Following a trail of destruction through Haiti

On its second day of operation in Haiti, the ARCH (Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti) field team traveled South of Port-au-Prince to the towns of Leogane and Jacmel. Unlike the capital city, these two rural areas have many farm animals.

On the way, the team encountered goats, pigs and dogs near a fruit and vegetable market set-up on the side of a dirt road, rummaging in the garbage for whatever food they could find.

Roaming and "community" dogs abound in Jacmel.

In Leogane, the team found more chickens, more dogs, all searching for food. A couple of stray dogs had latched on to certain people. They followed them from one place to the other, scared and nervous but hoping that they could find a family to belong to.

Images from Haiti

Now that the field team from ARCH (Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti) is on the ground assessing the needs of the animals, we are starting to receive photos. As you can see from the images below, the devastation is widespread and the animals clearly need attention. We are happy that UAN is able to help the animal victims of the earthquake as a member of ARCH.

We will continue to post updates and photos as we get them.

All photos courtesy WPSA / IFAW

ARCH team arrives in Haiti

Animal welfare groups that are part of the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) arrived in Haiti today to help protect earthquake victims by vaccinating stray dogs and maintaining the health of livestock.

Ian Robinson of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said rabies is a concern, so the ARCH team will vaccinate stray dogs to prevent the spread of the disease.

The ARCH field team will also round up dogs who have been wandering in packs to feed and protect them. They will distribute food to farmers to help them care for their livestock until they get back on their feet.

United Animal Nations is part of ARCH and has contributed more than $30,000 to the Haiti animal relief effort.

Read more about the ARCH relief effort in this Associated Press article.

Help is on the way

Good news - the Haitian government has formally requested assistance from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH). The ARCH field team is expected to arrive in Port-au-Prince on Saturday to begin assessing the earthquake's impact on animals.

UAN has already contributed more than $30,000 to ARCH, thanks to the generosity of our donors. One hundred percent of all the donations we've received for Haiti to date are going directly to the ARCH relief effort.

We received a few photographs from WSPA, one of our ARCH coalition partners, today. We will post more photos and updates as we get them from the ARCH field team.

Photos © WSPA

The animals in Haiti need our help

We've been watching the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12 with great sorrow and concern.

As an organization that provides emergency sheltering for animals affected by natural disasters, we are anxious to provide some assistance to the animals in Haiti.

Today UAN committed financial resources to the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH), an international group of professional animal welfare organizations working together to get help to the animals as quickly and safely as possible.

You can read more about ARCH on our Web site.

Happy ending for mom and baby

At the beginning of our EARS deployment in Nashville, Tennessee one rescued mare was too weak to produce milk, and her newborn foal had to be fed by hand. Well, mom (Grace) and baby (Lucky) have been adopted by a loving family and are happily settling into their new home!

Watch the full story from Channel 5 in Nashville.