Bonnie cradles a fragile pup, (c) Kinship Circle — Some Give Up

Some Give Up

Bonnie grieves the death of a puppy (c) Kinship Circle

Some Give Up, Especially The Puppies. The fragile immune systems of babies are no match for aggressive disease, injury and stress. When Bonnie Morrison, Kinship Circle Disaster Management Director, arrives for her shelter shift, young local volunteers greet her with sorrow in their eyes. A burial is underway and the deceased is one of Bonnie's favorite puppies from an otherwise healthy litter. Two more teeny, lifeless bodies lay on the nearby ground. Bonnie fights back tears. Brazil veterinarian Jackeline Moraes Ribeiro explains that their mother, rescued in extreme distress, may have accidentally smothered her pups when she lay atop them as a means to nurture and warm them. EstimAcao leader Dina DeMiranda Puccini Pereira believes their developing, frail immune systems — cast against a disaster setting and overcrowded shelter — may explain the deaths.

Everyone quietly grieves the unanticipated deaths, even as hope arises for other animals. EstimAcao director Bebete Filpi is excited about tomorrow's adoption of two older dogs. A Franciscan nun and monk order plans to take 15 dogs as soon as flooded roads reopen. And today, Bonnie presents a $2,000 gift from Kinship-IDA to help keep the disaster shelter in repair. Your donations made this essential aid possible. Please continue to support animal disaster victims.

BREAKING NEWS IN BRAZIL — MORE FLOODS AND SLIDES ON THE WAYRelentless rain for over a week has drenched the already soggy shelter in Teresopolis, Brazil. Dirt layers atop granite mountains, barely dry after original mudslides, are saturated once again — the same condition that led to their collapse in mid-January. A new mudslide last evening has already killed one person and tossed two homes off their foundations near the disaster shelter. We expect a new wave of reports about injured, missing and stranded animals. Brazil residents brace for the worst, again. Photos (c) Kinship Circle, Brazil Mudslides

A survivor pup from a weak litter, (c) Kinship Circle

Bonnie loves pup from frail litter (c) Kinship Circle

Remaining pups in litter with deaths (c) Kinship Circle

Two more pups die at shelter (c) Kinship Circle

A favorite puppy dies at shelter (c) Kinship Circle

Cheri Deatsch on puppy poop duty, Kinship Circle

Chilean Vets Join

Chilean vets Juan Pablo and Enrique Reyes (c) Kinship Circle — Chilean vets Juan Pablo Gomez DVM and Enique Reyes DVM treat a small black dog with medical issues.

© Kinship Circle, Brazil

Joining Kinship Circle DART on the ground in Brazil: Enrique Reyes DVM, Juan Pablo Gomez DVM, and Georgia Zelada Corbalan DVM. A year before Brazil's devastating mudslides, Kinship Circle assisted Socorro Animal Chile (SACH) in the aftermath of a mass Chilean earthquake and tsunami. We traveled to tent camps and towns along Chile's ravaged coast to provide long underserved, and then disaster-displaced, communities with veterinary first aid, meds and treatment. During our time in Chile, volunteers grew to admire the stamina and devotion of SACH's amazing volunteer veterinarians. Now, our Chilean colleagues are in Brazil (wearing Kinship Circle tees) to give Brazil animals a second chance! Georgia Zelada Corbalan DVM, Enrique Reyes DVM, and Juan Pablo Gomez DVM reunite with Traci Dawson and June Towler, both Canadian, for Brazil Team 3 led by IC Bonnie Morrison. This is our strongest veterinarian-based team yet, with six volunteer vets on the ground. In addition to the Chilean vets, three veterinary residents of Sao Paulo University in Brazil are registered with our Disaster Animal Response Team: Alessandra Nogueira Rinah Vogues DVM, Priscilla Rocha Yanai DVM, and Priscilla Stone Mendonca DVM. We are grateful for their dedication and hope to call upon their skills in future disasters. Please donate, so we can reach and treat more forgotten animals. Photos (c) Kinship Circle, Brazil Floods-Mudslides

At the Teresopolis shelter, Juan Pablo organizes a treatment regimen to prevent four distemper dogs from spreading the deadly virus. Kinship Circle's June Towler lends Juan Pablo a hand. She also walks special-needs dogs, cleans kennels and helps with flood control. Relentless rain swamps part of the shelter, sometimes washing into a room during surgery. Five-gallon buckets to catch rainwater fill-up quickly. Pails are placed in dog kennels, but it's impossible to trap all the water. A flooded back room is sopped up with squeegies and buckets. Traci and June sweep water from a tarp ceiling, so tarps don't capsize and dump water on dogs below. In another shelter area, Georgia oversees the babies all day long. Kinship Circle's Traci Dawson helps her treat puppies for parvovirus. Parvo is fatal without quick medical interventation. Two puppies have pneumonia and three puppies die today. We discover one mother's milk has dried up, but the shelter has no hot water for puppy formula. Bonnie returns to the hostel to boil water that she brings back to the shelter to formula feed these pups.

