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RECIPIENTS OF AKI'S 2018 AFRICA-BASED ANIMAL WELFARE GRANTS

We received 18 applications for Animal-Kind International's 1st ever Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organization Grant Program. Thanks to our AKI donors' kind and generous donations, we were able to support eight grants! They are described below. ​​Scroll to the end to view our blog updates.

OIPA-Cameroon

Very limited, and more often no animal welfare education and protection in Cameroon's rural communities has resulted in a snowballing number of free-roaming animals in general, and dogs in particular. With little or no food to eat, they survive by eating trash and food scraps. Rabies is the most immediate concern for humans and it is one among several common canine diseases. The street dogs produce countless puppies every year, all of which are vulnerable to diseases and suffering.

 

Given the alarming number of stray animals within the Chomba community and the concern to human health and the environment, OIPA will hold a campaign to spay/neuter, provide basic vet care, and vaccinate hundreds of both stray and owned animals in this rural community in the North West region of Cameroon. This is the first time a campaign like this will take place in Cameroon. 

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The grant from AKI will cover a three-day campaign:

  • Day 1 will kick-off the campaign with a community sensitization event to raise awareness of animal welfare, care, and protection. OIPA-Cameroon will hold community sensitization meetings with the quarter and village councils, schools, community and religious groups, and municipal authorities. During the community sensitization event, OIPA-Cameroon will invite community members to have their pets treated and vaccinated during Days 2 & 3 of the campaign. Education leaflets, flyers, and posters will be distributed to inform community members about the importance of the campaign.

  • During Days 2 & 3, vaccination and vet care clinics will be held. OIPA-Cameroon will engage two teams: a door-to-door team and a stationary team. The goal is to provide vet care and vaccinations to at least 40 owned dogs and cats and 20 street dogs during these 2 days.

 

The grant from AKI will cover purchase of rabies vaccines, tick & flea preventatives, de-worming meds, syringes and needles, vaccination certificates, transport for volunteers, reproduction of educational materials, and refreshments for the volunteers over the 3-day campaign.

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This 3-day campaign is only the 1st of many more community vet clinics and rabies campaigns that are desperately needed in Cameroon and that OIPA-Cameroon hopes to provide.

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SEE OIPA-CAMEROON PROGRESS REPORT BELOW.

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[Pictures below: OIPA-Cameroon has purchased the meds for the clinics; they've received authorization to hold the rabies campaign and vet clinic; last 3 pictures are from a previous OIPA-Cameroon rabies campaign]

Save Animals-Democratic Republic of Congo

Save Animals-DRC's "most immediate issue we have is that dogs and cats are stolen, killed, and served as a dish in restaurants or elsewhere! This under the insensitive eyes of local authorities. Secondarily, because most dogs and cats aren't vaccinated, many people believe they carry diseases that can spread to people and so they believe there is nothing wrong with killing these animals. Save Animals has knocked on the doors of local companies and authorities, but so far no positive responses, no one is willing to donate to our cause. This is because animal welfare is a very new concept in the DRC, people with the means to donate are not willing to take the chance on us. So we must reach out to the international community of animal lovers and ask for help."

 

The AKI grant to Save Animals-DRC will contribute to their campaign, "Stop the consumption of dogs and cats in DRC." Save Animals will raise awareness, change peoples' minds, and provide vaccination services and in this way, they will begin to make positive changes for the DRC's dogs and cats.

 

With AKI grant funds, Save Animals will:

  • Purchase rabies vaccine to vaccinate 30 cats and dogs (the cost of rabies vaccine is high, US$10/vaccine).

  • Hold press conferences for which they will invite three national television channels. The channels will broadcast the press conference for several days (depending on the cost SA negotiates). This will help Save Animals increase their visibility and the visibility of the campaign.

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Save Animals is launching the campaign with a dog walk through Kinshasa on 27 October. The dog walk will bring together many dog owners with their dogs and other people who care about animals. They will walk through Kinshasa's streets, many with their dogs, to make their voices heard. Participants will wear t-shirts with the campaign message, "Stop the consumption of dogs and cats!" [Pictures below show SA planning meetings, where they discussed the dog walk through Kinshasa.]

Social & Animal Welfare Services-Somaliland

In rural areas of Somaliland, working donkeys play a vital role for thousands of Somaliland's poorest people. Their income depends on their donkeys. But working donkeys aren't treated well. When they get weak or sick, they're left to die. Social & Animal Welfare Services-Somaliland helps working donkeys by:

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  • Holding Mobile Vet Clinics where they treat working donkeys and livestock, providing shots and vet care to sick and injured animals.

