IFAW's Animal Rescue Blog

IFAW Haiti: IFAW's Dr. Dick Green recounts some remarkable stories from the front lines of the disaster

2010-02-03T14:38:43-05:00

UK vet Laura Dobson on her experience volunteering at IFAW's dog and cat centre in Cape Town

2010-02-03T14:24:48-05:00

This post was filed by Laura Dobson, a UK vet that volunteered her time and expertise at IFAW’s Dog and Cat Center in Cape Town, from September through December 2009.

In May 2009 Emma Milne gave a talk at the Royal Veterinary College on her experiences working in two animal charity clinics in South Africa. The clinics, sponsored by IFAW, are based in Johannesburg and in Cape Town.

After a five year slog through vet school (never mind the A-levels) I’d been feeling somewhat overworked and slightly disillusioned with the whole idea of entering the rat race of modern veterinary practice. With finals looming I was struggling to summon the energy to immerse myself in the enormous task of revision that would hopefully get me over the final hurdle.

Emma’s inspirational talk about the work being done in South Africa sparked a new found enthusiasm for vetting. Having already visited the beautiful and diverse country of South Africa for a couple of months in 2008 I needed no further encouragement to contact the main IFAW office in London once I had my BVetMed certificate in hand.

On 14th September I landed in Cape Town due to start three months working at the IFAW Dog and Cat Center in the township of Khayelitsha. Although I knew I was throwing myself in the deep end as a new graduate I wanted to use the opportunity to bring my routine surgery skills up to scratch and practice some basic medicine. Luckily I started with some other more experienced volunteers who helped me find my feet.

The permanent team at the clinic were very supportive throughout my time there. Despite some of them not even finishing school their years of experience, willingness to learn, personal drive and determination to help animals and improve the dog and cat populations of the township have resulted in a very established and well functioning clinic. This consists of a first opinion veterinary service for local animals, a hospital for inpatients and a reasonably well equipped surgery area for the free pet sterilisation service. The permanent staff do consulting, hospital duties, collect and drop off animals and also do all the anaesthetising and preparation of animals for surgery. The clinic mainly relies on volunteer vets to be able to run the free sterilisation service, but also accurate veterinary assessment of hospital patients and assistance with some of the consultations is much required.

I clearly remember my first day – a Monday – mobile clinic day. Jane (the project manager) and the rest of the team took us out to a neighbouring township ironically called Happy Valley. It was an area that the mobile clinic had only just started visiting. Consisting of dirt streets, plastic chemical port-a-loos and hundreds of corrugated iron shacks of varying quality, Happy Valley is home to a mostly unemployed population who survive by scavenging on rubbish dumps or by recycling tins and bottles. Alcoholism is a widespread problem and its effects are evident. On first impression, providing some help to areas like this may seem like a hopeless mission. However, on subsequent visits to Happy Valley many people started to recognise the clinic pick-up trucks (‘bakkies’). Gradually a trust was built up and there was a realisation that we were there to genuinely help, rather than deviously confiscate animals as previous organisations had done. It was great to see animals coming back for second vaccinations, having people ask for flea and worming products, seeing mange cases for follow up treatments, removing stitches from sterilisation ops and even people just wanting advice on the best way to care for their animals. Children in particular were very curious and keen to help. Even in the relatively short time that I was in South Africa there was a noticeable improvement in the dog and cat populations of Happy Valley.

Job satisfaction is certainly one of the most enjoyable aspects of working at the clinic. On the whole animals come to the clinic with obvious conditions requiring quite straight forward treatment. Therefore it is often easy to make a very significant difference to the quality of the animal’s life. Basics such as educating owners, vaccination schemes and neutering services over time makes a huge difference to the health of the entire population. This is something that the permanent staff have noticed since the clinic set up in Khayelitsha just over thirteen years ago.

Working as a vet with the public and their animals, there are always interesting people and entertaining cases. Something I came across a few times was the concept of witchcraft. There was a man who was convinced his neighbour was performing spells on him with the assistance of a big ginger cat. This was something to be taken seriously and for its own safety the cat came to stay at the clinic until the neighbourly dispute had been resolved. Several times I was asked to cut out the worm from under the tongue of dogs who were ‘eating too much’. To the owners’ disbelief I explained that the worms were in the intestines and that we had tablets for that sort of thing! After a very long consultation with an elderly man who insisted on chatting to me in Xhosa, he gave me an extra R10 (approximately 80p), a wink and a toothless grin and told me to “keep it for drinkies”. I doubt I will ever be tipped in the UK for my veterinary services!

