AKI Newsletter-December 2010
Helping animals....without borders. Because animal welfare has no boundaries.
We send 100% of your donation to our partner organizations. We have no overhead.
Dear Friends of AKI,
We hope that among the good causes you're supporting this holiday season, you will consider a donation to AKI. Our partner organizations work in some of the poorest countries, helping the neediest of the needy animals, and they do this work in a financially accountable and transparent manner, while making every dollar stretch as far as it can go. Read about our partner organizations below, and then designate one or more to receive your holiday donation. If you would like to donate in a friend's or family member's honor, we're happy to send a holiday note to let them know of your gift of kindness.
Photo courtesy of Uganda SPCA: the USPCA's 2010 Shaggy Dog Show fundraiser, showing the 1st place winner.
THANK YOU FOR FORWARDING THIS AKI NEWSLETTER ON TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO ARE INTERESTED IN HELPING THE ANIMALS WHO SO DEPEND ON US!
+++++++++++++
Ovsanna, a volunteer with Save the Animals-Armenia, sent us news about some of the animals that SA-Armenia has rescued. Read stories like Doby's (below) at http://www.animal-kind.org/Ovsanna.html Doby is one of the lucky ones: He had a family for several years. One day, because of an accident he became blind and his "family" just threw him away. He became a street dog, a blind street dog. Except it was very difficult for him to find food, and he also became a subject of fun among the people of the place he used to live. People began to make him go mad by hitting him from his back and running, and had fun! A woman called us and told about him, and so he is in shelter now, has his home, food and no one to laugh at him : ).
 AKI has sent money to Save the Animals-Armenia to help cover costs of food, medicines, vet care, and shelter supplies. ++++++++++++++
We recently updated the AKI website with news from Namibia's rural SPCAs:
You can read the latest from Keetmanshoop, Walvis Bay, and Luderitz SPCAs. They've updated us on the dog fighting situation (and you can read the good news about the arrest of some of the perpetrators), their signficant budget constraints, and fundraising efforts. They are all dealing with big-time challenges on small-time budgets. These SPCAs rely so much on AKI support because there are so few potential donors in the small, rural communities they serve--as long as they continue their efforts to help the animals, we'll continue our support for them!
+++++++++++++
We heard from Suze with Bosnia Animal Foundation soon after they completed their most recent spay-neuter campaign: Finally we made it, a truck packed with aid supplies to help the animals in the shelter and to facilitate our sterilization campaigns. Blankets, cages and food were transported after arranging it for over a half year! It was almost impossible to get the stuff to our beloved animals in Bosnia cause of all the rules and paperwork. It was more than a 1600 kilometer drive to get these supplies from the Netherlands to Bosnia. We need this stuff desperately because when we do sterilization campaigns like in April and September this year, we use over 300 blankets and we have a clinic with 100 dogs waiting in cages to be neutered. (see photo) We will continue our neuter campaigns in 2011, this will become a bigger goal for all of us. It is the most important step in combination with education and responsible ownership. We are trying everything to change the mindset, but we need more attention to the problems in the ignored country. Ignored because there are so many other countries with similar problems. But Bosnia is totally isolated due to the fact that it is non-EU and surrounded by EU-countries or countries on the verge of entering the EU. Bosnia is still recovering from a war and is still fighting for its rights. We are fighting for the rights of the animals in Bosnia and we are grateful for your support in the past, and we hope it will continue. We can’t do it without your help!
AKI has let Suze know that we will do our best to continue to support the Bosnia Animal Foundation in their efforts to improve the lives of dogs and cats in Bosnia. ++++++++++++++++++++++
In honor of Malcolm, who has lived in Honduras and been a strong advocate for animals, four American vets spent three days in Honduras, and worked with Honduran vets to vaccinate, de-parasitize, and provide other needed treatments for about 120 dogs and a few cats and sterilized 30 dogs (about 26 females and 4 males) and 5 cats. Pilar, with Helping Hands for Hounds of Honduras (an AKI partner organization) was also involved in organizing the clinic, and sent us photos and a report: Each surgery only cost 50 U.S. cents. The vaccinations, treating internal parasites (Nemex) and external parasites (Frontline Plus) cost a quarter. If the family had multiple dogs, it was a quarter for all of them. The vets worked from 8 am until 4 pm for three days.
Honduran vets, Orlando and Elisa, worked with the four U.S. vets, three from Ohio and the head vet Dr. Dan from Pennsylvania (red ribbon on his stethoscope). Elisa even brought her gas anesthesia for older or sick dogs. AKI supports Helping Hands for Hounds of Honduras and HHHH's Nereida Montes de Oca dog and cat sanctuary, which cares for many disabled, old, and often unadoptable animals. AKI support has bought food, medicines, and covered surgeries for the dogs and cats at the sanctuary. +++++++++++++++++++++ From Deborah with Jamaica/Community Animal Welfare, we heard sad news: I had to euthanize one of my favourite street dogs yesterday, Whitey. He lived under a truck for 5 years and had a pretty happy life despite the conditions. When I first started feeding him, he used to bite me quite a bit, not hard bites but hard enough to say "leave me alone". After a few weeks I was scratching his ears and giving him hugs. I had him neutered some time ago because I was tired of treating him for maggots when he got into mating fights. Lately, I noticed swellings on either side of his neck, they got bigger...and bigger...so I took him to the vet, where he was diagnosed with lymphoma and to end the suffering, I had him euthanized. Because Deborah tries to make sure no street dogs in Kingston go hungry or suffer, Whitey had many happy years. AKI will continue to support Deborah’s community animal welfare work, in an effort to make sure many more of Kingston’s street dogs have lives as happy as Whitey’s. +++++++++++++++++ AKI Board member, Elizabeth, reminds us: When you shop, please "Goodshop" with AKI as the beneficiary. You can easily download the GoodSearch toolbar from AKI's homepage. Once you have the GoodSearch toolbar, you simply click on the Goodshop icon before you shop online. Every time you shop online at 1,000 participating stores including Amazon, eBay, Target, Apple, and Staples, a percentage of your purchase will be donated for free! The site also has thousands of money saving coupons. I wasn't sure how it worked at first, but as soon as I made a purchase I saw how easy it was. It's a great way to buy things that you are going to buy anyway--and do good while buying. Ask your friends to designate AKI as their beneficiary, and watch how much AKI is earning from Goodsearch and Goodshop (this can be tracked from the Goodsearch site). At this holiday season, AKI is grateful for and wishes a happy 2011 to our loyal supporters (see our supporters' page http://www.animal-kind.org/supporters.html, where we've recognized some of our most dedicated AKI friends); we give a huge thank you to Deb of Mainebytes (www.mainebytes.net), who regularly updates our website and helps to make the site informative and colorful; and we thank author Lawrence Lindner for recognizing AKI in his latest book (written with Nicholas Dodman), Good Old Dog (http://www.animal-kind.org/index.html). Also, please see our December project on Global Giving: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/ghanas-abandoned-and-abused-horses/ and read how you can help make the lives of Ghana's horses a bit brighter. +++++++++++++ From the AKI Board--thank you very much for caring and for making 2010--our 3rd year in existence--another successful year for AKI and our partner organizations. We wish you a happy and humane new year. Karen Menczer, Director Animal-Kind International
|
