We are pleased to share the online release of the award winning documentary, February: The Fear of Spanish Greyhounds. As many of our supporters know, in many rural areas of Spain there exists an age-old tradition of cruelty toward greyhounds used in hare coursing. Filmmaker Irene Blanquez’s documentary focuses on the inhumane treatment, training methods and ultimate abandonment of thousands of Greyhounds at the end of hunting season in February each year. (Blanquez testified before the Spanish Congress of Deputies in March 2014 alongside SPCA International and SOS Galgos to bring awareness to the cruel practice of hare coursing in rural areas of Spain.)
Blanquez has published , February: The Fear of Spanish Greyhounds online to educate people about the harsh realities of this “sport”. I encourage you to watch it and spread the word.
By: Julie Spendal, SPCA International Executive Assistant
Operation Military Pets not only celebrated its two-year anniversary this past month, but it also celebrated helping its 300th military family. This is a huge and proud milestone for the program because of what it represents; helping countless military families and beloved pets move all over the world so they can stay just that, a family. With much appreciation and gratitude, those families want to say thank you.
The Bronk family relocated to Japan this past year and needed help bringing their dog, Parker, along with them. Operation Military Pets was happy to help and the Bronk’s couldn’t be more thrilled. “Operation Military Pets has been such a blessing to us! We can’t thank you enough for the contribution to get him here and keep our family together.”
The Lunger family just recently had to relocate to Hawaii and thankfully, Diesel and Rowdy were also able to make the trip and are now hanging ten on the beach, “Thank you very much. Our whole family truly appreciates your help.”
Zoe made it from the UK across the pond back to the states to be with her family because of this program and her family is overjoyed, “Thank you so much for the financial help you guys have provided us so that our wonderful dog can continue to be a part of our family.”
Canine and feline pals, Wilfred and Louie, successfully made the trek from Germany back home to the US safe and sound to their families delight, “My family and I wanted to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the grant to help ship our animals back to the United States with us. We appreciate you helping us keep our entire family together!”
Even Aussie got to make an around the world trip from Australia to Texas with the help of this program and he and his family are forever grateful, “I feel so grateful for your assistance and for the SPCAI for helping me out with this. I can’t thank you enough, and Aussie will likely be picking out some new toys and maybe looking at an upgrade for his house, pool, and play area. Spoiled guy. Thank you again. P.S. Aussie is being a little bashful, but he thanks you too.”
We are so proud of all this program has achieved in two years and we couldn’t have done it without sustaining support from SPCAI donors. Thank you!
By Fionna Keller, Animal Rescue Volunteer Guest Blogger
I volunteer weekly for an amazing, all-volunteer run rescue in Canada. If I had to sum myself up in one sentence, I would say that I am passionate about all things animal welfare. Being directly involved with several rescue organizations and animal adoptions has been one of the most difficult, but also one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life. From time to time, I hear people complain that they find the adoption process complicated and/or lengthy. Some adoption applicants get frustrated, and occasionally even give up on adoption all together, because they don’t always hear back from volunteers regarding the status of their application. Here I hope to explain why adopting may take a little time, as well as give some tips on how to successfully navigate your way through the adoption process.
One of the biggest issues anyone who works in animal rescue has to deal with is limited resources, both financial and personnel; some rescues are 100% volunteer run and most operate entirely on donations. At all-volunteer run rescues, most of the people involved work full-time, are parents, have their own pets and commitments, so they do the best they can by giving the time they can. Sadly, there are only so many days in a week and hours in a day. Often, there is no rest, or break, or time to pause. Furthermore, for every dog that comes in, 5 more are waiting to get in. Often these rescues are just trying to keep their heads above water and save as many animal lives as they can. If things are taking a little time, please be patient. They probably have not forgotten you. I encourage you to consider that they are working diligently on the other end saving lives that hang in the balance. If for some reason you don’t hear back from a rescue or organization, I recommend you follow up and try again. Remember as well that the reward of adopting is two-fold: not only are you saving the life of the dog you are adopting, but also of the dog who gets into the rescue to take his or her place!