  • Carrying out awareness campaigns against abuse and cruelty and providing information about improved care of working donkeys.

  • Advocating for the rights of working and pet animals.
     

SAWS will use the AKI grant to hold six donkey clinics, one/month over a six month period. SAWS is targeting an area where the donkeys are overworked, overloaded, where beatings are commonly used to get donkeys to obey, and where inappropriate harnesses are used. Also, in the target area, there is a lack of vet services and inadequate food and water. The donkeys end up with many wounds which become infected, are painful, and often lead to death.

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During the six one-day clinics, SAWS will:

  • Educate donkey communities about donkey diseases and the vet meds that they can use to prevent or treat diseases.

  • Train donkey owners about how to use appropriate harnesses and about good handling, balanced diets, shelter, and giving rest.

  • Distribute hand-outs about donkey care.

  • Treat donkeys with albendazole (de-worming), pen and strep injections, Vitoboost vitamin injections, alamycin spray (infections), and they will trim elongated hooves and take stones out of hooves (and help in whatever ways needed).

 

Donkey owners believe that donkeys are hardy and able to survive with little attention. SAWS will educate donkey owners about their needs and how they can provide better care at minimal cost. Donkeys carry water, farm produce, charcoal, milk, building materials, and sometimes they carry sick people to hospitals in the main cities. They are indispensable! [Pictures below show one of the areas where SAWS has held donkey clinics in the past, and the target area for AKI-funded clinics.]

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SEE SAWS-SOMALILAND PROGRESS REPORT BELOW.

Animal Rescue League-Senegal

The city of Dakar, Senegal has large numbers of cats and dogs living on the street. ARL has been working for six years to vaccinate and sterilize these animals, and to pick-up injured or sick ones to rehabilitate and find them forever families. In the last five years, authorities in Dakar have held poisoning campaigns in an effort to control the street animal ‘problem.’ In these campaigns, government staff distribute poisoned meatballs in the night and pick up the bodies of the dead animals several hours later, in the early morning. They use arsenic in the meatballs causing the animals a painful death. ARL is active in advocating for alternative solutions to these campaigns. In addition to being inhumane, these efforts have targeted sterilized and vaccinated animals, thereby allowing for new (unsterilized, unvaccinated) animals to come in to the areas.

 

Due to ARL advocacy efforts, the local authorities have promised to stop these poison campaigns in favor of cleaning up the garbage on the streets and vaccinating street animals against rabies.

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ARL will use the AKI grant to hold a community rabies vaccination and advocacy campaign. ARL will invite the authorities, and will feature the work of ARL’s partner veterinarians and ARL's partnership with the School of Veterinary Medicine in Dakar. Veterinary students will assist in vaccinating the street animals. ARL will ensure media coverage for the event to give the authorities visibility and credit for this new initiative.​​ Importantly, the community clinic will support ARL’s advocacy efforts, and will help ensure that the authorities keep their commitment to stop the poisoning. 

 

With AKI funds, ARL will purchase rabies vaccines and transport vets and volunteers round-trip to the clinic location.  

Funda Nenja, Township Dog Training Initiative-South Africa, AKI's Malcolm Alexander Memorial Grant (awarded to an organization that helps both children and dogs)

 

Funda Nenja, works in the community of Mpophomeni in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands of South Africa, to improve the quality of life of both township children and their dogs.  Funda Nenja uses the concept of ‘learning with a dog,’ which incorporates animal welfare and the development of young minds.

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Funda Nenja's dog school is held for an hour every Friday afternoon during the school term. The dog school is a fun, educational activity, where children are taught how to handle their dog by doing basic obedience (sit, stay). Dog school is used as an entry point to start children thinking about the welfare of animals. Over 250 children participate in one calendar year. Each child (handler) receives healthy snacks on arriving and departing the session. Funda Nenja also provides very basic veterinary services during the dog school sessions and they work in partnership with another local animal welfare society to ensure that every dog attending dog school is sterilized.

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Funda Nenja will use the AKI grant for their Dog House Project, which provides dog houses for township dogs (many who participate in Dog School). Rarely do the township dogs have any shelter. There's a never-ending demand for Funda Nenja dog houses--Funda Nenja orders dog houses on a weekly basis, and their funds for this project are running very low, making it very difficult to keep up with all the requests. The cost per dog house is R500 (approx. US$35). [Pictures below show the Funda Nenja Dog House and Dog School participants.)

