Four Costa Rican animal rescuers are part of a nine-person disaster response team deployed to northern Venezuela to help dogs, cats and other animals injured or displaced by the powerful earthquakes that struck the country on June 24. The team, organized by Humane World for Animals, includes responders from Costa Rica and Mexico. It was sent after a Venezuelan animal welfare group requested international assistance.
After arriving in Valencia, the group began supporting mobile veterinary clinics and distributing emergency food, water, veterinary supplies and other materials in some of the hardest-hit areas, including Caracas and La Guaira.
The twin earthquakes, measured at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck within seconds of each other and caused widespread destruction across northern Venezuela. Thousands of people have been killed, thousands more injured, and many families left without homes. The disaster has also created an emergency for animals injured by collapsing buildings, separated from their owners or left without access to food and water.
The Costa Rican members of the mission were identified as Grettel Delgadillo, SofÃa Herra, Abigail Molina and Natalia Sáenz, all part of Humane World for Animals Costa Rica. Humane World for Animals also issued an emergency grant to Red de Apoyo Canino, a Venezuelan animal welfare group, to help move veterinary and relief supplies into affected communities.
Felipe Márquez, the organization’s Latin America disaster response manager, is leading the deployment. He said the team expects to find animals with wounds caused by falling debris, as well as others suffering from dehydration and malnutrition after days of disruption.
The mission is focused on backing local animal protection groups already working under difficult conditions. Responders will help provide care for displaced animals while also supporting families who brought their pets with them to temporary shelters.
The Venezuela deployment is part of the organization’s broader disaster response work, which has included animal relief efforts after earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storms and wildfires in several countries.
For Costa Rica’s animal welfare community, the mission also shows how local disaster-response training is being used beyond the country’s borders. Costa Rican rescuers are now helping in one of Venezuela’s most severe earthquake emergencies in generations, as communities continue searching for survivors, caring for the injured and trying to keep families and their animals together.
