The UniBH Animal Rescue Group disembarked last Saturday, May 4th, in the city of Caxias do Sul and traveled to Novo Hamburgo to save the animals in the areas hit by the strong floods that put Rio Grande do Sul in a situation of emergency. The climate instability that caused the tragedy is not expected to end and, to date, has resulted in more than 100 fatalities, 132 missing people and hundreds of injuries.
Divided between veterinarians, veterinary medicine students from UniBH and volunteers, seven rescuers from the group traveled to the capital of Rio Grande do Sul to help with the rescues. In just three days, the teams have already saved more than 40 lives, including dogs and cats, in addition to providing assistance to people in critical situations through clinical care. Other rescues, such as birds and large animals, are being carried out by the group, which still has no plans to return to Belo Horizonte and remains in risk areas helping those affected.
For Aldair Pinto, team coordinator and professor at the institution, the work developed by technical skills to rescue animals also helps with the safety of guardians: “In situations like this, there are many cases of families who choose not to escape the areas of risk not to leave your animals there. With the support of the Animal Rescue Group, we are dividing the activities so that these people’s animals can receive rescue and escape safely from this unprecedented tragedy,” he says.
This is the biggest flood in history in the state which has, of its 497 municipalities, 388 with some report of problems related to the storm. In total, around 1.3 million people were affected in some way, ranging from material losses to physical integrity.
Work like this has already been developed inside and outside Brazil by the Animal Rescue Group, which has been one of the great references in volunteer work for almost five years. At the end of last year, for example, the team traveled to Santa Catarina to meet similar demand in the city of Rio do Sul, which had almost its entire geographic area submerged. According to the professor, the possibility of developing this work in other territories is due to the group’s technical expertise in first aid for animals in vulnerable areas.
“Today we are one of the few groups with applicability at a technical level in national and international territories. It is not common for this to be done with all the structure we have developed over time, and it is very important to have someone to do this to guarantee the dignity of animals in disaster situations. That’s why our work exists, which is similar to that of firefighters, but focused on preserving animal life,” he highlights.
