CANOAS, Brazil. Hundreds of volunteers have set up a makeshift dog shelter in an abandoned, roofless warehouse in the city of Canoas, one of the cities hardest hit by flooding in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
They treat and feed sick, hungry or injured dogs, in the hope of reuniting them with their owners, and were working at full speed on Friday morning as further heavy rain is forecast in the region over the weekend.
Authorities say more than 110 people have died, nearly 150 are missing and more than 300,000 people have been displaced by the flooding. There is no official count of the number of animals that have died or been left homeless. Local media estimated the number to be in the thousands.
The makeshift shelter, about the size of a football field, has taken in hundreds of canines from flooded areas since Sunday. Between 20 and 30 dogs arrive every hour, many of them injured after being run over or almost drowned. The shelter sends some to veterinary hospitals, but others who need medical attention are too fragile to be transported. Dog food is strewn throughout the facility and dogs are chained at a distance from each other to prevent fights.
Hairdresser Gabriel Cardoso da Silva, 28, is one of the main organizers. He arrived from the neighboring town of Gravatai, which was not affected by the heavy rain, to help rescue people.
“When we were about to leave, we heard barking. My wife and I were so moved that we simply cried; “We have two dogs,” Silva said.
Many more were attracted to the movement after a social media campaign, he added.
“On Sunday we had 10 volunteers, now we have 200. We have tons of food. “Our community decided to accept this, but days ago we felt very alone.”
Every time a dog is reunited with its family, the groomer shouts “One less!” so other volunteers can stop and applaud throughout the shelter.
Cardoso’s call is often mixed with the loud barking of small, nervous dogs, fights between distressed animals that manage to get closer, and frantic movements of desperate families trying to locate their lost pets.
Éder Luis da Silva Camargo, a garbage collector in Canoas, found two of his six dogs in the center after searching for two days. Hunter and Preta were separated from him on Tuesday when they boarded different boats during a rescue operation.
“They were so scared then that they ran to the side and we couldn’t run after them. Now, thank God, we found them here,” Camargo said.
He and his wife Jenifer Gabriela, 21, want to find their four dogs that are still missing: Bob, Meg, Polaca and Ravena.
“This is the third place we have come to look for them. This is great, but we still want to find the others,” Gabriela said.
Animal protection groups and volunteers have shared images of difficult rescues and touching scenes of pets being reunited with their owners on social media, spurring Brazilians to send donations and bring veterinarians to the region.
A video that went viral showed a man crying inside a boat, hugging his four dogs after rescuers returned to his home to save them.
The plight of lost animals in southern Brazil became national news this week after a television news helicopter spotted a horse nicknamed Caramelo stranded on a rooftop in Canoas, not far from the shelter.
About 24 hours later, and with people clamoring for her rescue, a team in Rio Grande do Sul on Thursday successfully pulled out Caramelo, providing a dose of hope to a beleaguered region.
Carla Sassi, president of Grad, a Brazilian nonprofit that rescues animals after disasters, said she met with state government officials in Canoas to discuss emergency measures to rescue pets.
So far, according to volunteers in some areas, only business owners and local residents have acted to save pets in flooded areas.
Rio Grande do Sul’s housing department says state agents have rescued about 10,000 animals since last week, while municipal officials and volunteers have saved thousands more.
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