Catira Alejandra couldn’t contain her excitement when she was reunited with her family. Tail wagging, frenzied leaping, and loving licks to the face marked the moment the small dog finally saw the familiar faces she didn’t know if she would see again.
But several days earlier, Catira was hunched over, head down and trembling as gloved hands examined her after she was rescued in La Guaira. She was briefly renamed by her rescuers and carried no information to trace back to the life she once knew. She was one of the hundreds of pets that flooded shelters after twin earthquakes devastated parts of Venezuela in June, killing thousands of people.
Since then, scores of residents have lost loved ones, their homes and the furry companions they shared their lives with.
Since June 24, at least 648 pets (including dogs and cats) have been rescued in La Guaira – one of the states hardest hit by the earthquakes – and the Caracas neighborhood of San Bernardino, according to Maguildas Vargas, president of Misión Nevado, a Venezuelan government project that provides shelter for homeless animals.
Vargas’ team has been able to reunite at least 18 pets rescued in La Guaira with their owners.
