Thousands of Animals Rescued After Floods in Brazil

May 14

May 14 Thousands of Animals Rescued After Floods in Brazil

Torrential rains and intense floods soaked southern Brazil last week, killing over 140 people and forcing more than 100,000 to evacuate. Amid the disaster in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, hundreds of volunteers are busy rescuing animals stranded by the rising water.

As of May 12, an incredible 10,555 animals have been rescued, according to the latest figures from the state government. The rescue operation is impressive: dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, pigs, and horses are brought to a shelter in the state capital Porto Alegre, checked out for injuries, fed, and then photographed, with the images uploaded to the internet so owners can track down their pets.

“We have rapid tests. If they arrive with any symptoms of infectious illness we separate them to be sent off to clinics and hospitals,” veterinarian Cintia Dias da Costa tells Agence France-Presse.

A horse stranded on a rooftop, caught on camera by a news helicopter, has become an iconic symbol of the disaster and of survival. The horse, nicknamed Caramelo, stood perched for days on two narrow strips of a peaked roof in Canoas, one of the hardest-hit areas in the state. A team of vets and firemen clamored onto the mostly submerged roof, sedated and immobilized the 770-pound horse, then placed him (sic) on an inflatable raft and brought him to safety — the rescue operation captured on live television.

“We found the animal in a debilitated state,” firefighter Tiago Franco says in a statement issued by the state security secretariat. “We tried to approach in a calm way.”

The horse is now recovering in a veterinary hospital. Janja, the wife of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, posted a video of herself sharing the good news with her husband, whispering into his ear at an official event. “Breaking the good news about Caramela's rescue!” she wrote on X, using a feminized spelling of the horse’s nickname. “Ps: we discovered that it is a mare!”

You can donate to the rescue efforts via the International Fund for Animal Welfare.