Helping the animals in Haiti
If you want to donate to help the animals in Haiti (but don’t forget the people!), there’s good news. The Animal Relief Coalition of Haiti (ARCH) was developed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). Many other organizations, including the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the ASPCA have joined the coalition. ARCH is meeting with the government in Haiti and will oversee the animal relief efforts. Unfortunately, the Humane Society of the United States has chosen not to work with ARCH.
Heifer International has been in Haiti for 10 years and projects involving 16,000 families. They have issued an emergency appeal for funds.
When making your donations, please make sure that your money really will go to help the animals.
For updates on the situation in Haiti, you can go the the AVMA website.
I work at the Humane Society of the U.S. and would like to clarify why we’re not part of the Animal Relief Coalition of Haiti. Our international arm (Humane Society International) is currently collaborating with ARCH but has been mounting its own relief effort because we happened to have a veterinary team in the Dominican Republic when the earthquake occurred and immediately began to organize a response. By the time that ARCH became formally constituted and we were made aware of the conditions of membership, we had already put together a team to go into Haiti when circumstances permitted. We decided to proceed with our effort and work closely with the ARCH team when they were mobilized.
Fosters.com has a good article about the efforts to help the animals in Haiti. Group tackles animal welfare in Haiti after quake
http://bit.ly/9xv7zU