Dec 04, 2024 Animals in Conflict – Part II: Animal Protection Organizations; Conflict and Disaster Response Work
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This article is the second installment of a three-part newsletter series examining the impact of human conflicts on animals. The newsletter series is adapted from the original blog by Cox and Zee, which was published by the Conflict and Environment Observatory and republished with their kind permission. The citation and link to the original blog are as follows: Cox, Janice & Zee, Jackson, 2021, How animals are harmed by armed conflicts and military activities. March 18. https://ceobs.org/how-animals-are-harmed-by-armed-conflicts-and-military-activities/. The authors updated the article from the original blog in October 2024. Additional comments, with the authors’ approval, by Dr. Andrew N. Rowan, have been added in italics.
A large number of animal protection organisations carry out disaster relief work to rescue, feed, treat and support animals displaced, harmed or threatened by war. However, very few have the resources to address the underlying security issues or to support rebuilding community resilience.
Indeed, as Janice Cox recalls: “researching this blog reminded me of one of my early missions after joining the animal protection movement. Working for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, I was dispatched sometime in 1991-2 – along with an experienced veterinarian, John Gripper – to assess the impact of the Croatian War on animal victims. We traveled with the Croatian Army and the Croatian Veterinary Services, who later published a report on the conflict: Animal victims of the Croatian war.”
“It was a truly shocking experience. In addition to the destruction of wildlife and habitats, there was deliberate targeting of farmed and companion animals. The veterinary services had advised farmers to place a blue – veterinary – cross on the roofs of their barns. These buildings were then specifically targeted, as economic sabotage. There were also massacres, where human corpses were lined up alongside the cadavers of their companion animals – all with their throats cut.
“In the chaos of war, there were also many cases where those fleeing the conflict had lost companion animals. In a few cases, these animals had been rescued and were being cared for by animal rescuers who were seeking to reunite the rescued animals with their owners. When successful, the owner’s reaction was overwhelming. Those who may have lost family members, friends, and possessions were overjoyed to be reunited with their companion animals.”
Jeremy Hulme, then the CEO of British animal charity SPANA, commented in 2007 on the importance of animals in the lives of the Darfur refugees. He noted that livestock were fundamental to the people living in eastern Chad. When the Darfur refugees fled to the refugee camps in Chad, they brought 600,000 domestic animals. Hulme said that he “heard how refugees encountered violence, theft, and aggression from local Chadian villagers every time they left the safety of the camps and took their animals out to graze or collect firewood. Equally, we spoke with villagers who said their animals were dying of starvation in increased numbers, as there wasn’t enough grazing to go round, particularly in the dry season.” In personal comments to Andrew Rowan, Hulme said that on the plane to visit the camps; he sat next to a Medicine Sans Frontiers representative who could not understand why Hulme, who was focused on helping the animals in the camps, was going to Darfur where there was so much human need and suffering.
Including animals in disaster response has changed dramatically in the current century. Following the 1995 Kobe earthquake, international meetings on disaster preparedness and response began to address the importance of domestic animal resources in maintaining human resilience and livelihoods. This was more than just an issue for developing countries. Hurricane Katrina in the USA (2005) and the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami in Japan (2011) illustrated that domestic animals needed to be included in disaster planning. Both disasters also illustrated the problems of relying on local, regional, and municipal administrations to support owners and their animals during major disasters. In the USA, the PETS Act was passed by the US Congress in 2006, explicitly directing states and local jurisdictions to include pets in their disaster plans.
The revised Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was modified to include a mention of animals, following requests by World Animal Protection. However, this was only in the context of “productive assets” – including livestock and working animals, as opposed to sentient beings deserving of protection in their own right. Subsequently, in an update of the Rome Declaration by the European Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the EU Disaster Mechanism, the Director General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations and the 28 member states highlighted the importance of addressing animals and animal welfare. This applies to all humanitarian actions within and outside the EU. The statement acknowledged that: “Actions to reduce the vulnerability of the population, economic activities, including critical infrastructure, animal welfare and wildlife, environmental and cultural resources such as biodiversity, forest ecosystem services and water resources, are of the utmost importance.” However, the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) has never activated any responses for animals as of this time.
Nevertheless, animals are no longer the invisible victims of major international disasters. In fact, animals have thrived in some conflict circumstances and human disasters. The Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea and the Chernobyl exclusion zone are havens for wildlife. All that is needed for wildlife to return in force is the absence of humans.
Janice Cox is a co-founder of World Animal Net, which has since merged with the World Federation for Animals (WFA). She has over 35 years of experience in international animal welfare, focusing on the connections between animal welfare, environmental issues, and development. Based in South Africa, she serves as the Animal Welfare Expert for Southern Africa at the African Platform for Animal Welfare (APAW) and is a Global Ambassador for WellBeing International.
Jackson Zee has over 25 years of experience in emergency management and humanitarian affairs, working in sustainable development, animal welfare and conservation. He is currently Director of Disaster Relief for FOUR PAWS International and is based in Austria.