Furthermore, while adoption forms are often lengthy with many questions and some may be off putting, please know that there is a method to that madness! Lengthy adoption applications with probing questions protect the animals in our care and weed out half-hearted adopters. No animal advocate ever wants to make the mistake of placing an animal with someone who might endanger them or abandon them. I have seen firsthand how devastating it is on a dog when they are abandoned. It is terrible; they are so afraid, almost broken. Many are stressed for days and some even become depressed. Lengthy and probing application forms help avoid having the animal returned a second or third time.
This is a problem that we all need to take issue with! It is a terrible reality how many animals are abandoned, abused and euthanized every year. (3-4 million are euthanized every year in the U.S. alone!) All rescues are doing their best to try to help as many animals as they can.
If you haven’t heard back from one particular rescue, know that they are a small piece of a larger whole; there are plenty of excellent rescues to adopt from. Your options are far from limited! Please don’t give up on adoption if you aren’t hearing back from one rescue. Try them again or try another. If you genuinely care about the welfare of animals, you must be part of the solution. Be the change you wish to see in the universe – don’t give up on adoption.
The streets of Romania are filled with some of the most beautiful and friendly dogs on earth. They wander endlessly through their long days and nights in search of scraps of food, shelter from the harsh climate and refuge from the frequent encounters by abusive humans.
In the last two years, Romania has received worldwide attention in regard to the way hundreds of thousands of stray dogs have been managed, destroyed and brutally abused. All across social media we have heard their cries and we have seen their awful pictures. Max is one of the rare Romanian stories with a happy ending.
As a young and naive street pup, Max he was determined to find his way into the heart of a stranger. Unfortunately, he found out too quickly that life on the streets in a Romanian city could be shockingly cruel and unkind.
It is unclear what he was beaten with, but during his time as a homeless stray he was beaten brutally by someone. So brutally that their violence left him with a broken back, and paralyzed for life. Amazingly, his extraordinary will to live kept him going; dragging his broken body behind him through the street. He must have still had faith that someone might come to his rescue.
Sadly, that’s when another group of humans chose to inflict more unimaginable pain. We don’t know who they were, but someone mutilated his body with a razor blade. They cut him all over his lower body over 100 times. That’s when our friends found him. They had heard reports of Max dragging himself through the streets – even with all the pain and abuse he had an incredible will to survive.
The kind of brutality Max suffered is commonplace in Romania. That is why we must keep working – never stop working – to help the homeless animals of Romania.
Today, against all odds, Max is happy. With a cart to carry his broken back and paralyzed hind legs, he gets around with ease. He is at home among the 70 other rescued animals he lives with. Although he is still shy with strangers, if you offer him a hint of love and a lot of patience, he will give you his trust and melt right into your arms. That’s what I found when he melted into mine – and being given his love was so sweet.
Thanks to donations from supporters like you – many Romanian dogs who deserve love, care and a place to call home will get it, just like Max. It is thanks to your financial support that we are able to work with individuals and organizations in Romania to promote government partnerships, anti-cruelty legislation, education campaigns, spay and neuter initiatives and individual rescues. It is our promise to you that we will continue to join forces and hold hands across the world to help the precious, deserving animals of Romania – just like sweet Max.
Thank you with all our hearts for being part of our team.
By Stephanie Scott, SPCA International Staff
For 10 years, Simca worked protecting the lives of the people of the British Embassy in Baghdad by searching vehicles entering the Embassy for explosives. When her retirement day arrived she wasn’t celebrated, she was locked away in her kennel and only allowed out twice a day for about 15 minutes a time to relieve herself. She had no bedding because she used to chew her blankets through absolute boredom, so the handlers took it away from her. All Simca had was a cold concrete floor until Alex found her. That day, Simca met her savior.
