The Government approved this Monday in the Council of Ministers caused by the damage, which includes, through the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030, a direct allocation of 390,000 euros for the affected animal shelters. It is the first time that aid of this type has been approved with the aim of rebuilding damaged infrastructure, which is key to the care of lost or abandoned animals. In addition, they intend to confront the public health danger that has been generated in the affected areas, since after the flood the number of animals that wander on public roads without health control has multiplied.
Ángela Molina, president of the Animal Coordination of the Valencian Community, which organizes all the shelters, comments that the rains have left at least ten shelters completely affected and with uninhabitable infrastructure, especially those in the Ribera Alta area. The exact number of animals that have suffered injuries or damage is not known, but it is estimated to be more than 1,000, since the largest, Modepran in Carlet, had more than 500 animals. The consequences of the damage in these centers have forced them to move the animals to other places, even if they were not authorized to do so, which have volunteered (such as a soccer field or temporary shelters) to protect dogs. and cats.
Lucía Mateu, volunteer with the Modepran shelter, at the Carlet shelter, which was completely destroyed. “The heavy rain got into the prefabricated huts and immediately everything broke. The workers who were there quickly collected the animals. They could not imagine that the cages could be razed, but it happened; The dogs got out of them and the staff tried to herd them in like flocks of sheep. The external fence of the shelter also fell,” he says. The center had about 300 dogs and 200 cats.
The shelter was destroyed: the perimeter cut, trees fallen and absolutely everything covered in mud. Mateu does not understand how no animal died, although there were about 20 seriously injured people who were transferred to volunteer veterinary centers. Most had serious injuries or fractures. Once the rain subsided, “all the animals had to be taken out urgently because the mud reached their necks,” he says.
That was when what Molina considers “the greatest example there is: the solidarity and volunteer movement” began. Because together with the shelters and veterinary centers, who from the first days have collected the animals from the affected areas to transfer them to safe spaces to be cared for by professionals. Donations of all kinds have arrived at these places, from free veterinary check-ups to food, medicine, beds and more. In the case of Modepran, the animals were taken to their shelter in the capital Valencia – which was not affected – but they cannot stay there due to space problems.
The College of Veterinarians of Valencia has indicated that some 130 centers are collaborating to face the crisis and almost 400 members have volunteered to care for animals. The institution indicates that more than 152 veterinary centers have been forced to close for at least one day and 27 are a total accident, with structural damage and unusable equipment. To care for injured animals, the Cardenal Herrera Veterinary Hospital, the Veterinary Hospital of the Catholic University of Valencia and the private AUNA Veterinary Hospital have opened their facilities to be able to provide care, thanks to volunteer veterinarians, the admission of large animals, mainly equines.
Molina explains that now the challenge for the shelters is to rebuild the entire infrastructure so that the animals that are in foster homes or temporary shelters can return. To do this, they need donations and voluntary work to continue, as well as State aid. Mateu indicates that the support of volunteers and organizations has been, until now, very great and thanks to them they have been able to move forward, but “in a very short time, people will forget and return to their lives. The question is: How will we do it in a month?”
Amparo Requena, president of Modepran, assures that state aid is “absolutely necessary.” He explains that this catastrophe is very difficult for any entity to assume, but even worse for those that are non-profit and that depend entirely on donations. “That money goes to caring for animals, so having to rebuild a shelter after losing vans, refrigerators, equipment, etc., if we don’t have the help we won’t get it,” he maintains.
Another of the great misfortunes has been the loss of pets due to the flood. Families in the affected areas, two weeks after the floods, are still desperate to find them. Less than 24 hours after the onset of the cold drop, Sylvia Georgieva (29 years old, Valencia) realized this situation and decided to create a page on Instagram to help in the search. In a matter of hours the page gained thousands of followers, the second day it reached 12,000, the third 20,000. Today there are more than 36,000. More than a thousand messages arrived per day and Georgieva spent more than 12 hours straight answering and posting. For this reason, there are now eight women between 17 and 40 years old from all over Spain who work, voluntarily, on this Instagram profile. As of Tuesday, they had managed to return more than 200 lost animals to their families.
