TAAL VOLCANO ISLAND, Philippines — An animal welfare organization said it will continue to rescue animals trapped on Taal Volcano island, which remains off limits, until none are left behind.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals-Asia said it has rescued 150 animals from the ground zero of the disaster, which was buried by massive deposits of ash when Taal erupted to life on the afternoon of January 12.
Related Stories
On January 28, the group evacuated four dogs, three puppies and one pregnant cat from the island. Their rescue mission lasted for at least five hours as they scoured different parts of the volcano island.
“We’ve always been dedicated to helping the animals on the island and will continue to do so until there's no one left,” Ashley Fruno, PETA Asia’s director of animal assistance programs, told Philstar.com.
Fruno said one of the “biggest” issues that PETA has encountered is trying to catch dogs “who are very scared.”
“It’s understandable that they’re terrified and they haven’t seen their owners in as much as two weeks. They survived the eruption, which is surely very traumatizing so one of the issues we’re having is trying to catch the animals and trying to get them to trust us,” she said.
Food and water drops
Aside from rescuing abandoned animals, the group is also leaving fresh water and sacks of food on Taal island every day.
PETA also distributes food and water for the evacuated animals in lakeside areas.
Fruno said she is “very grateful” to the individuals who donated to PETA’s cause.
“We are anticipating, we will need to feed in the area for at least several more days and potentially, several more weeks even,” she said.
Local government urged to rescue animals too
PETA wrote a letter to Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas Sunday when Taal was downgraded to Alert Level 3, urging him to dispatch a rescue operation to evacuate the remaining animals from the island.
Fruno said the local government has not yet given a plan on how to get the abandoned animals off the island.
In the early days of volcanic activity on Taal, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council stressed that its priority is rescuing people within the volcano's danger zone.
“We hope the government will develop an action plan to retrieve the remaining animals because if it’s truly going to be a permanent danger zone then we also need to consider the animals who are still trapped on the island because there’s a lot who are a little wild and difficult to catch,” Fruno said, adding PETA is ready to assist the government in that.
Philstar.com saw dead animals on the island, which was blanketed in ash and in the smell of decomposing flesh, when it visited the site Tuesday.
PETA accepts monetary donations as it continues its rescue operations for animals on the volcano island and surrounding areas.
Here are PETA’s bank details:
Metrobank
Account name: PETA Asia-Pacific Limited
Account number: 007-066-31632-3