The terrible DANA at the end of October hit different parts of Spain with force and had the province of Valencia as its epicenter. Towns completely devastated by the force of the water and people who have lost absolutely everything, including their lives. But this tragedy has also claimed other victims: animals. An approximate number of those who have died as a result of the floods, being buried under the mud, is still unknown. Bodies are still appearing a week later. But what is clear is that all the animal shelters in the most affected areas have been destroyed by the storm.
In the first days, numerous videos appeared of animals in water up to their necks and their caregivers desperately asking for help to save them, even risking their lives trying. They could not achieve it with all of them, but they did act immediately, organizing through calls on social networks to relocate as many animals as possible – among others, cats, dogs, rodents and horses – to safer places. All this, with their own means, without help from city councils or the Generalitat Valenciana.
The Sporting Benimaclet CF facilities are now the “great shelter” for hundreds of animals
More than a week later, the situation has not changed. Animal shelter managers and volunteers continue to work very hard, daily and tirelessly, to try to rebuild the shelters, with their own money and with the help of donations from committed people and animal lovers. They also continue to relocate animals that continue to appear in the streets, trapped in muddy places, in houses destroyed by the storm or even on the roads. It should be noted that it is an arduous task, since most of these shelters were destroyed by DANA, which makes it considerably difficult to find spaces where the animals can stay until they can return to their places of origin. If they can, since the number of dropouts has increased considerably.
However, thanks to the invaluable help of Sporting Benimaclet, a local sports club, it has been possible to have a small respite, by having a large place to leave hundreds of animals there temporarily. And it is thanks to the fact that the club has given up its facilities to house, until now, almost 400 animals of different species; most of them, dogs. These sports facilities have become the largest logistics center for animal rescue and shelter, as well as the most important collection point for donations of food and blankets, also intended to help people who have lost everything.
Without help from public organizations in animal protection matters
And all this without the help of any public body, since, while the General Directorate of Animal Rights calls press conferences to say, basically, that they are “implementing actions aimed at protecting these animals”, and the area of Animal Welfare of the Valencian Community neither speaks nor seems to move, under the umbrella of the newly elected general director of the Interior, an expert in “bullfighting celebrations”, the reality is that the animals that have suffered the consequences of this DANA are in the hands of volunteers. People who have practically paralyzed their lives, combining jobs and family with being available 24/7, the vast majority of them. Exhausted and traumatized by seeing so many animals hurt, scared, lost and even dead. And, also, frustrated by the lack of help from public organizations.
We have spoken with several coordinators of the “Benimaclet camp”, as they call it on social networks, and they explain to us that they have had to “improvise” and take responsibility for tasks for which they have no professional experience nor, of course, receive any remuneration. From rescue and adoption coordinators, to those responsible for logistics and donations. Like a “base operations command post”, but without public or professional management. Fortunately, they have the support of veterinarians who, in solidarity, care daily for all the animals that arrive at the facilities provided by the sports club and, in fact, are coordinated with the UCV, CEU and AUNA veterinary hospitals.
“Volunteers have come from all over Spain, including a rescue specialist group from Portugal, who were very surprised to see that we did not have any help from city councils, the Provincial Council or the Generalitat Valencia,” explains one of the coordinators. He also emphasizes that “animals arrive in Benimaclet every day.” And that, sometimes, there are 40 or 50 dogs at a time. Thanks to the fact that there is an average of 200 volunteers per day to collaborate in the management of all the “departments” that have been improvised, they have managed to be moderately organized, but they regret not having the support of professionals from public organizations. Those directors, delegates, deputies, councillors, technicians and I don’t know how many other positions that should be there, at the foot of the canyon, managing the main issues regarding animal protection. But they are not there. In addition, volunteering also means that they do not have any kind of security there, despite there being so many people and so many donations of different types.
Neither police forces, nor the army, nor the EMU have appeared there all week, since the disaster began. They understand that thousands of people need urgent help and that many have died, but they also consider that, at least, they could have Civil Protection personnel, helping to control the queues that form every day to shelter animals in private homes or for delivery. of donations. On the other hand, they are urgently asking for adequate PPE material, since the little they have has been bought by volunteers or taken by other individuals.
In short, animalistic people are united with each other; but they are alone, without support from city councils or the Generalitat Valenciana, without financial funds and without any protection or security from the police and military forces. Although there is no doubt that, on that football field, they win by a landslide over those public organizations that go around the press conferences announcing aid and measures that have not yet arrived. We don’t even know if they will arrive soon or someday.
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