Alex asked permission to take Simca out for walks twice a day. They quickly formed a very strong bond. Alex says it best, “I soon fell in love with her.” Alex dreaded taking Simca back to the kennel at night. “I knew how much she hated the kennels, you could see it so clearly in her face and body language that it used to break my heart taking her back.”
Alex looked into ways of getting her home to the UK so she could enjoy her last few years as a normal dog, but everywhere he looked he ran into problems. He spent months trying to figure out a way. “I was at my whit’s end when miraculously someone gave me SPAC International’s website address.”
Operation Baghdad Pups’ Program Manager, Lori Kalef, responded to Alex’s request for help right away. It wasn’t long before SPCAI helped Simca say goodbye to that cold concrete and got her on her way from Baghdad to a safe foster home in Erbil while she awaited transport to the UK.
Last week, on March 7th, Simca flew to the U.K. Alex explains, “They [SPCAI] arranged everything and paid for her flight to the UK, where she is now relaxing in a lovely kennel, getting fussed over regularly while she waits for her quarantine period to finish. Then she will be taken back to my home where she can lie on the grass in the sun and play with the other dogs; all the things that normal dogs take for granted and that Simca has never experienced in her 12 years of life.”
In the midst of other program work and international travel, the SPCA International staff celebrated Simca’s arrival in the U.K. Over the course of Simca’s rescue we had also fallen in love with her – hanging on every new photo and update of this aged, beautiful working dog. Her eyes pierce through you as you gaze at her image.
“I owe SPCA International everything. More than I could ever repay them, because it wasn’t only their financial assistance that made this possible, but their unwavering support and eagerness to help me and all the hard work they did organizing the whole evolution. They made the impossible, possible. They are absolute diamonds, each and every one of them, and I can’t thank them enough.” And SPCAI can’t thank you enough, Alex. For opening your heart to a dog who needed you and for letting us get to know her too, if even from afar.
We are excited to announce that our Operation Military Pets program has now assisted almost 300 U.S. military families! In the past two months alone we have helped 28 struggling military families keep their beloved furry family members by distributing over $25,000 in grants. More families are coming to us for help than ever before and our distribution rates are increasing to keep up with the demand.
In 2013 Operation Military Pets was launched to address a widespread, but little known, problem. When military families are ordered to a new base in the U.S. or around the world, moving bills pile up. The military pays for many moving costs, but they don’t help our military families relocate their family pets. The cost for pet transportation can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars. All over the U.S. and the world shelters near military bases report high surrender rates because many military families can’t afford to relocate their dog or cat. Operation Military Pets was launched to keep those families together and therefore, reduce surrender rates near military bases.
Since its launch, word about the Operation Military Pets program has spread and many families apply for financial aid from the program each month, and especially in May when a majority of permanent change of duty station (PCS) orders are sent to military service members. This incredible program helps an average of 12 military families a month and those families are so thankful.
“We received our check for $1,000 and it's been a godsend. I can't thank your organization enough…God bless you.” – Sheri & Fredrick Daliry
“We have received the funds. Thank you so much for the financial help you guys have provided us so that our wonderful dog can continue to be apart of our family.” – Steven Wilson
“Thank you very much for approving the grant! This will help us out more than you know! Thank you for what you do for military families!” – Chris and Lindsay Phillips
It’s our honor to serve U.S. military families who sacrifice so much for our country. The last thing they should have to sacrifice is the love for and from their family companion animal. Stay tuned for news of our 300th grant coming very soon!
This week Sugar Plum and her mother, Shadow, arrived in the U.S. after a long, complicated and arduous journey from the streets of Baghdad. These two lucky pups worked their way into a permenent spot in the hearts of two Americans serving at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. This is their homecoming…
Weary travelers arrive eager to see what America looks like.
Sugar Plum thinks, “Human-Mom, are you out there?” No, sweetheart, she’ll meet you in Texas in 2 short weeks.
