Animals in Asia are among the most abused in the world. In the absence of proper animal welfare laws, animals are exploited and abused for various purposes, some examples include capturing of bears for ‘bile’, poor handling in slaughterhouses, beating of stray cats and dogs, malnourished and overworked farm animals etc. Most often work animals are housed in restrictive places that are poorly ventilated and unhygienic, poor nutrition, repeated impregnation, physical abuse, improper medical support and poor management practices are common across most Asian Countries.
Another major problem in these countries is the ever increasing population of stray animals. There are millions of dogs, cats and cows and other animals that roam in the street. With no one to take care of these stray animals they are left to fend for themselves and are often victims of car accidents, attack by other animals, starvation, physical abuse by people, contracting contagious diseases and finally they succumb to extreme temperatures. There are several reported cases that show that many stray animals are beaten, shot, poisoned, tortured, mutilated and even set on fire across the Asian Continent. The poor condition of animals in most countries can be attributed to the following reasons:
- Absence of stringent laws against animal cruelty
- Poor enforcement of laws and policies
- Lack of knowledge of animal welfare
- Absence of compassion/ sensitivity towards animals
- Lack of funding for animal welfare
- Poor network of animal welfare organizations
- Lack of skilled professionals
To get an idea of how big this problem of stray animals is in the identified countries, let’s take a look at some media reports.
- India: More than 5.2 million stray cows roam sidewalks in major cities, block traffic in small villages and destroy fields in India. In India alone, there are an estimated 30 million free-roaming dogs on India’s There are also cows, cats, donkeys and other animals that live on the streets with no one to care for them when they become sick or injured.
- Nepal: Approximately 26,000 stray dogs live on the streets of Kathmandu city. Most of these dogs live in a miserable condition and most of them do not die a natural death.
- Pakistan: More than 50,000 dogs die every year on the streets of Pakistan and it is the government itself that orders the mass killing and poisoning of the animals in almost every city of the country. They are shot or poisoned and then their dead bodies are collected by municipal workers, loaded and piled onto trucks for disposal. Karachi and Lahore have the highest rate of dog killings each year with over 20,000 dogs killed in these two cities alone.
- Bangladesh: 30,000 stray dogs are a menace to the city as activists oppose their relocation. A decision by authorities in Dhaka to round up around 30,000 stray dogs and dump them outside the Bangladeshi capital city has caused outrage among animal rights activists.
Considering that there is an urgent need to work towards the welfare of stray animals and provide them a safe place to live, we propose the project for establishing animal sanctuaries in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Our organization would work towards the welfare of stray, abandoned, injured and rescued animals in the 4 countries. To improve the quality of life of stray animals, we shall adopt the principles laid down by the World organization for Animal Health, to ensure that the stray animals in the identified countries live in a healthy and safe environment.
Project Aim and Objectives
Through the proposed project, The International Animal XYZ trust, aims to Improve the quality of life of rescued animals in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and India. The project will be implemented over a period of two years. Towards achieving the above mentioned goal, the following objectives/ deliverables will have to be achieved.
- Objective 1: Establishment of 4 animal sanctuaries to offer a permanent and safe home to the rescued and abandoned animals in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
- Objective 2: Provide emergency medical support to injured stray animals through fully functional mobile clinics and rescue centers.
Benefits
The project will directly benefit the stray animals in the project countries. This will primarily include:
- Street Dogs and Cats
- Cows and buffaloes
- Pigs
- Horses, mules and donkeys
- Injured/wounded birds
Implementation of the Project
The following activities will be undertaken to successfully deliver all the project deliverables:
- Objective 1. Establishment of 5 animal sanctuaries to offer a permanent and safe home to the rescued and abandoned animals.
- Activity 1.1: Inception Workshop: Our project teams in all the countries will initiate the project through an inception workshop. The project head will give a detailed presentation about the project, the deliverables, the time duration and also the roles and responsibilities of each team. The inception workshop will ensure that all the team members reach a common consensus of what the project is hoping to achieve.
- Activity 1.2: Consultation with Government Departments: We will be conducting a series of meetings and consultations with the government departments to apprise them about the project. Conducting these meetings will help us to involve the government department and liaison with them.
- Activity 1.3: Establishment of the Animal Sanctuary: After getting the necessary approval from the government the animal sanctuary will be established in the identified locations. Some sub activities that need to undertaken include:
- Identification of the land: The land for the sanctuary will have to be selected after a carefully considering the following:
- Public Access
- Availability of resources
- Permissions form government department
- Physical features
- Drainage and water availability
- Ecology (Local flora of the area)
- Safety and comfort of animals.
- Identification of the land: The land for the sanctuary will have to be selected after a carefully considering the following:
- Registration of the Sanctuary: Once the place for the sanctuary is final, we will have to get the sanctuary registered as per the rules/law of the respective country. Necessary permits and certificates will be taken to operate the sanctuary.
- Sanctuary Operations Guidelines: Considering the sanctuary will be home to several different kinds of animals, we will develop sanctuary operations guidelines, so that the team at the sanctuary knows the procedures and the way to operate the sanctuary successfully. The guidelines will provide information related to the following aspects:
- Process of incoming animals
- Disinfection and isolation of new animals
- Records of all animals in the shelters
- Health care and health checkup routine
- Nutrition requirements for different animals
- Comfortable Housing
- Outgoing animal policy
- Setting up the Sanctuary: Proper fencing will have to be done along with setting up suitable housing for the different species that will be housed within the sanctuary. We will develop a plan for the sanctuary to accommodate both indoor, outdoor space for animals. Also proper arrangement for their feeding and water requirements will be done. Considering our organization has over 15 years of designing and managing animal sanctuaries we will carefully design the housing space for all the animals that will be accommodated in the sanctuary.
