In the October 11 issue of the Philippine Star, Kathy Moran tells the heartwarming story of how Einstein was saved.

Donna Reyes left Einstein, her beloved dog of ten years, safely in her yard at her home in Manilla, where he was used to being, as she headed out of town on a quick trip for a speaking engagement—never suspecting what a harrowing turn events were soon to take.

On September 26, the day Typhoon Ondoy (also called Ketsana) struck Manilla, her return flight was canceled due to the weather.  Concerned now about Einstein, she texted her neighbor to ask him to please check on her dog and to stay in touch with her to let her know that he was okay.  Her neighbor texted back that the floodwaters were rising, and that he couldn’t promise to stay in touch with her.  Donna never heard from her neighbor again, and she found out later that he had died in the flood.

That afternoon she watched television reports showing that her neighborhood, Provident Village, had been one of the worst hit.

There was little she could do, and she spent a sleepless night worrying about Einstein. By 8:30 on Sunday morning she had managed to get back to Manilla, only to find that there was no way to get to her house; the streets were flooded and impassable.  She combed nearby streets looking everywhere for Einstein, praying that he would be safe, but coming across many animals that had died in the flood.

When she was finally able to get to her home, everything was a mess, and Einstein was not there.  She had to leave in the afternoon as the authorities were planning to drain the area and had ordered an evacuation.

Not much hope left

With no real hope left of finding Einstein, four days after the typhoon Donna sadly returned to work at Miriam College, where she is the Executive Director of Environmental Studies.  She held a small service for Einstein in her office, and thanked God for Einstein’s life.

Then she heard that PAWS, in Manilla, had been rescuing animals in Provident Village. 

Trying to remind herself not to hope too much because the odds of finding Einstein alive were so slim, she arrived at the PAWS shelter.

Donna was overjoyed to find Einstein alive—safe, sound, and recuperating well from his ordeal!

Anna Cabrera, of PAWS, writes, “We had re-named him "Stan" because we found him trapped on top of a roof along Stanford Street in Provident Marikina. (Most dogs who survived ended up on the roofs to escape the raging floodwaters at the height of Typhoon Ondoy / Ketsana).”  Anna adds, “What do you know – he had an even better real name!”

The IFAW disaster relief team, which Best Friends’ Rich Crook and PAWS, have been working with, had rescued Einstein from the rooftop on October 2.  Dick Green of IFAW had taken Einstein off the roof, and then handed him over to be well cared for at PAWS, just as they had done for so many other rescued animals.

The floodwaters had washed Einstein onto the roof of a stranger’s house, and when the caretaker returned to the house, he had no ladder, and he couldn’t reach Einstein or get any food to him—so the dog hadn’t had any food for nearly a week.

Grateful to be re-united with Einstein, Donna Reyes first took him with her to stay at her cousin’s home, but Einstein had had a difficult few days (as had Donna!), and he couldn’t quite settle down until he was safely back in his own house, on the sofa once again—where a dog belongs—not on a rooftop!  The interior of her home needs a lot of re-doing, but with Einstein back, Donna feels able to tackle picking up the pieces of her life.  She calls his return “a miracle.”

Update from Rich Crook – Winding up the relief efforts

The Pasig River cuts straight through downtown Manilla, with the district of Santa Cruz to the north and Laguna to the south. Rich Crook writes that in Laguna they covered the communities of Pansol, Sukol, Masili, Los Banos.

They have swept along both sides of the Pasig River—and have covered the area from the river outwards away from the banks as far as the flooding extended—up and down both banks, so they have reached the areas where animals were stranded and have provided the help that they needed.

The floodwaters have barely receded at all, though it’s been two weeks since the typhoon happened.  Still, there are signs of a return to normality.  Some stores have re-opened, even with a foot of water inside them.

The team left food for the dogs and cats on the rooftops, which will tide them over until their people can return.  In many cases, people have already come back to feed their animals, even when they can’t yet re-enter their houses. The dogs are also protecting people’s homes against looters.

Those cats and dogs who needed extra help were taken off the rooftops by the team. Every day six or seven of these animals were brought back to the staging area where vets treated them, and then the majority were returned to their communities.  Small kittens, sick or injured dogs, or animals in a very weakened condition were taken to PAWS to be cared for, hopefully to be re-united with their families, as Einstein was--or if that isn’t possible, then to be adopted by new families.

The team’s work was difficult and demanding, not made any easier by the fact that both people and animals had died in the floods, and the water had left a trail of widespread destruction.

1800 animals helped

However, their mission, to save the lives of the animals, was a huge success!  The IFAW team and Rich estimate that they were able to save around 1,800 animals altogether with the food drop-offs and the individual rescues!

Thanks also to other groups that carried out rescue efforts in the Philippines, including the Animal Welfare Coalition, Humane Society International, and WSPA.

Rich will be heading back home now.  It is possible that some members of the IFAW team may go on to help in areas farther north that were struck by a later typhoon.

During the past few days spent in Santa Cruz, the team provided food to 906 animals, vet treatment to 50 animals, and brought six injured, sick or very young animals back to PAWS to be cared for. They had saved about the same number earlier in Laguna.

With the lives of 1,800 animals saved and with heart-warming events like Einstein’s reunion with his person, all the exhausting work was well worth the effort.

Thank you all for your kind, generous help and support!

Thanks to Anna Cabrera of PAWS and Anna Gonce of Best Friends for their contributions to this story.

What you can do

To read the story of Einstein in the Philippines Star, please click here.

• If you'd like to support Best Friend's efforts, donate here. 

• Support IFAW's efforts by clicking here. 

• Please click here to support PAWS in the Philippines.

Top photo: Anna Cabrera / PAWS / Dick Green of IFAW bringing Einstein off the roof

Second photo: Anna Cabrera / PAWS / Dr. Nielsen Donato of PAWS holding Einstein, Charlene Laxamana of PAWS, Dick Green of IFAW, and, in the back, the caretaker of the house.

Third photo: Anna Cabrera / PAWS / Charlene Laxamana giving Einstein a bite to eat

To read more news stories from Asia, please go to the East Asia group.