“Get us out of here already!”
“Nice to meet you too…”
“What’s this tall stuff?” wonders Shadow. “It’s fun to pee in.”
“Freedom feels sooo goooood!”
“You got me Mom, you got me! LOL.”
“It’s mine now!” Toys were non-existent on the rough streets of Baghdad.
A hug from a new friend. Anne Abbot at SPCAI will see Shadow and Sugar Plum on their way to their new forever families tomorrow.
“Come on Anne. Let’s get some dinner.”
Shadow will reunite with her Baghdad friend, Dennis, in Florida in less than 48 hours. Sugar Plum will see her human mom, Pat, when she returns from Baghdad in two weeks. Two beautiful dogs with beautiful futures ahead, thanks to SPCAI supporters. (Yes, your heart should feel full of happiness about now.)
By Lori Kalef, SPCA International Staff
Today Romanian dogs are being abused, killed and repeatedly tortured in the most barbaric manner. They are often beaten, cut, poisoned and left for dead in the streets, or placed in small kennels at public pounds to slowly die of thirst and hunger on their own.
Romania is now receiving worldwide scrutiny because of this unbelievable brutality toward animals – but the massacres continue.
Romania’s stray dog population is a by-product of the communist regime that ruled the country until 1989 under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceasescu. During this time, rural workers were moved from the countryside to work in the city as part of a mass urbanization plan. Those who were bought to urban centers were often forced to release their dogs into the streets for lack of space and money. Sadly, nature took control, the dogs bred and the population grew without restraint.
The Romanian government’s only solution has been mass killings and a limited number of terrible public pounds. Due to health concerns in Bucharest, where an estimated 60,000 dogs are roaming the streets, average citizens are taking matters into their own hands and brutally slaying innocent dogs with household tools, such as hammers and axes. In other locations, public pounds act as death traps and where animals are caged without food and water to seemingly die a slow death without hope of adoption.
SPCA International is taking on this issue to raise awareness and change the tragic plight of innocent animals. At the end of this month, our team will be traveling to Romania to assess the situation, distribute grants to partner organizations, meet with local government officials, and save lives through spay and neuter and medical treatment.
Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to learn more and help us stop these massacres.
In a city known for its majestic scenery and peaceful beauty, recent news headlines in Victoria, BC, Canada have been quite the opposite. They have been darkened by news of an urban deer cull slated to start later this month.
British Columbia’s Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Ministry published an urban deer management fact sheet stating that urban deer have become a safety concern to communities due to growing conflicts between people and pets, an increase in deer-automobile accidents and the tendency for deer to attract other wild predators. The ministry will issue permits and supply 25 collapsible “Clover Traps” to be placed in quiet areas at dusk to all communities opting for culls in hopes of reducing the urban deer population. The traps, which resemble oversized hockey nets, will be monitored daily but the 25 deer awaiting their imminent fate may have to wait many stressful and panicked hours before the trained contractors arrive to “bolt gun” them in the head.
Local animal rights groups say that BC communities should fully explore non-lethal ways to combat deer overpopulation. Spokesperson Kelly Carson of Deer Safe Victoria says, “It’s not too late to conduct scientific deer counts, track the movements of deer between municipal boundaries, and research non-lethal deer management methods.”
The Ministry has stated that it would not authorize the use of tranquilizers, contraceptive programs, like the emerging SpayVac™ which blocks fertilization when administered intramuscularly, or relocation due to added risks when caught and the deer reacting poorly to new and foreign environments.
Last week, SPCA International was on the scene during a well-attended protest outside the Municipal Hall in Oak Bay, Victoria. Citizens were furious that no other method to control the overpopulation were taken seriously and expressed that killing 25 deer will not produce a significant impact on the over population crisis. Rather, it will create a compensatory rebound effect, inviting surrounding deer to move in to the vacated areas because of enhanced food supply and begin reproducing at a faster rate.