Funda Nenja started handing out AKI-funded dog houses! Pictures below:

Touch of Life Animal Shelter-Giza, Egypt

Touch of Life Animal Shelter rescues, rehabilitates and re-homes animals from the streets of Cairo, Egypt who have been abandoned and left to fend for themselves. On the streets, they are at risk of being shot by police, hit by cars (often intentionally) and poisoned with meat left out by locals and the government as a means of [wrong headed] population control. 

Currently, Touch of Life has almost 200 animals at their shelter, including 5 donkeys, 47 dogs, and 140 cats (plus some who like to hide, making it difficult to get an accurate count). In the future, they hope to rescue and rehabilitate horses as well but they currently don't have the space. 

 

Touch of Life will use the AKI grant for several projects:

  • They will vaccinate 25 cats and kittens who have recently been dumped over the fence at TOL. 

  • They will purchase a water pump to fill the pool located on the grounds of the shelter. The pool is used to help rehabilitate animals who have been hit by cars and need to re-strengthen their back muscles in hopes of walking again.  

  • They will purchase 6 large waters bowls, desperately needed for the dogs living in the garden part of the shelter. The dogs love to splash around in the water and with the severe heat in Cairo, the large bowls will provide lots of hydration for the canines (and the occasional donkey who walks by).

Mdzananda Animal Clinic-Khayelitsha Township, South Africa

The Mdzananda Animal Clinic, a non-profit organization, is based in the Khayelitsha township which is home to approximately 400,000 people (census 2011). The reality is that there are probably closer to one million people living in Khayelitsha today. The township is  impoverished, has high levels of crime and violence, and there is a lack of education. For every six people, it has been estimated that there is one dog and one cat – a staggering 130,000 to 300,000 companion animals. Most people are unable to afford veterinary care.


To respond to this need, MAC has a mobile clinic and animal ambulance service, provides re-homing, and pet owner education. The physical clinic is based in the heart of the community, for the community. Through its various services, MAC treats up to 700 dogs and cats every month.  

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MAC will use the AKI grant for their Inpatient Care Programme and Shelter Programme. The grant will cover one and a half month’s cat and dog food in the clinic’s hospital, surgery, consultation rooms, and stray unit.  While recovering MAC's hospital or waiting for people to adopt them, the animals need daily food and good nutrition. Many of MAC's hospital patients who are very ill require specialized food, especially recovering puppies and kittens. Two of MAC's main monthly expenses are medical bills and pet food. The AKI grant will help MAC cover these high costs.

 

As the Mdzananda Animal Clinic believes in the One Health Paradigm (the convergence of people, animals, and our environment in which the health of each group is inextricably interconnected). MAC believes that "the attitudes and actions towards stray pets and sick pets create a division between humans and animals. This has a negative effect on the animals as well as humans. A community that loves animals is a healthy community. By looking after an animal, people learn responsibility, respect for life, compassion and non-violence, things that are often not learnt in a township environment." (1st 6 photos below: Credit, Nic Bothma)

Mozambique Animal Protection Society

Mozambique Animal Protection Society is located in Maputo at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Eduardo Mondlane where the MAPS shelter and office are based. MAPS mainly works in the communities around Maputo and the rural communities around Matola/Djuba. In these communities, they offer their outreach program, which consists of spay/neuter and rabies vaccination services, re-homing, and humane education. They also conduct outreach programs in other areas in Mozambique when they receive sponsorships to do this.

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MAPS has been running a very successful monthly educational program, linked to their monthly outreach program. The educational program uses a very basic booklet, adapted from ones used in Brazil. MAPS now wants to develop two educational booklets specific to Mozambique, that Mozambicans can really relate to, one for primary school and a more advanced one for senior school children.

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With the grant from AKI, MAPS will have the booklets designed to their specifications and will print around 1000 copies to be used over the next 4 to 6 months. MAPS has already found a graphic artist in Maputo who is will to help them develop their own uniquely Mozambican booklets and he has offered to do this at a reduced cost. MAPS typically uses about 200 booklets a month (given to the school children to keep). With enough in stock for about 5 months, MAPS hopes to find a local company to sponsor the booklets on a long term basis.

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We are on a mission to advance the well being of animals and people alike by nurturing relationships between humans and animals and educating the next generation about animal welfare.

Progress Reports from our Grantees

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