Here's an update from Katutura and Aranos about what we've been up to since December 2016 through April 2017. We wouldn't be able to do any of this if not for AKI donors. I send my thank you to them.
The December spay day in Aranos, brought a surprise. Besides the 7 dogs-owned by local farm workers, whose dogs we sterilized that day (pictures below).......
we ended up with a baby aardwolf (picture below). Marzaan (my colleague's daughter and a teacher in Aranos, who organizes the spays and also transports the dogs from their homes to the location where they are spayed, and then back again) looked after the baby because the mother had died. She is looking for a place that will accept an aardwolf since it can't be released to the wild.
Our efforts in Aranos are really taking off. There's a welfare program in Aranos which is called “Proud Aranos” where they help hungry children, schools, etc. and they want to incorporate our spay program as well. If they do, our vet, Dr. Veldsman, could then do the spays at the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture. That would be much easier-now she is doing the spays on a farm outside Aranos, where Marzaan drops and picks up the dogs. It would save that trouble. Plus it would get the children involved in the program.
On February 4 (pictures below), our group of volunteers headed back to Katutura for dipping, feeding, de-worming, and general care, along with lots of discussion about good care of pets, and we also got a surprise there, as well...some very friendly rats came to feeding day!
On March 11, we were back in Katutura (pictures below). We are really noticing a difference in the way the cats and dogs look and the way the people are treating their animals. We also notice that the kids really look forward to our visits and like to show off their pets.
In March, we had another spay day in Aranos and the 6 dogs in the picture below were sterilized.
And in April, we had another 5 dogs in Aranos spayed (below).
On April 22, we were in Katutura again (pictures below). The people are getting used to us now and I again had requests for some spays. We had to wait for some time at both locations where we dip and feed, as some of the people have to walk quite a distance to get to us. And it is difficult sometimes for them to have their dogs walk on a leash and to carry their cats in bags and other holders. Often they come and bring their cats in birds cages to be powdered for ticks and fleas. They really do make some effort to have their animals dipped and powdered. We also took de-worming pills along and some ointment for the dogs' and cats' ears. Especially the dogs' ears are always raw as there are flies constantly biting on the ears. But in general, the dogs and cats look quite good and the people there (especially the children) really love their animals, although we did have to correct 2 of the kids who were holding their dog by her legs (last picture)--there's still work to be done!
Thank you AKI for helping the cats and dogs in these very poor communities, where people actually do love their pets and want to do the right thing.