Category: Feature Stories

World Rabies Day brings special attention to the importance of vaccinating animals for their own health and the good of communities. Though rabies is uncommon in much of the developed world, outbreaks still affect developing countries like Tanzania.

SPCA International is proud to support TAPO (Tanzania Animal Protection Organization) and their annual World Rabies Day vaccination clinic. We are thrilled to announce that after seven years of reducing rabies cases thanks to the vaccination events, there were no recorded rabies cases in 2020 in the town of Kahama.

Despite this incredible milestone, TAPO knows their work isn’t over. They continue to offer free rabies vaccinations and deworming in addition to educational sessions about pet care and disease prevention. This year, TAPO’s World Rabies Day event reached 200 pet parents along with their 843 dogs and 70 cats.

Year after year, the event continues to encourage responsibility for pets in the local community, reducing the risk of rabies and other diseases, reducing instances of dog culling and improving the health and welfare for animals and their people.

This group is changing the way animals are treated and cared for, one animal, one person and one community at a time.

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SPCA International is immensely proud of our Operation Military Pets program, which helps alleviate the cost incurred by military families bringing their furry family members to new duty stations. With bills often reaching into the thousands, Operation Military Pets helps ease this financial burden on the families that bravely serve our country.

Clyde is just one of many animals who made it to their family’s next duty station with the help of Operation Military Pets. This is what his soldier has to say about the program.

“SPCA International does wonderful things for pets worldwide, and for us, they helped ensure our furry family member would be able to make the journey with us to the UK. […] the gesture of support at a time when we feel we are going it alone despite being required to move, has been an absolute blessing. We are grateful for their fabulous communication, their offers of kindness and support, and their willingness to help military members in an already stressful move process to make it just a bit easier.”

It cost Clyde’s family over $4,500 to get him to the U.K. In case you are wondering, these are the expenses that added up:

• cargo bill $1,688
• sky kennel $255
• domestic rental car and hotel costs to get to the pet departure airport $800
• UK pet broker $713
• UK customs fees $571
• veterinary bills $253.
• hotel pet fees in the U.S. and during quarantine in the U.K. $250

Thank you to everyone who has donated to SPCA International’s programs in support of soldiers and their pets. Through Operation Military Pets, SPCA International will continue to lessen the burden on military families who already sacrifice so much for our country. You can learn more about Operation Military Pets here.

Sergeant Arielle didn’t know if the tiny, starving kitten she found would make it. Today, that kitten is the beloved Cathulhu. These two now have an unbreakable bond, and thanks to many generous SPCA International supporters, they’ll be reunited soon in the U.S.

The Sergeant’s hands were tied by military regulations that don’t allow pets on official military transport. So, as her deployment came to a close, she reached out for help getting Cathulhu to her home in the U.S.

Thankfully, Cathulhu is now safe in our care. She is receiving her vaccinations and her travel paperwork is being processed. Cathulhu should be cleared for travel by early November; then, she will reunite with Sergeant Arielle.

We expect that Cathulhu will live a long and happy life with Sergeant Arielle. These two will be forever grateful to everyone who helped provide for Cathulhu’s rescue and travel to the U.S.

Julian Javor, founder of Pet Rescue Pilots has been “Rescuing by Relocation” since 2017. Based in California, where tens of thousands of pets are euthanized in shelters each year, Julian and his team fly animals in danger of euthanasia to shelters that have forever families waiting to adopt.

A true labor of love, Pet Rescue Pilots rarely turns down the chance to help animals in need. They have stepped in to fly lost pets to their homes several states away, helping families reunite with animals they thought were lost forever. They have also been an incredible partner to SPCA International, assisting with domestic and international rescue missions and relocations.

Pet Rescue Pilots has become a valuable partner for many other animal welfare organizations in our network. They recently transported 30 dogs from an overcrowded shelter in California to one of our partners in Canada. There, shelter staff quickly began coordinating the placement of these pets into their new forever homes.

SPCA International is excited to announce that we will be sponsoring an upcoming Pet Rescue Pilots flight, saving pets from euthanasia and ensuring they are placed in safe and loving forever homes.

Of SPCA International’s programs, Veterinary Supply Aid is one of the biggest. This program operates year-round, collecting supply donations from manufacturers, distributors and veterinary clinics in North America and shipping them to animal welfare groups in countries throughout the world.

