LAWCS has remained busy during these challenging months of COVID-19. They've held free community clinics, parades to celebrate animals, they've kept their animal care clinic open, and treated some very difficult cases, as well as welcomed animals needing basic care, and they've continued to mentor Humane Ed students, even when not physically in school, in HE classes. Here's a brief rundown of some of their activities over the past few months.
The 2 pictures below are of a dog who was poisoned by a family member. An Animal Kindness Club student notified LAWCS of the dog's condition and they rushed to the home, where they spoke to the family and took the dog to the LAWCS clinic for immediate care. That was in June (2nd picture below). By September, he was in perfect health and living with Anna Fallah, a LAWCS team member (picture below). Anna is a LAWCS Humane Educator in Voinjama District.
LAWCS celebrated 2020 World Animal Day on October 4 with a massive gathering (not covid-19 compliant, but with incidence very low, people have largely returned to pre-covid life). LAWCS brought together students and other community members, local leaders, and representatives of local organizations to celebrate animals and highlight their plight. The LAWCS WAD celebration started with a parade through the community (2 pictures below) followed by a public performance.
LAWCS continues to encourage their Humane Ed students to show kindness and be models in their communities. Fatumata is a member of a LAWCS Animal Kindness Club. In the picture below, Fatumata is with her puppy Justice. Fatumata and Justice are usually seen together, a reminder to community members that animals are just like us, they feel pain, suffer, and need love and care, and that they pay this back with love, devotion, and protection.
In October, LAWCS held community clinics in Zorzor District, where they had never before reached--and where there has never before been vet care. Zorzor's clinics were funded entirely by AKI! In one week, over 250 dogs and cats from 4 villages were brought to the LAWCS free clinic, where LAWCS gave rabies and parvovirus vaccinations, treated wounds, tick and flea infestations, worms, mange, and provided other basic care and gave advice to pet owners. (The 2 pictures below are from their 1st week in Zorzor.)
During their 2nd week in Zorzor (2 pictures below), LAWCS visited 4 more villages, where they treated 273 cats and dogs. There are over 200 villages in Zorzor, so LAWCS still has a long way to go to reach the entire district's cats and dogs, who have never before had access to vet care!
In October, LAWCS dealt with an emergency case - a dog was close to death after being attacked by an unidentified person with a machete. The dog was brought to the LAWCS clinic, where the wound was cleaned and stitched up (1st picture below).
He went back to his family once he had healed and the family was very grateful for LAWCS intervention (picture below).
We at AKI are honored to have received this certificate from LAWCS and proud to count LAWCS as an AKI Partner Organization since 2016!
In 2020, despite the health challenge, LAWCS treated over 5,000 dogs and cats and reached over 20,000 people, including students, through their humane education program. "All of these achievements were made possible by the support from AKI," Morris Darbo, LAWCS Founder & Director, informed us. Here's how LAWCS spent your donations to AKI during 2020:
