KEY POINTS:
A New Zealand vet in Myanmar is helping victims of cyclone Nargis carry on with their lives by providing them with livestock.
Dr Ian Dacre, from Taranaki, arrived in Myanmar last week to lead the World Society for the Protection of Animals' (WSPA) emergency response team. It gained entry to the country to provide relief aid for animals after the May 2 cyclone, which left up to 78,000 people dead and an estimated 2.4 million in need of food and shelter.
The team will be there for a month, providing feed for livestock and giving out oxen and bullocks to up to 123 families in Yangon - animals which for many families are a means of survival, Dr Dacre told colleagues in a recorded telephone conversation.
"Seventy per cent of the population are involved in agriculture and they know how important it is to be involved with their animals still," he said.
"It's really one of the fundamentals of life - you need your animals to survive around here."
WSPA figures show up to 48 million animals were killed in the cyclone and high levels of parasites deposited on vegetation meant the risk of serious disease had reached worrying levels.
Dr Dacre said the team would be carrying out medical assessments on the animals, which could easily spread diseases to their owners if not treated properly and straight away.
"Remember that we've got diseases like foot and mouth and haemorrhagic septicemia - both horrible, nasty diseases that will need special considerations," he said.
"We're working in these areas as to how we medically manage these animals in this environment, considering the amount of stress that they're going to be under."
Dr Dacre said locals were already rebuilding their businesses, putting up new buildings and getting on with their lives again.
"How all this stuff happened three and a half weeks ago and this is where they are now, they are putting the roof back on, putting the walls back up and all that stuff.
"They are amazingly resilient."
