Brooke partner honoured with award
Animal Health Training Consultancy Service (AHTCS), Brooke’s partner in Nepal, has been given a Special Recognition Award for their work during the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake, almost exactly a year ago.
Representatives from Brooke, Melissa Liszewski and Kimberley Wells, collected the award given by CEVA Animal Health UK at a ceremony in Birmingham last night.
CEVA gives awards annually to recognise the achievements of individuals and organisations contributing to the improvement of animal welfare in the UK and abroad. This is only the second time in the award’s five year history that they have given the Special Recognition Award.
After the earthquake we heard that people and their animals in the districts where we were work were very badly affected, so we gathered a team together to work out what we could do.
On 25 April 2015, Nepal was hit by a 7.9 earthquake in which thousands of people were killed, injured and displaced. Several aftershocks followed, and then a second large tremor measuring 7.5 struck on 12 May. The Gorkha region was at the epicentre of the devastation. In Nepal, Brooke partnered with a local organisation, Animal Health Consultancy Training Service (AHTCS) to conduct their work. In the aftermath, Brooke and AHTCS launched into action to help the injured, trapped and terrified horses, donkeys and mules, despite themselves being directly affected by the earthquakes.
In the first few days the team gathered local people and the Equine Association together to help clear roadways and save 150 horses, donkeys and mules that had been trapped up in the hills by landslides. After that, work continued and over 400 more animals were rescued. The team helped to provide 1,483 equines, and over 300 of their owners and handlers with relief materials such as grain and water. The team also ran a five day free animal health camp, providing check-ups for 575 animals including equines.
Services available for the animals are minimal, so this provides a lot of our motivation. The economic benefits these animals bring to people are not properly recognised nationally, so there is more work to be done for us here in Nepal. We are striving for a good welfare status for the working equines. It’s an opportunity and a challenge.
The judges at CEVA decided the team should be recognised for their work, and added the award category specially for them.
Dr Bidur said “We are honoured to receive this award. We didn’t expect to be recognised in this way, so we’re very thankful to CEVA.
“Services available for the animals are minimal, so this provides a lot of our motivation. The economic benefits these animals bring to people are not properly recognised nationally, so there is more work to be done for us here in Nepal. We are striving for a good welfare status for the working equines. It’s an opportunity and a challenge.”
2016 Ceva awards for animal welfare
The earthquake response team in Nepal were:
Dr Lekhnath Adhikari (Field Co-ordinator)
Dr Nabin Paudel (Field Co-ordinator)
Dr Swatantra Dangi (Field Co-ordinator)
Dr Pushpendra Shah (Field Co-ordinator)
Mr Bhesh Raj Bastola (Community Officer)
Mr Keshar Raibhat (Welfare Facilitator)
Ms Buddha Laxmi KC (Welfare Facilitator)
Mr Jivan Khatri (Driver)
Dr Bidur Pakhrin (Executive Director)