(Tagulandang) Couvert de brûlures et très affaibli, le chien tenu dans ses bras par la volontaire est l’un des animaux domestiques qu’une équipe de bénévoles est allée sauver sur l’île indonésienne de Ruang, évacuée de ses habitants et en état d’alerte maximum depuis l’entrée en éruption d’un volcan.
« Nous savons qu’ils [les animaux] still live there. How can we let them die? “, Laurent Tan, a 31-year-old volunteer, told AFP on Saturday.
Since the beginning of April, Mount Ruang, located in the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi (Celebes), has erupted more than half a dozen times, prompting the evacuation of its approximately 800 inhabitants. The authorities had established a seven-kilometer exclusion zone around the crater, reduced to five kilometers on Sunday, affecting around 11,000 people.
PHOTO ANDRI SAPUTRA/ANTARA FOTO, PROVIDED BY REUTERS
Since the beginning of April, Mount Ruang, located in the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi (Celebes), has erupted more than half a dozen times, prompting the evacuation of its approximately 800 inhabitants.
The eruption led to the closure of the international airport in the regional capital Manado, more than 100 kilometers away. The airport was able to reopen this Sunday.
Owner of two animal shelters in Manado, Laurent is one of eight volunteers who have made the six-hour ferry trip to Ruang’s neighboring island of Tagulandang several times.
PHOTO RONNY ADOLOF BUOL, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A volunteer carries a cat in a cage.
From the island’s ash-covered homes, they recovered a puppy, a white cat and a turquoise and white tropical bird.
The little dog, her mouth and body burned, was transported to a makeshift shelter in Tagulandang, where a veterinarian treated her on a wooden desk, lit by a cell phone lamp.
Refugee in a sewer
She appears to have survived the eruptions by taking refuge in a large sewer while the surrounding village was destroyed, according to Laurent.
Made up of members of animal welfare organizations, the group led a new mission Friday after some pet owners made desperate appeals on social media for their animals to be evacuated. Since then “many” animals have been saved, according to the volunteer.
PHOTO RONNY ADOLOF BUOL, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A volunteer carries an injured dog.
According to an AFP journalist on site, a dozen animals have been rescued since Friday.
Despite the danger and while the volcano’s alert level is still at its maximum, the rescuers continued their mission and saved several other dogs, including a five-month-old puppy, before handing them over to veterinarian Hendrikus Hermawan.
“The first treatment we do here is to give them food and vitamins to relieve stress,” the practitioner said, adding that the animals will be able to survive as long as they are fed.
PHOTO RONNY ADOLOF BUOL, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
“The first treatment we do here is to give them food and vitamins to relieve stress,” said a veterinarian.
The objective will then be to transport dogs, cats and birds to Manado in order to return them to their owners who were evacuated there.
If emergency operations aimed to save human lives, animals must not be forgotten, the volunteers emphasize.
“Our priority is the animals. Many people have already received help, but these animals have not received any,” the volunteer further indicated. “For me, their lives matter. We consider them part of our family.”