Juan Pablo, Enrique and Bonnie treat dogs, Kinship Circle

Screwworm extraction at disaster shelter, Kinship Circle — Brazil police drop off a tiny female terrier. A wound over half her front leg is infected with screw worms. Bicheira maggots have eaten tissue, exposing bone and ligaments. Vet Enrique, with Bonnie assisting, does surgery to extract over 300 flesh-eating maggots. The wound is flushed and disinfected.

June Towler hand feeds sick parvo pup (c) Kinship Circle

Bicheira worms extracted from dog, (c) Kinship Circle

object — Enrique stitches together the dog's skin to cover bone and ligaments. Antibiotics and a fluid injection are given. On a happier note, a policeman brings in a dog hit by a car. Damage to a front elbow-area ligament is treatable with anti-inflammatory. His injury is minor and the policeman even adopts him! Many pups are sick however, like a little black fellow whom June Towler gently hand-feeds.

Enrique stitches together the dog's skin to cover bone and ligaments. Antibiotics and a fluid injection are given. On a happier note, a policeman brings in a dog hit by a car. Damage to a front elbow-area ligament is treatable with anti-inflammatory. His injury is minor and the policeman even adopts him! Many pups are sick however, like a little black fellow whom June Towler gently hand-feeds.

June Towler hand-feeds a sick puppy, Kinship Circle

Sao Paulo University vets join us, (c) Kinship Circle — Alessandra Nogueira Rinah Vogues DVM, Priscilla Rocha Yanai DVM, and Priscilla Stone Mendonca DVM are veterinary residents of Sao Paulo University who join our disaster team in Teresopolis.

© Kinship Circle, Brazil

Cheri Deatsch and Brazil vet Dr. Bruno (c) Kinship Circle — Kinship Circle Field Response Manager Cheri Deatsch takes a break from work with Brazilian veterinarian Dr. Bruno.

© Kinship Circle, Brazil

Brazil vet Priscila Pedra Mendon, Kinship Circle

Vets Dr. Bruno, Priscila Pedra Mendon, Kinship Circle

Pace Of Life

Mama dog nurses many babies, (c) Kinship Circle — Pace Of Life

Pace Of Life

Bonnie Morrison holds rescued puppy (c) Kinship Circle

Pace Of Life And Death Post-Disaster: Tomorrow tells us who lives, who dies. A month and a half after destructive floods and landslides, the Teresopolis shelter hums at routine pace. Clean puppy room. Confiscate poop, lots of poop. Tube-feed sick animals. Assist Brazil veterinarian Dr. Bruno with meds and treatment. An average 40-50 puppies with diarrhea occupy the puppy room on any given day. Kinship Circle officers Cheri and Bonnie care for them at all hours. EstimAcao lead Dina relies on us to “take care of the babies.” A poodle-esque dog is admitted. His coat hangs in dreadlocks, with ears that droop to the floor. The fur on his back is a hardened shell. After grooming, a sweet, snowy white and close-shaven little dog emerges. One of four sick puppies dies today. Oddly, he is the robust one who ate on his own earlier this same afternoon. Dr. Bruno tells us the puppy suddenly vomited and died. He pulls three other anorexic pups for observation. A non-responsive pup is given intravenous fluids and perks up right way. The cycle of life and death repeats itself again and again. Tomorrow will reveal each animal's fate, as we race against time, veterinary staff shortages, and insufficient funding. Please donate for urgently needed meds and veterinary supplies! Each life matters. We try to save them all.

SEARCH AND RESCUE IN CAMPO GRANDEFlavia, a filmmaker, interviews Kinship's Bonnie Morrison and Cheri Deatsch for her documentary on Brazil animal disaster victims. Her crew joins us on search-rescue in Campo Grande — a nearly inaccessible neighborhood where recent rain turned dirt roads into muddy gulfs. We drive as far as possible and then set out by foot. The team then splits, with Bonnie and volunteer Savio at a gutted home and Flavia and Mao on the road. Cheri, Maria, and the film crew head into thick surrounding woods. Trees are littered with personal belongings. At one point we come to a steep drop-off. A former hill is entirely gone. Each remaining structure looks ready to tumble. We rummage through a neighborhood where flash floods filled homes with mud, despite their elevation. We see the body of a Siberian Husky, still encased in the sand and mud. A roof is split in two. Flavia climbs under the fallen roof, then peers below a mud covered car. Two bright eyes gaze back. A small black dog is found! Wet food is offered, but the dog snaps in response. Cheri lays on her belly to scoot small bits toward the dog. We finally coax him out. Bonnie rescues a little brown dog who'd evaded earlier efforts.