The 250 pets sheltered in the shelters and the more than 1,000 livestock animals that have been cared for during the fire that ravages Tenerife have been cared for by 44 volunteer veterinarians from Tenerife who have been joined by 14 more volunteers from Gran Canaria to reinforce the device launched by the College of Veterinarians of Tenerife, in direct collaboration with the Red Cross and always under the coordination of the Government of the Canary Islands.
The visit focused on one of the shelters set up by the Red Cross on the island, that of Quiquirá in La Orotava. “This shelter guards an endless number of animals, including dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and various birds,” said the president of the College of Veterinarians of Las Palmas, Alejandro Suárez. Meanwhile, Javier Delgado, veterinarian of the board of directors of the College of Las Palmas, who traveled to Tenerife to work in the field, has assessed that “there are no precedents in Spain in the emergency care of so many animals together.”
For her part, María Luisa Fernández Miguel, president of the Tenerife College of Veterinarians, thanks the colleagues who came from Gran Canaria for their collaboration and points out that in the three shelters that have been in operation (Arafo, El Chorrillo and La Orotava) treated 160 dogs and 50 cats, as well as rabbits, guinea pigs, parakeets, lovebirds, canaries and a significant number of chickens. On Tuesday night, the Red Cross announced the closure of the El Chorrillo shelter and the return home of the 74 people housed in the Quiquirá pavilion, with which a good part of these animals are already being discharged by the veterinary team.
One of the main objectives of the volunteer veterinarians has been to comply as strictly as possible with the parameters of animal welfare. To do this, for example, noise has been kept to a minimum, the cats were covered and all were given calming hormones so that they were as calm as possible in the stressful situation of being outside their homes and away from their homes. families.
In addition, those who had illnesses and/or injuries have been cared for: from conjunctivitis to healing wounds from previous surgery or keeping an eye on a full-term pregnant dog. There have also been animals that have spent these days in clinics “because all the colleagues have done their part as much as they could, some working at the shelters and others making their clinics available to us”, explains the president of Tenerife. This is the case of a group of five puppies that could not be with the rest because they had not yet completed their vaccination schedule and a cat that was in poor physical condition and needed additional care.
With regard to livestock, attention has focused on the health control of the animals that had to be transferred.
