Hurricane Melissa response

• As Jamaica reels from deadly Hurricane Melissa, Humane World for Animals responders have deployed to assist with animal needs at the request of Negril Puppy Rescue.
• Negril Puppy Rescue, which houses approximately 90 animals, sustained significant structural damage—including devastating destruction of their kennels—when Hurricane Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane with top winds of 185 mph (295 kph), one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.
• In addition to our on the ground assistance, we are providing Wings of Rescue with a $25,000 grant to support their supply acquisition and delivery efforts.
• We are continuing to check in with agencies in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba to assess any supply and funding needs we may be able to support.

When disaster strikes, our responders are prepared to assist in a variety of ways, depending on the local needs and capacity. Our response can include search and rescue, establishing emergency shelters, supplementing local animal shelter operations, operating animal supply distribution points, funding much-needed veterinary care for impacted communities, and more. In the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, our initial team on the ground will be conducting field assessments to determine the specific needs and nature of our response.

For an international organization like ours to assist in a disaster area, we are required to wait for an official request for help, which typically isn’t made until needs are assessed after the initial impact. In the meantime, we actively reached out to agencies and partners in the projected path of Hurricane Melissa to gain an understanding of their anticipated impact and needs. Additionally, if we were to place additional people in the path of a disaster, there is a risk of our own responders needing rescue and thus diverting attention away from the existing priority emergency and medical services needs. Finally, storms may deviate from the projected path or have unanticipated impacts outside of the projected path, so we can typically be most helpful by standing by until initial needs are assessed so we can ensure we are sending our team to help where their assistance is truly needed the most.

The best thing for people outside of Jamaica to do at this point is donate money to impacted shelters and rescues. Please check with those organizations before sending supplies to make sure what you want to send is actually needed and helpful. It’s important to keep in mind that when procuring food and supplies from outside the region, transit to the islands can be complex and costly, especially as airports were impacted by this disaster.

In order for an international organization like ours to assist in a disaster area, there has to be an official request from the appropriate agency or emergency official. Jamaica and other impacted countries have a protocol for how to make these requests during a disaster, and if a group or agency is in need of help, we ask that they contact their local emergency officials, who—if assistance is needed—will get the request to us. These protocols are in place to ensure there is not chaos created by outside groups coming in unrequested, and to ensure the assistance is sent to where it is needed most.

If you need assistance evacuating, please contact your local emergency manager. You can find that information here: 

Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency 

Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (Jamaica)

Beyond trained responders who were directly contacted, it is imperative that no one goes to the area on their own or self-deploys. We won't be able to use volunteers who haven't gone through official training. If people who self-deploy come and get stranded, emergency response attention must then add them to the long list of rescues and divert attention away from the existing priority rescue work. It is simply too dangerous and may result in lost/stray animals not going through the official systems to ensure they are reunited with their families. Our response team is made up of full-time staff and reserve staff who work on a contract basis. Team members have a variety of backgrounds, including backgrounds in local animal services.

One-time gifts made through this form support Humane World for Animals’ Emergency Animal Relief Fund. Your gift today will ensure that our team can continue to answer the call during times of emergency wherever, whenever and however animals need us and that we can support families who experience disasters in keeping their pets. 

For full details on how one-time donations will be used, please see this page on our website. Monthly donations, as indicated on the page where people submit their donation, will fund our lifesaving work for all animals.