Displaced farm animals shepherded to safety
While residents of waterlogged New Brunswick are packing sandbags and leaving homes, Good Samaritans have come to the rescue of another group afflicted by the natural disaster: displaced farm animals.
Livestock uprooted by the flood have been shepherded to the Fredericton Exhibition grounds, which currently houses just over 200 horses, cows, sheep, goats, and even zebu - a type of miniature bull.
Charlie Miles, president of the Fredericton Horsemen’s Association, said in a phone interview that the flooded Saint John River is causing uninhabitable conditions for animals in lower-ground areas.
“This time of year it’s absolutely freezing,” he said. “There are pieces of ice floating by, and you have your cows or animals standing up to their knees or shoulders, and it’s very, very hard on them because it’s cold.”
Miles said he’s confident the exhibition grounds will act as a safe haven for the animals until flood waters recede, noting that they haven’t flooded since 1827.
Farmers and volunteers brought the asylumseeking animals to the grounds by trucks, trailers and barges. The last batch of animals arrived Friday.
Some needed medical attention after their ordeal, Miles said.
“We’ve had to have the provincial veterinarians in on several occasions to help these animals because they come in on the trucks and trailers and they’re so cold they’re shivering,” he said.
“The horsemen here at the racetrack in Fredericton are providing them with blankets and coolers with things to warm them up to stop them from shaking.”
The animals’ owners are working with about 15 volunteers to ensure the animals are fed, comfortable and cared for during their stay at the exhibition grounds.
The grounds have plenty of room to house livestock of all shapes and sizes: for 190 years, they’ve hosted the New Brunswick Provincial Exhibition, an annual event showcasing local agriculture, farm animals and amusement park rides.
Brent Dunphy, a local dairy farmer and board member of the Fredericton Exhibition, said the animals have adjusted well to their sudden relocation.
He said he’s impressed by the outpouring of assistance from the community, saying a local 4-H club showed up Saturday to help clean up the cattle barn, and other organizations have stepped in with donations.
As flood waters continue to rise in southern New Brunswick, so too do concerns for health and safety.
“Lots of sewage systems have been compromised by flooding, and when they’re overwhelmed the sewage has no place to go but into the water courses or to backup into houses,’’ said Greg MacCallum, director of New Brunswick’s Emergency Measures Organization.
“The flood water can be heavily contaminated with sewage as a result and people need to be mindful of the health risks, the risks of infections that come with that, as well as the risk of sickness and gastrointestinal illness,’’ he said.
Kevin Clifford, the director of Emergency Management for Saint John, also cautioned people about being in contact with the flood waters.
“Certainly people understand the water looks different. It looks brown and it’s certainly contaminated with a whole host of things,’’ he said.
The provincial EMO issued warnings for people who have private well water supplies affected by flooding, saying they should not be used until they have been disinfected and tested.
“If you think that your well may be affected by chemicals such as furnace oil, gasoline or agricultural chemicals, you should not use water from the well for any purpose whatsoever — even if it has been boiled,’’ the warning reads.
In the town of Rothesay, officials cautioned residents that the sanitary and storm sewer systems are full because of the flooding.
“There is no capacity to receive more fluid so sewer backups are very likely if you use your plumbing (and maybe even if you don’t),’’ their statement reads.
“The Town sewer system works on gravity and flows to the lagoons for treatment. The lagoons have flooded and are overflowing into the river. As the water level rises, there is a potential for backup into the pipes. Your downstream neighbours will appreciate your restricted use until flood waters recede.’’
The four-lane Trans-Canada highway between Fredericton and Moncton remains closed due to flooding and rising waters have cut off routes to the community of Chipman.
“I just want to be perfectly clear that while the access and egress from that community is a problem right now, we have in place systems and abilities to ensure emergency response into that community,’’ MacCallum said Sunday afternoon.
He said water levels in the southern half of the province were expected to continue to rise slowly over the next few days, and it would be late in the week before they’d begin to recede.
Emergency officials have repeatedly urged residents in flooded areas to evacuate their homes, but many are staying put — using sandbags and pumps to protect their properties.
Stephen Brittian was helping to co-ordinate efforts to get sandbags to homes in an area of Rothesay on Sunday. Front end loaders were able to take a few hundred sandbags at a time through the flooded street, while just a day earlier homeowners were taking a few at a time in canoes and a flat-bottom boat.
Brittian said while many homes had been saved from the rising waters, others were not so lucky.
“There are some houses that did not get protected, some cars and so on. It took everybody enough by surprise that there was no planning done and they didn’t get the resources there in time,’’ he said.
Brittian said he was proud to live in a community where so many people had volunteered to do whatever they could for people affected.