Author: SPCAI Staff

 Thank you to everyone who helped make Operation KTMO a success! With your support we reached over 170 animals in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with essential veterinary care. Our special nonprofit coalition brought together Operation Git-Meow, Caribbean Spay and Neuter and Army Veterinary resources on base during a five-day event designed to improve conditions for animals and keep the Guantanamo Bay community safe from rabies and other animal-borne illnesses. We were thrilled to be received warmly by everyone on base and the volunteers were amazing! We look forward to future collaboration on this important project!

Thank you to everyone who stepped up to support essential veterinary care for animals in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba! 

A long-trusted military partner, SPCA International is thrilled to be part of a nonprofit coalition to improve the lives of animals and people in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 

SPCAI is partnering with Operation Git-Meow, Caribbean Spay and Neuter and Army Veterinary resources on base to provide essential veterinary care and sterilizations during a 5-day event in November with the goal of treating 400 animals!

This event will improve conditions for animals and keep the Guantanamo Bay community safe from rabies and other animal-borne illnesses. The base is the size of a small town, covering over 45 square miles with over 6,000 military members, contractors, civilian employees and family members.

This initiative is critically important because rabies is a serious public health issue in Cuba that puts free-roaming animals and the pets of our military members at risk. Ensuring animals are free of disease will also ensure the human population on base stays safe.

Following a rabies outbreak earlier this year in the Nyamagana District of Tanzania, people were extremely interested in getting their dogs vaccinated for rabies. Unfortunately, many families simply can’t afford to bring their animals to the vet or pay for vaccinations. That’s where Lake Zone Animal Welfare stepped in with a solution.

This September, in honor of World Rabies Day (the 28^th), Lake Zone Animal Welfare held community events and went door to door to vaccinate dogs against rabies. Along the way, the five-person volunteer veterinary team provided education about animal welfare and care to ensure dogs are healthy and safe. 

This series of events complements Lake Zone Animal Welfare’s year-round strategy of promoting respect and compassion for animals through humane education programs in primary schools, providing access to veterinary services for impoverished families and hosting spay/neuter campaigns. 

SPCA International is proud to support this strong grass-roots organization. We are thrilled to contribute to the health and safety of people and animals in the Nyamagana District. We look forward to all Lake Zone Animal Welfare continues to accomplish on behalf of the communities they serve.

World Rabies Day calls attention to a harsh reality. Over 50,000 people die from rabies every year. Heartbreakingly, many who die are children from impoverished communities in developing countries. 

Thankfully, rabies vaccines provide a solution. That’s why SPCA International is providing targeted grants to five partner organizations in Africa and Asia that are holding World Rabies Day events this month. Though they work to vaccinate animals and educate communities all year long, this day is particularly important for bringing attention to rabies vaccines. 

In much of the developing world, many dogs are not vaccinated, which means they can contract and spread rabies to humans. This puts people and dogs at risk of death. It also stigmatizes dogs which means they suffer from unnecessary neglect and cruelty. 

SPCA International is proud to support the rabies vaccination efforts of Stray Animal Foundation of India, Tanzania Animals Protection Organization, TAHUCHA, Lake Zone Animal Welfare and Tanzania Animal Welfare Society this World Rabies Day. 

By making rabies and other vaccines available alongside rabies education to at-risk communities, their efforts will save lives and improve conditions for dogs and people.

Thanks to a generous outpouring of support from the SPCA International community, Spikey and the other animals in the care of LAPS (Lucky Animal Protection Shelter) are safe!

It hasn’t been easy for them. Since the initial evacuation, which left dogs stranded on the roofs of their kennels during a long and scary night, the animals have been moved three times to safer locations. All along, your support provided food, veterinary care and attention for these pups. 

As they wait for the water to recede from the shelter, our partners at LAPS are exhaustedly continuing their work. Every person has been working overtime to care for the animals, even as many of their own homes are underwater. 

Despite all the trauma of the situation, we are excited to share that Spikey is available for adoption. Please contact LAPS directly if you have space in your heart and home for this sweet boy with special needs. 

The animals’ needs are being met now thanks to your support. In the coming weeks, LAPS will face yet another challenge as they begin to rebuild their shelter and make it safe and welcoming for the animals once again. Several walls caved in, and with standing water in the shelter, the full damage has yet to be seen. Please consider an additional disaster relief donation.

Peggy and 19 other pups have finally been reunited with the military service members who adopted them while serving overseas. These dogs’ journeys were delayed by CDC rules that restricted the import of animals from over 100 countries for a year. 

Though the CDC has recently eased the restrictions, SPCA International had implemented creative procedures to reunite pups with their soldiers. Dogs from the restricted countries were being flown to Canada for a six-month quarantine period before being cleared to travel to the U.S. and their waiting families. This process was complicated and costly. 

We are thrilled to share that 20 pups have now made it from Canada to their service members in the U.S. Peggy is just one of them, but her reunion with Marine John Kurulgan warms our hearts. 

