AKI sends a portion of your donations to Erika in Namibia to distribute among Have A Heart-Namibia (mobile spay/neuter and vet care), rural Namibia SPCAs, Katutura Pet Care & Food Distribution Project, and spays in Aranos, where we are the only ones supporting dog population management. Here's Erika's report and pictures of how your donations have been used in Katutura (a sprawling township outside of Windhoek), in Aranos, and from Rundu SPCA, one of the several SPCAs that receive AKI donor funds. (Geesche sends updates about Have a Heart, which we publish separately). From Erika......
Aranos Spay/Neuter
First, I'll take you back to December 2018 and the last dog that was spayed in Aranos for the year. It was good we got to her-as you can see, she's had puppies before, and she would have had more soon, I'm sure.
Katutura Pet Care & Food Distribution Project
Jumping ahead to February, we went to Katutura, as usual, on the last Saturday of the month, bringing cat and dog food, and supplies to dip dogs, flea/tick powder cats, and for other minor treatments. It really is very encouraging to see that the people there who struggle to survive are still looking after their pets. They brought so many dogs to be dipped that I was working really hard! The little ones struggle to get their dogs into the basin with water and thus we have to help and most of the dogs are very water shy and it is a struggle to keep them in the basin. But they are very grateful that we come there and dip and powder and also give a little bag of food for each one and this is what keeps me going. Herewith some photos.
During our April visit to Katutura there seemed to be more skinny dogs than usual but the people still try to look after their animals. Many showed up to have their dogs and cats treated for parasites and to ask questions about their pets' health. Everyone is glad to receive a small bag of cat or dog food. Herewith, photos from our April visit.
In May we went on our usual end of the month Saturday to feed and dip and powder and check the animals brought to us. The economy is really bad now, I see it when I go shopping (especially during the middle of the month). Some dogs are also thinner in the townships and there were quite a few puppies again. I spoke to Dr Baines the other day to discuss a spay/neuter clinic there, but he is still looking for funds.
Rural SPCAs, Namibia
At the end of April, Thania Queiroz from the Rundu SPCA contacted me and told met that they are struggling there (like all of Namibia's SPCAs of course). She said that with the bad economic situation a lot of people there cannot afford to buy food for their animals and she is begging at the supermarkets for food donations for the SPCA and for people who cannot afford to purchase it. She also tries to raise money for sterilisation. I sent Thania funds from the AKI disbursement to help her through this difficult time. Herewith some photos of dogs that were abandoned recently and rescued by the Rundu SPCA.
Thank you to the Animal-Kind International donors for helping us care for Namibia's cats and dogs.