Help Animals affected by Hurricane Dorian

Our work in Abaco post-Hurricane Dorian continued with food distribution through April 20th, 2020.  We were sending about 4-5 pallets of food up every week or every other week and a local volunteer from the Abaco Shelter took them to distribution points where people in need would get food  We are also working on preparation. 

It is hard to believe it has been 10 months since hurricane Dorian.  

With hurricane season upon The Bahamas again, we are in the process of having hurricane preparedness materials printed and we will be sharing them on social media.  We are also in the process of creating a kids coloring book which will include work pages on hurricane preparedness.  Even though a natural disaster is hard to plan for, we hope and pray that assisting people with ideas to help them prepare will help save lives.  We are also going to be working with social services and NEMA in hopes for some of the evacuation shelters to be permitted to be pet-friendly so people can have their pets with them. 

Thank you for your continued support. 

It has been nearly 6 months since Hurricane Dorian came through The Bahamas.  After the initial emergency relief Baark! assisted in spay and neutering nearly 200 dogs and cats.  

We are thrilled that as of January the Abaco Shelter has now taken on spay and neuter work and will be working continuously on this with quite a few efforts planned for the first part of this year. 

Since January, Baark! has been supplying weekly (or close to it) food disbursements.  We received donations of food from Florida which we have stored in Nassau, and each week we send out about 4 pallets to Marsh Harbour Abaco.  A volunteer collects the food from the Fast Ferry and takes it to several food distribution centers so people can access food for their pets while they continue to get on their feet post-Dorian.   

Another super happy story we wanted to share is one about Tito.  Tito's family could not keep him after he was displaced, so we are so happy to share that we spoke to Tito's new owners just a couple weeks ago at our big 10 year celebration, and Tito is living a GOOD LIFE! 

Thank you so much for your support.

We are excited to share with you an update of Baark!'s work in Abaco since Hurricane Dorian.

PHASE 1
EMERGENCY RESPONSE1 September - 4 November 2019

OUR INVOLVEMENT IN HURRICANE DORIAN RELIEF EFFORTS

Baark! immediately stepped into action to help the animals that were affected.  Many families had to evacuate, leaving their beloved pets behind.  We chartered planes and boats to go back to the most affected areas in Abaco for many search and rescue missions.  All rescued animals were held either here in Nassau or in the USA in fosters until November 4 for a chance for their owners to come forward before becoming available for adoption.  Dogs and cats that were not claimed are now up for adoption. 

Catch up on the Highlights...

• Baark! chartered planes to bring animals (and sometimes their owners) out of Abaco.
• Baark! Volunteers were on the ground in Abaco assisting with search and rescue efforts.
• The Dorian Animal Relief Coalition transported 220 rescued animals to Nassau.
• We sent food and aid to Abaco for dogs, cats, & chickens. 
• We sent food to the horses in Grand Bahama. 
• With the help of IFAW & Greater Good we set up a temporary shelter facility for dogs and cats coming into Nassau. 
• We organized networks of volunteers, fosterers and carers. 
• We are continuously working with The Bahamas Humane Society, who have housed many animals. 
• We facilitated many reunions of owners and pets.
• 289 dogs and cats were airlifted from Abaco and Grand Bahama and temporarily homed at the Dorian Animal Rescue Shelter and Bahamas Humane Society.  

PHASE 2
HURRICANE RELIEF - DISASTER RESPONSE 4 November 2019 to date

Moving into PHASE II - Reconstruction, Repair & Stabilization 

To say the last 2 months since Hurricane Dorian has been busy and intense would be an understatement! Although we are a primarily a spay/neuter organization, on this occasion we felt it our duty to do everything we could to help the animals in such a dire situation. We are proud of our team, working with the community and how everyone has come together. Many people have lost their homes and entire possessions but being reunited with their pets has given them immense joy and we are proud to have been a part of that.

We have not lost sight of our mission of Spay & Neuter.  Baark! will be working along with the Abaco Shelter (who are in the process of rebuilding) to help with spay and neuter work as litters of puppies and kittens are already being born.  We have one main Baark! representative on the ground in Marsh Harbour and then volunteers are flying in from Nassau to assist.  We are also extremely grateful to other volunteers who are Marsh Harbour who have come to assist us at the clinic site when they have time off from their regular iniatives.  So far we have hosted 3 mini spay and neuter clinics. 

Catch up on the Highlights...

• Sunday November 10th - we set up one of the Global Medic tents at a site loaned to us in the center of Marsh Harbour to provide spay and neuters to focus on reducing animal overpopulation.
• Wednesday November 13th - Our first mini-clinic! 36 Spay and neuters were performed by Dr. Solomon Kwayke. 
• Throughout the week Dr. Bailey has helped with several surgeries
• Sunday November 17th & Monday 18th - Due to rain on Saturday and wet grounds on Sunday our numbers were a bit low but we still managed 32 surgeries performed by Dr. Solomon Kwayke between Sunday and Monday. 
• Sunday November 24th - We had 50 animals come in, 10 of which were puppies that came back to Nassau.  40 surgeries were performed by Dr. Solomon Kwayke. 
• Our next clinic will be Sunday December 1st 

We will keep you updated!