John had adopted Peggy during a deployment in the Republic of Georgia. She was just a tiny pup and he looked forward to making her part of his family with his fiancée in the U.S. Heartbreakingly, John’s fiancée never got the chance to meet Peggy. While Peggy was stuck in limbo, John’s fiancée was killed in a car accident. 

John says that amidst the tragedy, one of the only things he had to look forward to was his reunion with Peggy. Now, a year after they parted, Peggy is home with John and his other pups on Staten Island. 

SPCA International’s Operation Baghdad Pups: Worldwide also rescued Peggy’s siblings and mom for John’s fellow Marines and they are looking forward to getting the pups together for a reunion sometime soon.

As the only animal welfare group in the war-affected northern region of the country, Big Fix Uganda is indeed making a big impact. SPCA International is proud to support their multi-faceted approach to community-based animal welfare. Big Fix Uganda provides community education, veterinary services for animals and a companion animal program for people traumatized by war.  

Community Education:

Through a combination of school presentations, community events, radio show participation and community murals, Big Fix Uganda is changing attitudes and behavior toward animals. The concept of dog care and training is new to many families, so education is a key component of improving conditions for animals in this area. 

Veterinary Services:

Because war has left this area with few economic resources, community members typically can’t afford veterinary care for their dogs and cats. Through bi-weekly field clinics, Big Fix Uganda is treating an average of 185 animals every two weeks for free. They provide rabies vaccination, de-worming, treatment of wounds/injuries and sterilization services.  

Comfort Dog Project:

Big Fix Uganda places rescued and rehabilitated dogs with war trauma survivors as part of a psycho-social rehabilitation program. The guardians make a lifetime commitment to care for their dogs and they attend weekly training sessions. Upon graduation, the dog-guardian teams become project ambassadors – visiting villages and schools to support the educational component of Big Fix Uganda’s strategy. 

We are thrilled to announce that SPCA International is teaming up with Xbox to celebrate Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy now available with PC Game Pass. Xbox will be hosting a live playthrough of the game, while Cosmo the Spacedog’s biggest fan, a handsome Labrador Retriever named Milo watches along in his space suit! You don’t want to miss this!

During the livestream, Milo will be eating, playing and just being an all-around adorable pup in his costume. SPCA International will be featured prominently during the stream, and viewers will have the option to donate directly to SPCAI on Twitch via Tiltify. 

Tune in to the Xbox Twitch channel on July 20th at 3pm PDT to join our cosmic adventure and raise money for SPCA International.

But wait there’s more! Don’t miss your chance to win your very own cassette player modeled after Star-Lord’s cassette player from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Starting today you can enter #TheGalaxyHasGuardians sweepstakes to win this 80s classic, otherwise known as a Portable Bipedal Frequency Streamer!

For your chance to hold the Portable Bipedal Frequency Streamer in your hand, just follow @SPCAINT on Twitter and then follow the instructions posted. 

SPCA International is partnering to help clear the Bakersfield, California, city animal shelter, which is at capacity. The number of animals coming into the shelter simply eclipses the number of animals being adopted. 

Without help, they’ll have to euthanize around 30 animals each day. The staff are heartbroken by this reality, so they are committed to moving approximately 180 adoptable animals to Canada, where adoptive families are waiting. 

SPCA International proudly sponsored the first of three flights operated by Pet Rescue Pilots. This huge undertaking involved the Bakersfield city shelter, Marley’s Mutts, Pet Rescue Pilots, BARKs Rescue and many volunteers from each group. 

On June 25th, the sponsored flight transported 60 animals 1,275 miles from Bakersfield to Great Falls, Montana, where BARKs volunteers received the animals. BARK then coordinated the final leg of their journey to Canada and loving adoptive families. 

In addition to saving the lives of animals at risk of being euthanized, this rescue mission allows the staff at the Bakersfield shelter to move out of crisis mode and focus on long-term solutions. They are focused on efforts to reduce the number of unwanted animals by providing community education and advocating for local ordinances that require pet sterilization and restrict backyard breeding.

SPCA International partner Clean Futures Fund recently completed a successful visit to Chornobyl, Ukraine. Thank you to everyone who helped make this trip possible through a donation! 

Clean Futures Fund supports both the people and animals living in and around the Chornobyl Nuclear Exclusion Zone, but they have been unable to visit because of the pandemic and the Russian invasion. 

The area has hundreds of stray dogs that are the descendants of dogs left behind when the area was evacuated after the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster. Clean Futures Fund provides food, veterinary care and sterilizations for these dogs, reducing suffering and humanely decreasing the stray dog population.

Though local citizens persevered in feeding and caring for the dogs to the best of their abilities, dogs living at the nuclear power plant began to starve during the Russian invasion. The workers at the power plant typically fed the dogs daily, but when they were captured and detained by Russian soldiers, no one cared for the dogs for a month. 

When the Russians withdrew from the area, Clean Futures Fund mobilized to send dog food as quickly as possible to the starving animals. During their visit, they found the dogs’ conditions to be much improved thanks to the dedication of the power plant workers. 

Thank you again to everyone who made this long-awaited and critically important visit possible. We’ll keep you updated on future developments from Clean Futures Fund and their work in and around Chornobyl, Ukraine.