Evaluation of Animal Rescue Activities in Tekirdağ City, Turkey

Mehmet Yardimci

doi:10.30704/http-www-jivs-net.941665

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the response readiness for disasters based on the current animal rescue activities performed in Tekirdağ city. The material of this research contained the data of the animal rescue operations in Tekirdağ in 2019 and 2020. Results showed that a total of 2201 (82.7%) animals were saved in 2663 operations while 251 (9.4%) animals couldn’t be saved in 2020. The average intervention time was around half an hour. The majority of the animals (2118; 79.5%) were released to nature while some of the others were handed over to the owner (24; 0,9%), delivered to the local veterinarian (31; 1.2%), to the shelter (35; 1.3%) or Forestry Waterworks (1; 0.04%). Nothing was done to the rest (454; 17.1%) because they were not found, inaccessible or found dead. This study emphasizes the need for a standardized monitoring system with appropriate data routinely collected from all rescue groups. International standards should be adopted by providing correct information to the rescue teams of each district. In this context, readiness, response and recovery stages should be first developed at the local level and applied to large events for better incident management.

Highlights

Animals face risks in disasters, just as humans do.Because we live with them by sharing homes, gardens or workplaces, we have a responsibility to help animals in case of danger (Glassey 2020; Irvine 2006) and keep them safe from the negative impacts of natural disasters
Animal rescue operations across Tekirdağ city: Animal rescue operations were mostly centered in Süleymanpaşa (32.48%, n=865), Çorlu (23.17%, n=617)
The fact that there were significantly more animal rescue operations in crowded settlements (Çorlu, Süleymanpaşa and Çerkezköy), the extent to which the people were intertwined with animals and the predominantly species of rescued animals, such as cats and dogs, indicates that there was a high level of awareness towards them (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Animals face risks in disasters, just as humans do. Because we live with them by sharing homes, gardens or workplaces, we have a responsibility to help animals in case of danger (Glassey 2020; Irvine 2006) and keep them safe from the negative impacts of natural disasters. Any potential danger threatening human life is likely to put animals at risk, too. Emergency responders aim to keep all human beings safe from the negative impacts of natural disasters, accidents or all hazardous events (Thompson 2018). Organizational problems in human social systems become compounded during disaster events and this is true with animal response and rescue operations (Farmer et al 2016). Fire services are mainly responsible for rescuing animals during emergencies

Methods

Results

Conclusion