This is a tranlation of Erez Erlichman's article in Ynet
A missle hitting a house in Shderot lightly wounded a person and killed the family dog. But the rockets exposure and fear are not the only threat to pets in Israel's southern area. At the offices of "SOS Pets Ashkelon" there is an increasing number of reports on locals leaving the city and leaving their pets behind, with no food or water. "We are in need of temporary foster homes, especially for large dogs, and also of food to feed homeless cats".
Four rockets exploded today (Tuesday) in Shderot. On of them hit a house directly, wounded lightly one person and causing damage to property and several trauma victims. Another rocket, landing in the yard, wounded severly the family's Rottweiler, which died later from it's wounds.
Israel Averjel, living in the same building, ran after the attack to the yard, horrified to discover his 7 years old dog Bon injured. "It was hurt from several shrapnels wound on the neck, bleeding severly", he said. "Throughout all these years it was a loyal and loved guard dog, living in the yard and not fearing Qassams. Even after the injury it held on, not crying even for a second".
The dog was rushed to medical care, but died from it's wounds. "I loved this dog like a child. People think it's just a dog that died, but only someone who raised a pet can understand the pain of losing a good friend. Despite it's death I promise to bring home soon a new puppy and to give it a loving home."
Like the people in the area surrounding Gaza, pets are also exposed to Qassams and rockets, and also experience trauma and fear. Unlike humans, dogs don't associate between alarms and rockets falling, often staying unprotect. In addition there are cases in which they can't be brought into a protected shelter or they fear entering a crouded room in case of emergency. As the range of rockets extends, including more people, the number of pets in risk grows as well.
Animal welfare organizations fear this may lead to a wave of abandoned pets, especially dogs, as happend during the second Lebanon war. During that time hundreds of dogs were abandoned in northern Israel, often found by volunteers and housed in animal shelters throughout the region.
The fear: wave of abandonments had already began
At "SOS Pets Ashkelon" society, recently in the range of the rockets, they fear the situation is becoming worse as reports of people leaving the city increase. The number of reports of abandoned dogs reaching the organization keeps increasing by the hour. Some people admit they can't take the dogs to a safer location with them. Some simply leave them on the street or near the city pound.
"In most cases it's about dogs left in homes without food or water", told Ynet Eti Avnit, the society's CEO. "Only last night I received a call from a dog owner telling me they were leaving for the center with no intentions of taking with them the month and a half puppy they adopted recently". "The cold weather means the puppy will not be able to survive on the street. Only after extensive efforts we have been able to find a foster home."
"SOS Pets Ashkelon" is a new society, establish a year and a half ago through local group of volunteers, and with no shelter of it's own. Most dogs and cats in it's care are in foster homes. Those dogs are brought to the adoption events every month, as well as dogs from the city pound.
"If in the past people came from outside of Ashkelon to adopt, due to the current situation it's very difficult to find homes now. The only viable solution is to try arranging an adoption event at the state's center", explains Avnit.
Even stray cats are suffering
Even the situation of stray cats, for which even peace time is a war of survival, became worse. "If normally there are kind people feeding cats, the situation now forces them to stay indoors or inside shelters, and the cats remain with no food or water. We try to distribute some food at problem areas", said Avnit.
The society's veterinar, Dr. Ram Forer, had to close his clinic yesterday after a rocket fell nearby, but was called in today to treat the wounded dog from Shderot. Even the city pound is on state of alert, with the dogs receving food and water twice a day, but rockets falling cause a great deal of stress for the animals.
According to the society there are many dogs and cats needing a family, but for now there is an ugent demand for foster homes, mainly for large dogs and cats. "Donations of food will allow us not only to help dogs in Ashkelon, but also to dogs in Shderot and the rest of the region", added Avnit.
A missle hitting a house in Shderot lightly wounded a person and killed the family dog. But the rockets exposure and fear are not the only threat to pets in Israel's southern area. At the offices of "SOS Pets Ashkelon" there is an increasing number of reports on locals leaving the city and leaving their pets behind, with no food or water. "We are in need of temporary foster homes, especially for large dogs, and also of food to feed homeless cats".
Four rockets exploded today (Tuesday) in Shderot. On of them hit a house directly, wounded lightly one person and causing damage to property and several trauma victims. Another rocket, landing in the yard, wounded severly the family's Rottweiler, which died later from it's wounds.
Israel Averjel, living in the same building, ran after the attack to the yard, horrified to discover his 7 years old dog Bon injured. "It was hurt from several shrapnels wound on the neck, bleeding severly", he said. "Throughout all these years it was a loyal and loved guard dog, living in the yard and not fearing Qassams. Even after the injury it held on, not crying even for a second".
The dog was rushed to medical care, but died from it's wounds. "I loved this dog like a child. People think it's just a dog that died, but only someone who raised a pet can understand the pain of losing a good friend. Despite it's death I promise to bring home soon a new puppy and to give it a loving home."
Like the people in the area surrounding Gaza, pets are also exposed to Qassams and rockets, and also experience trauma and fear. Unlike humans, dogs don't associate between alarms and rockets falling, often staying unprotect. In addition there are cases in which they can't be brought into a protected shelter or they fear entering a crouded room in case of emergency. As the range of rockets extends, including more people, the number of pets in risk grows as well.
Animal welfare organizations fear this may lead to a wave of abandoned pets, especially dogs, as happend during the second Lebanon war. During that time hundreds of dogs were abandoned in northern Israel, often found by volunteers and housed in animal shelters throughout the region.
The fear: wave of abandonments had already began
At "SOS Pets Ashkelon" society, recently in the range of the rockets, they fear the situation is becoming worse as reports of people leaving the city increase. The number of reports of abandoned dogs reaching the organization keeps increasing by the hour. Some people admit they can't take the dogs to a safer location with them. Some simply leave them on the street or near the city pound.
"In most cases it's about dogs left in homes without food or water", told Ynet Eti Avnit, the society's CEO. "Only last night I received a call from a dog owner telling me they were leaving for the center with no intentions of taking with them the month and a half puppy they adopted recently". "The cold weather means the puppy will not be able to survive on the street. Only after extensive efforts we have been able to find a foster home."
"SOS Pets Ashkelon" is a new society, establish a year and a half ago through local group of volunteers, and with no shelter of it's own. Most dogs and cats in it's care are in foster homes. Those dogs are brought to the adoption events every month, as well as dogs from the city pound.
"If in the past people came from outside of Ashkelon to adopt, due to the current situation it's very difficult to find homes now. The only viable solution is to try arranging an adoption event at the state's center", explains Avnit.
Even stray cats are suffering
Even the situation of stray cats, for which even peace time is a war of survival, became worse. "If normally there are kind people feeding cats, the situation now forces them to stay indoors or inside shelters, and the cats remain with no food or water. We try to distribute some food at problem areas", said Avnit.
The society's veterinar, Dr. Ram Forer, had to close his clinic yesterday after a rocket fell nearby, but was called in today to treat the wounded dog from Shderot. Even the city pound is on state of alert, with the dogs receving food and water twice a day, but rockets falling cause a great deal of stress for the animals.
According to the society there are many dogs and cats needing a family, but for now there is an ugent demand for foster homes, mainly for large dogs and cats. "Donations of food will allow us not only to help dogs in Ashkelon, but also to dogs in Shderot and the rest of the region", added Avnit.