In countries like Romania where mass killing of unwanted stray dogs and cats are receiving worldwide scrutiny due to lack of education, resources and sterilization or contraceptive protocol, it is inexplicable that a province with educated options and adequate funding would see a cull as the only solution.
“If Oak Bay is willing to spend $1,000 a deer to bolt gun them in the head, then they should be willing to do more,” says Kelly Carson. The deadline to conduct the cull is February 28th, but the decision making is approaching fast. To support humane options and a sterilization protocol, please send your letter to the Mayor of Oak Bay by using this link at [email protected]
We, the undersigned urge Oak Bay to abandon your plans to clover trap/bolt gun 25 urban deer in your community. Culling deer does not work due to the recompensentary rebound response in wildlife that are removed in numbers, and is inhumane to the animals and to the residents, including children, who will witness these traps in their neighborhoods.
Oak Bay has the opportunity to set the precedent and lead the province in humane human/urban deer mitigation management for other provinces and states to follow. Please help your residents to co-exist with the deer in your city by providing fencing, lower speed limits, deer-resistant plants and public education and contraceptive options, all which have worked in other communities.
Oak Bay deer are threatened with a cull despite the fact that overpopulation has not been proven. Please thoroughly research the numbers of your urban deer and their movements between other municipalities.
“What is a coronavirus?” you might be asking yourself. Maybe you’ve heard about it on the news recently, or someone was talking about it on social media. Coronaviruses are organisms that primarily affect the upper respiratory tract and can cause symptoms like a mild fever, runny nose, or cough. Some species of Coronaviruses, like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) have been known to be very pathogenic in humans meaning they can cause very serious illness and even death.
Did you know that animals are also susceptible to Coronaviruses? Household pets such as dogs and cats, but also wild birds, bats and rodents have been known to suffer from Coronavirus infection.
You may remember the 2003 SARS strain that caused panic in Asia and saw human cases imported to Toronto, Canada. It was later thought that the origin of the pathogen was either bats or palm civets from China. Disease experts are still trying to narrow down the origins of MERS and are looking closely at a link to camels and camel milk. Interestingly, most of the viruses that cause illness in humans have their origins in animals – we call these zoonotic diseases. Usually, the host animal (like the camels in the Middle East) will carry a particular pathogen, and it won’t cause any symptoms. Other zoonoses you’re likely familiar with are Ebola in fruit bats, Malaria in mosquitos, Toxoplasmosis in mice, Lyme disease in ticks, Plague in rodents, etc. These are all examples of zoonotic diseases which can be caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites or fungi.
Some Coronaviruses do cause illness in pets though, and it’s always a good idea to keep an eye out for unusual symptoms. Certain strains of the virus can cause similar symptoms that we would see in humans like a runny nose, or cough. In some cases, though, they may cause gastric symptoms such as vomiting or more serious symptoms like neurologic disturbances and liver disorders that are more difficult to treat. The strains that cause more severe illness are rare, and are usually reported in the news if they are found to be circulating locally.
Like humans, our pets need regular check-ups to maintain good health. Also, like humans, our pets may carry organisms in them that never cause them to become ill. Sometimes, like in the case of MERS, these organisms jump species into another animal or human host and cause moderate to severe infection.
The good news is that these diseases are tracked and monitored by organizations like the World Health Organization, Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). As responsible pet owners, it is our responsibility to do what we can to keep ourselves and our pets healthy with regular medical check-ups and monitoring for symptoms. Usually, a Coronavirus will make you or your dog miserable for a few days, but will go away on its own. Any unusual symptoms that last longer than a few days should be assessed by a veterinary professional.
About the Author: Melissa Brett is a Registered Nurse working in Infection Control in Ottawa, Canada. She is currently doing her Master’s in Global Health and Infectious Disease. A lover of animals – Siamese cats especially – she is a champion for animal and human preventative health.
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Weary travelers arrive eager to see what America looks like.