Veterinary Supply Aid reaches shelters and rescue groups in dire need of supplies to ease pain, keep animals healthy and ultimately save lives. Each shipment is unique, but they typically include veterinary supplies such as syringes, catheters and gauze; personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks and aprons; and medications such as pain relievers, antiparasitic medications and antibiotics.

Despite the straight-forward nature of this program, the logistics are anything but simple. Each country requires different types of permits, and some prohibit certain types of supplies. COVID-19 supply chain issues meant many recent shipments took longer than usual to move through customs or had to be rerouted entirely to ensure no supplies went to waste. Thankfully, most ports of entry are now operating normally, and supplies are reaching their destinations where they can be used for the animals who need care.

This is one example of a recent shipment sent to Sintang Orangutan Center in Indonesia.

SPCA International has been proudly supporting Putnam County SPCA since 2011 through our Shelter Support Fund program. Putnam County SPCA is an independent charitable organization that has been granted police powers to enforce animal cruelty statutes. Their work is critically important and includes investigating situations of animal cruelty and enforcing animal cruelty laws.

Though not a shelter, Putnam County SPCA provides a 24-hour cruelty hotline for community members to report suspected cases of animal cruelty, and they often care for animals for extended periods of time while court cases are ongoing.

In addition to rescuing animals from cruelty, Putnam County SPCA also helps build a safer county for animals through humane education. Officers provide education at local schools to ensure students know how to treat animals and how to identify instances of animal cruelty in their communities.

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SPCA International is proud to have supported the purchase of a Wildlife Ambulance that has already rescued hundreds of animals in Western Australia. The ambulance is managed by the Wildlife Rescue Team at WA (Western Australia) Wildlife. The ambulance was made possible by the generosity of the SPCA International community and is making incredible rescues like these every day.

Kangaroo Mum and Joey Rescue Video

Fox Rescue Video

After being rescued by the Wildlife Rescue Team, animals are brought to the state-of-the-art WA Wildlife Hospital where they receive the best treatment possible. Check out the virtual hospital tour here: WA Wildlife Hospital – YouTube.

Thank you to every single SPCA International supporter who helped make the Wildlife Ambulance a reality.

Socks and Stoly are just two of the seventeen dogs in the Operation Baghdad Pups: Worldwide program who were brought to the U.S. before July 14^th. All of these pups were at risk of being stuck overseas when the CDC announced its decision to ban dogs from over 100 countries from traveling into the U.S. beginning July 14^th. These new regulations are being put in place due to forged rabies certificates from people trying to profit from dog sales. Unfortunately, the ban also affects legitimate animal rescue organizations like SPCA International and our many partner organizations.

Socks and Stoly have made it safely to New York and we are now arranging their ground transportation to Colorado where their soldier anxiously awaits their arrival. Thank you to every person who contributed to help rescue these two lucky pups and fifteen others.

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SPCA International is committed to continuing to help U.S. service members rescue the pups they befriend while deployed overseas. Going forward our Operation Baghdad Pups: Worldwide rescue missions might take longer but we are dedicated to bringing our service members’ patriot pets home.

Conditions for animals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are rough, but Oito Vidas is doing all they can to improve the lives of animals on the streets. SPCA International is proud to support this animal welfare group that focuses mainly on the feral cat colonies living wild in and around Rio.

SPCA International is proud to join over 100 organizations in calling for legislation to stop the slaughter of U.S. horses for human consumption. Though horses are not slaughtered for meat in the U.S., tens of thousands of horses and burros are exported out of the country each year for the purpose of slaughter and human consumption.

Current legislation making its way through Congress includes provisions that would make it illegal to ship horses to slaughterhouses in neighboring countries, effectively closing a loophole that keeps U.S. horses and burros at risk.

This legislation is in the form of an amendment to H.R. 3684, the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST) Act, which passed the full U.S. House and will soon move onto the senate. The amendment will ban the transport of equines across state lines to Canada or Mexico for slaughter for human consumption.

If you would like to get involved in supporting this legislation, contact your state’s lawmakers to let them know that you support the amendment to keep U.S. horses and burros out of foreign slaughterhouses.