Families in Colombia Lead Desperate Search for Hundreds of Pets Lost in Earthquake Rubble
Hundreds of families in Colombia are desperately searching for missing pets that fled during the earthquake, prompting a massive, citizen-led mobilization to locate them before damaged buildings face the wrecking ball.
With government resources stretched thin to address human casualties and widespread housing shortages, volunteer rescuers, animal welfare foundations, and everyday citizens have stepped in to lead the recovery of the region’s four-legged survivors.
The vast majority of the missing animals are felines. Santiago Aristizabal, a zootechnician in the city of Manizales, launched a crowdsourced digital map to help track the displaced animals. The platform has already logged more than 250 missing pets across cities including Cali, Pereira, and Quibdo, drawing tens of thousands of visits.
Cats account for 90% of the missing pets in the aftermath of Colombia’s earthquake
Aristizabal noted that cats account for roughly 90 percent of the lost animals. Unlike dogs, which can often be quickly leashed or tend to stay close to their owners during a panic, cats instinctively bolt and hide in confined spaces when frightened, making them nearly impossible to secure during the chaotic evacuation of a collapsing building.
As the disaster response transitions from human rescue to the demolition of condemned structures, time is running out for the animals still hiding in the ruins. Paul Steward, leader of the Bogota-based environmental collective En 8 Patas, warned that many disoriented pets remain trapped and will perish if heavy machinery moves in before thorough animal sweeps are conducted.
His volunteer team has successfully extracted several felines from the debris. Among their rescues was a cat named Chimuelo, found alive ten days after the quake. For his grieving family, who lost a mother in the collapse, the cat’s survival provided a rare and vital moment of solace amid the tragedy, highlighting how crucial these reunions are for the psychological recovery of victims.
Displaced animals have overwhelmed local shelters
The sheer volume of displaced animals has completely overwhelmed local government protection institutes, which lack the capacity to suddenly house and process hundreds of traumatized pets. Private veterinarians and civil society groups have had to shoulder the logistical burden.
The Alma Perruna foundation, for example, recently partnered with the Colombian Civil Air Patrol to airlift nearly a hundred abandoned dogs and cats from Buenaventura to shelters in Bogota. This civic response has also spurred innovative grassroots solutions, with citizens using commercial drones to spot stranded pets on the upper floors of structurally unsafe apartment blocks.
Yet, as rural farmers also report total losses of livestock and agricultural infrastructure, advocates warn that the earthquake’s toll on animals remains a vast and under-resourced emergency.