TAGULANDANG – People have fled from a remote Indonesian island where a volcano recently unleashed huge eruptions but some folk have braved the dangers to rescue abandoned animals.

Mount Ruang in the country’s northernmost region has erupted more than half a dozen times since April 16, stirring a spectacular mix of ash, lava and lightning that forced the island’s residents to be permanently relocated and thousands more evacuated.

But a team of volunteers have travelled to Ruang by boat to retrieve abandoned pets from the foot of the volcano that remains at its highest alert level.

“We know that they (the animals) are still living there. How can we let them die while we know they are still alive there?” volunteer Laurent Tan, 31, told AFP on May 4.

The owner of two animal shelters in North Sulawesi province capital Manado is one of eight volunteers who have made the six-hour ferry journey several times to Ruang’s neighbouring Tagulandang island following the eruptions.

On one of their missions to the island’s ash-covered homes, they came across a pup, a white cat and a bright turquoise-and-white tropical bird.

The dog, a female with burns on the face and body, was taken to a makeshift shelter on Tagulandang, where a veterinarian treated it on a wooden desk while a volunteer held up a mobile phone’s flashlight.

The animal appeared to have survived the eruptions by taking shelter in a large gutter.

The group, made up of volunteers from animal welfare organisations, deployed for a second time on May 3 after some pet owners made desperate social media appeals for them to evacuate their pets.

An AFP journalist at the scene said more than a dozen animals had been rescued since May 3.

Some owners learnt their pets were still alive after seeing them in pictures of Ruang island in the media.

‘Their lives matter’

The authorities have told locals to evacuate outside a 7km exclusion zone around the crater, which was lowered to 5km on May 5, with around 11,000 people earmarked for relocation.

As at May 4, more than 5,000 people from Tagulandang had been evacuated, the national disaster mitigation agency said on May 5, while all of Ruang’s residents – more than 800 – had been taken for permanent relocation.

The authorities have warned of potential flying rocks, lava flows and tsunamis due to debris sliding into the sea.

But despite the risks, the volunteers were not deterred. One climbed over the fence of an abandoned house to rescue several dogs left behind by their owner, before handing them over to veterinarian Hendrikus Hermawan. He said the owner asked the volunteers for help to save the dogs, which included a five-month-old puppy.

Many of the rescued animals appeared hungry and stressed after their owners left them, he told AFP. “The first treatment we do here is to give food and additional vitamins to relieve their stress,” he said, adding that the animals could survive as long as they were nourished.

The volunteers aim to rescue all the dogs, cats and birds threatened by the volcano, transfer them to Manado and reunite them with any owners, said Ms Tan.

While the initial focus of the eruptions was on the human impact, she added that the animals should not be forgotten.

“Many people have already received help but these animals had no help. For me, their lives matter. We consider them as part of our family.” AFP