- Housing: We will be taking care of proper ventilation, hygiene, movement and protection against rain, sun and snow. Proper arrangement for water and feeding will be done to suit the animal requirement.
- Flooring: We will be providing safe flooring that will prevent injuries and discomfort to the animals.
- Isolation area: The sanctuary will also have an isolation area to isolate the incoming animals from the resident population.
- Veterinary Center: The sanctuary will also have a veterinary center to take care of the sick, injured and wounded animals. The veterinary center within the sanctuary will be equipped with all the necessary facilities.
- Large Open Spaces: The sanctuary will be an open place for all the animals, where they can live without any threat or discomfort.
- Arranging educational tours in the Sanctuary: We will open the sanctuary for educational tours where children and enthusiasts can come and spend their time with the reduced animals. This will help in raising a community that is compassionate towards all living beings.
- Objective 2: Provide rescue and emergency medical support to injured animals in the neighbourhood through our mobile clinics.
- Activity 2.1: Rescuing animals: Considering that the animal sanctuary will have limited space to accommodate animals and we will not be able to get all rescued animals to the sanctuary we will be providing emergency services through our mobile ambulance and rescue shelter. The following activities will be undertaken to rescue the animals:
- Initiate an emergency helpline: We will start an emergency helpline, so that people can contact us if they have to report an animal emergency. Once our staff gets all the details of the particular case, our medical and rescue team will reach the location for relief and rescue work.
- Activity 2.1: Rescuing animals: Considering that the animal sanctuary will have limited space to accommodate animals and we will not be able to get all rescued animals to the sanctuary we will be providing emergency services through our mobile ambulance and rescue shelter. The following activities will be undertaken to rescue the animals:
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- Mobile Clinic for animals: We will procure 20 ambulances to be used as mobile clinics and provide emergency services to street animals. The vehicles will be customized to function as a veterinary hospital and will be equipped with the following:
- Treatment area
- Cages
- Sanitization area
- Vaccination Box
- Medicine kit
- Ultrasound machine
- Mobile Clinic for animals: We will procure 20 ambulances to be used as mobile clinics and provide emergency services to street animals. The vehicles will be customized to function as a veterinary hospital and will be equipped with the following:
- The mobile clinic will help in treating the rescued animal, if they require any medical attention. The veterinary doctor will assess the condition of the rescued animal for signs of wounds, skin infection, viral infection, tumours, fractures etc. If treatment can be provided in the ambulance itself, necessary procedures will be done there itself and the animal will be left in its area. Monitoring of the treated animal will be done by our team of rescuers for a couple of days to see if the animal is doing good. In case the rescued animal requires further treatment and requires shelter as well, our rescue team will be taking it to our rescue center.
- Upgradation of our rescue shelters: Our foundation already runs rescue centers in the project countries and through the proposed intervention we would like to upgrade the shelter. As of now we do not have a fully functional operating unit in the center. Through the project we would like to set up a fully functional operating unit where we will carry out necessary surgeries like amputation, removal of tumors and other life saving surgeries. Also through the project we would like to add a spay and neuter center in each of our rescue shelters. Animals will be released in their locality once they fully recover from the given treatment.
- Awareness Generation: Our project will yield the desired outcome, only when the communities will be sensitive about the animals around them. People will contact us and seek help for injured animals only when they are compassionate about animals. To make people aware about animal welfare and improving the life of street animals we will be conducting the following:
- Street Plays
- Vaccination Camp
- Photo Exhibitions
- Visits to animal sanctuary
- Voluntary Engagement: To better engage with the community, we would also initiate a volunteer drive and will engage young people to engage with us on a voluntary basis. During the Voluntary engagement with us they will be trained on how to care for street animals, treat them for basic illness, feeding them and providing them shelter.
- Promote Adoption of rescued animals: We will also initiate an adoption drive for people to come forward and adopt our rescued animals. We will undertake the following sub activities to make adoption a success in the locality:
- Use appealing stories/photos and videos of our rescued animals
- Write compelling adoption bios of animals
- Organizing a fun adoption events
- Networking with other shelters and foster homes
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Promoting the event on social media platforms
Challenges in Implementing this Project
The biggest challenge for us will be to sensitise the communities and make them compassionate towards the animals around them. We will ensure that communities participate in the rescue operations and are well educated to take care of stray animals. This will be done through engaging them in our activities, providing basic training and taking them as volunteers. Organizing visits to our animal sanctuary will also help us to raise awareness and make the communities more sensitive and supportive towards the campaign.
Organization Details
The International Animal XYZ trust was established in 2000 in the USA, for the welfare of stray animals. We have expanded our work from the USA to Asia as well and now we work in Asia in China, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Srilanka and Bangladesh. Over the last 20 years, we have rescued millions of animals and have sent them to our animal sanctuaries or to loving foster families. We provide sustainable solutions to manage the stray population and to address their medical needs. Our work with street animals includes:
- Rescue
- Medical treatment
- Spay and neuter
- Vaccination
- Sheltering
- Adoption
- Training and Awareness
Detailed information about our mission and objectives can be obtained from www………… We will be happy to share our stories with you, please feel free to contact us on …………………….