Barbuda hurricane pet and livestock

Hurricane Irma caused unprecedented destruction on the tiny island of Barbuda. Almost all the buildings were smashed and scattered by the ferocious winds, and the 1,800 Barbudan residents are left with nothing - no shelter, no running water, no electricity, little food and no communications. Everyone has been evacuated to Barbuda's sister island of Antigua. Only a few managed to take their dogs with them, and this has left the animals of Barbuda in a desperate plight. Dogs, cats, goats, donkeys, horses, pigs and other livestock are roaming free with no owners to care for them. The Barbudans who have had to leave are desperate for their animals to be fed and checked over. Some also need medical attention and shelter. We are just a small group of animal-loving Antiguans who care, and who got together to try and help. We are organising boats to take feed, water and medicines for these animals so we can provide emergency and ongoing feeding and care on the island and immediate support for owners and farmers. We have set up a database of photographs of all the dogs we are seeing on the island, with the aim of matching them with the evacuated Barbudans. If the people have accomodation which accepts dogs we will organise to transport them to Antigua. For those that can't have their dog, or cat, we will continue to feed them. We are already in touch with hundreds of desperate Barbudans who want to know how their much-loved animals are. We will also keep feeding the livestock and making sure the animals are safe until the farmers can return. We originally set a gofundme goal of £4000 but quickly exceeded that. This means we will be able to in the long term offer the returning farmers fencing materials, tools and other supplies to enable them to rebuild their farms. Antiguans are coming together like never before and donating goods, time and transport. But we desperately need outside help to continue.  Please donate anything you can to help this urgent and heartbreaking situation.