On March 16, 2020, the Government of Armenia declared a State of Emergency. The State of Emergency, which imposed many covid-19 safeguards, is due to expire on June 13. Slowly, restrictions have been lifted. Importantly for Nune and Save the Animals-Armenia, as of May 18, the ban on public transportation was lifted. All passengers using public transportation are required to wear a mask and gloves.
Throughout the pandemic, Nune has gone to the SA-Armenia shelter twice a day, 3 to 4 hours in the morning and 3 to 4 hours in the evening. On her way there, Nune feeds about 30 street dogs who live near the shelter (see 2 pictures of 1 group of street dogs below). Your donations to Animal-Kind International for Save the Animals-Armenia is the reason that Nune can continue to feed so many dogs.
Nune coordinates with the municipality to get the street dogs around the shelter spayed and neutered. Luckily, the municipality has been working during the pandemic too. (All dogs who live at the SA-Armenia shelter were already spayed some time ago.) The video below is the most recently spayed street dog-thanks to the municipality- who lives close to the SA-A shelter, and who Nune feeds and watches over.
Altogether, every day, Nune feeds about 84 dogs (a little more than half at the shelter and the rest, street dogs). The cost for food for these dogs is about US$1054/month (as we've mentioned, many of the shelter dogs are old and require special and more expensive food).
In addition to using AKI funds to purchase dog food, Nune used AKI funds to pay for the shelter water bill in February (US$182); transport by taxi (US$312 to take dogs to the vet); and vet services, including treatments for some of the older dogs and euthanasia and crematory expenses (in April) for 3 dogs who had cancer and 1 dog who was very old (US$374). Here's what the breakdown looks like:
In memory of the 4 dogs at the SA-Armenia shelter who died in April:
To end on a happier note, here's Hatiko, the oldest dog at the SA-Armenia shelter (at least 15 years old!), picture taken in April:
Hatiko is a happy and much-loved Save the Animals-Armenia shelter dog!