ペットも野良も熱波で病気に 路面は「柔らかい肉球では歩けない」熱さ 印

【コルカタＡＦＰ＝時事】熱波に見舞われているインド・コルカタ（旧カルカッタ）はほぼ機能停止に追い込まれているが、パルタ・ダスさん（５７）の動物病院はかつてない忙しさに追われている。（写真は、インド・コルカタの動物病院で、やけどの治療を受ける犬）
　南アジアと東南アジアでは１週間あまり猛烈な熱波が続いており、ダスさんのクリニックは、病気のペットを抱えた飼い主たちであふれかえっている。鼻血や深刻な皮膚炎、失神などの症状があるという。
　ダスさんはＡＦＰに「３、４日間入院し、回復に時間がかかるペットが多数いる」と話した。
　「熱中症のケースが毎日数件ある。こんなことはこれまでなかった」
　コルカタでも連日高温が続いており、４月３０日には４３度に達した。市当局によると、１９５４年以降では最も暑い４月の日となった。
　飼い主がいる幸運な犬猫も脱水で体調を崩すことが増えている一方、当局の推定で７万匹いるとされる野良犬たちはさらに過酷な状況に置かれている。
　野良犬たちの多くは、近くに住む住民から餌をもらい、世話されているが飼い主はいない。
　日中は車の下の日陰に避難する犬が多い。人間にホースで水を掛けてもらえる幸運な犬もいる。
　野良の動物の保護活動を行う現地の慈善団体「ヒューマニマル財団」の担当者は「路面が熱過ぎて、柔らかい肉球では歩けない」と話した。
　財団のメンバーたちが保護した犬猫を動物病院に連れて行くものの、助からないケースも多いという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/05/02-18:25）

Soaring temperatures across Kolkata have brought life in much of the Indian megacity to a standstill, but veterinarian Partha Das cannot recall a time when he was more busy.
His clinic has been swamped by distressed members of the public carrying in beloved pets suffering nosebleeds, severe skin rashes and lapses into unconsciousness in a relentless heatwave suffocating much of South and Southeastern Asia over the past week.
Many pets are also hospitalized for three or four consecutive days, and they are taking a long time to get back to normal, the 57-year-old told AFP from his surgery.
We are getting several heatstroke cases in a day. It's unprecedented.
Kolkata has sweltered through days of punishing heat, peaking at 43 degrees Celsius for the hottest single April day since 1954, according to the city's weather bureau.
Streets of the normally bustling colonial-era capital have been almost deserted in the afternoons as its 15 million people do what they can to stay out of the sun.
But even cats and dogs lucky enough to have an owner have been susceptible to falling ill, with Das saying the heat had triggered a surge in dehydration-related illnesses in pets from around the city.
Teacher Sriparna Bose said her two cats had become sullen and withdrawn in a way she hadn't seen before when the heatwave hit.
They are refusing food, she said. They hide in dark, cold corners of the room and won't come out.
The situation is worse for the 70,000 stray dogs estimated to live on city streets by municipal authorities, which have no owner but are often fed and tended to by nearby residents.
Many are spending the day taking refuge from the sun under parked cars, while a lucky few are hosed down by sympathetic humans to help them cool off.
They are finding it difficult to stand on their soft paws because the roads are so hot, said Gurshaan Kohli of Humanimal Foundation, a local animal welfare charity for stray animals.
Scores of dogs and cats have died even though he and his colleagues had rushed them to clinics for treatment, he added.
- 'This year was worse' -
Large swathes of South and Southeast Asia are struggling through a heatwave that has broken temperature records and forced millions of children to stay home as schools close across the region.
Experts say climate change makes heatwaves more frequent, longer and more intense, while the El Nino phenomenon is also driving this year's exceptionally warm weather.
The heat has taken its toll on animals across the continent.
They are eating less, and they are reluctant to move, Henna Pekko of Rescue PAWS, which operates an animal shelter near Thailand's capital Bangkok, told AFP.
With temperatures in Thailand exceeding 40 degrees Celsius over the past week, Pekko said her charity had taken to bringing its rescues to the ocean to cool down with a swim, while older dogs were being kept indoors.
We are definitely taking extra precautions because of this weather, she told AFP, adding that the stress on animals from the heat was the worst she had experienced in the kingdom.
Last year was bad. This year was worse.