle Team #2 head straight to the Bang Pu emergency animal shelter. Beth Schmidt, IC, and Cara Blome join four Save Elephant Foundation volunteers and Matt from SCAD Bangkok to care for animals rescued from flood waters. There is no internet facility at the volunteer hotel, so communication is spotty until a working system is secured. Kinship Circle director Brenda Shoss and four other disaster animal response team members arrive over the next several days. Kinship Circle, a USA animal advocacy and disaster aid nonprofit, is in Thailand for search-rescue, crisis sheltering, medical aid and animal care. Epic floods have swept over 58 provinces from northern Chiang Mai to sprawling Bangkok. Kinship Circle works as part of the TWP Coalition/Thailand Animal Flood Aid — a network of Thai and global groups united for animal rescue.

Search & Rescue

Kinship Circle DART, SCAD Foundation (Soi-Street Cats & Dogs Of Bangkok), Save Elephant Foundation (SEF)

Food is boated out to stranded animals, (c) Kinship Circle

Beth Schmidt cradles rescued cat, (c) Kinship Circle

Adrienne Usher and flood dog rescue, (c) Kinship Circle

GIVE For Animals

DONATE ONLINE

OR MAIL: Kinship Circle Disaster Aid
7380 KingsburySt. Louis, MO 63130 USA

DROP OFF DONATED SUPPLIES:

Thai Watana Panich Press
919 Bang Pu Industrial Estate, Soi 11B
Praek-sa rd. Muang District
Samut Prakan, Thailand

DONATIONS ARE VITAL TO:

Send trained volunteers for animal aid.
Acquire key supplies such as:
- Catchpoles: 4/5 ftSlip Leads
- ID Collars: snap-on, write-on
- Work-Bite GlovesMuzzles, all size
- More cagesFencing Materials
- First Aid/Medic KitVet Meds
- Truck: 1-ton dually 6.6 litre 4-wheel
- Ball Hitch, to pull trailer and boat

DO Disaster Aid

KINSHIP CIRCLE DART SEEKS:

Volunteers trained in disaster rescue, animal handling, sheltering, animal first aid, veterinary, photography/data, leadership.
Team players under Kinship Circle and FEMA ICS.
Self-sustainability in rugged settings.
Register as a KC-DART volunteer now.

THAILAND LOCAL VOLUNTEERS

Thailand Animal Flood Relief seeks a resident Shelter Manager to oversee flood animals. Experience and organizational skills required. Also needed: Shelter Volunteers for intake, care, cleaning, etc.