By far the most enjoyable part of being at the clinic is working with the people there. There is a very relaxed and homely atmosphere and everyone is very welcoming. As I got to know people better the individual characters, senses of humour and the cheeky personalities became apparent. I found it easy to form friendships and enjoyed experiencing the cultural differences. Jane, a petite lady with smiling eyes, brings an incredible amount of dedication, energy and enthusiasm to the project. It really wouldn’t be the same without her.

Although I’d heard plenty of horror stories about violent crimes committed in the townships, I never actually felt threatened or witnessed anything first hand. However, I never put myself in any unnecessarily risky situations and I was also well looked after by my new clinic family.

Returning to the UK this December has been not only a climate shock, but also a reverse culture shock. I had really settled into my surroundings and felt very at home in South Africa. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll be back to the clinic and I’d like to visit the IFAW center in Jo’burg at some point too. Now, back in UK private practice my township experiences have certainly given me some enlightening perspectives on life and vetting which keep me smiling from day to day.

IFAW Haiti: Lassie Gets Lucky

2010-02-02T11:18:49-05:00

This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) J.C. Bouvier who is on the ground in Port-au-Prince working with the Animal Rescue Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) teams.

In the morning, our vet met the team in the camp, and we proceeded to journey down into Port-au-Prince, Haiti...we took a brief stop at the tent city we had scheduled the afternoon to introduce our vet and ensure that the residents were ready to bring their animals to us for aid when we returned later that afternoon...

Our next stop was at the village where Dik the dog lives on Lilavois Street in the neighborhood of Bon Repos. His owner Keith was happy to see us, and our vet was able to asses his condition...when the building he was in collapsed during the earthquake...rubble must have fallen on his spine...and while he has no detectable fractures...his spine was injured...our veterinarian, Dr. Thomas, administered anti-inflamatory medication and steroids to help Dik heal...his owner thanked us and we moved on...

The day prior we had made arrangements to meet with a villager who was to bring 50 dogs to a location we had been working in...we arrived in the manner of the traditional Haitian appointment (read: 40 minutes or so after the agreed to time)...the villager didn't arrive...however there was a person who said there were six dogs in a house nearby that needed attention...

We arrived at what once had certainly been an attractive set of four houses...with wonderful mature plantings...and architecture, but had clearly been neglected over time and partially destroyed the earthquake...here we found "Lassie"...she came when called...and after a moment of scurrying around....showed us all a terrible embedded wire wound in her neck...

The team quickly set up a field station where "Lassie" was tranquilized, her wound was cleaned and prepped for stitching...once she was treated, vaccinated and given a nutritional boost...Dick Green said, "Lassie is one lucky dog, if we hadn't stopped here...she would have been dead within a week, there were maggots already in the lesion..."

We finished our work for the day and headed back to our camp...another long day...but the people whose animals we treat are genuinely grateful...

We're still working on the video featuring Dik the dog, look for it to come up on the blog soon...

IFAW Haiti: A Long but Valuable Day for Animals

2010-01-31T18:16:17-05:00

This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) J.C. Bouvier who is on the ground in Port-au-Prince working with the Animal Rescue Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) teams.

The ARCH team started the day with a call from the vet who was to help us with the treatment for the Dik, dog we met the day before, she told us the meeting wasn't going to happen...not to worry, we have arranged for our trusted contact in the Haitian government who is also a vet to help us tomorrow, stay tuned for the video we hope to bring you of that encounter...

We spent the rest of this morning returning to a village where we had
been the day prior to vaccinate additional animals we were scheduled to meet...along the way, we watched as locals began a scramble to keep a food truck from leaving their area...some of these desperate folks began climbing up the back of the moving truck...it was quite a scene...

After tending to all the dogs and cats in need of aid in that area..at
mid-day the team moved on, discovering a road-side enclave with
"beaucoup de chien" or many dogs...some of which were in dire
need...including one small flea ridden stray pup amid some rubble...after asking around...we could find no owner...however he was staying with a family in the village...we treated the pup for a leg
injury and he was given the usual regimen...

The ARCH team will deploy tomorrow to tend to more animals, including those residing in a "tent city" where earthquake refugees are taking shelter until the threat of aftershocks subsides and they can rebuild...more tomorrow...

For more information, please visit, www.ifaw.org

IFAW Haiti - The Work for Animals Continues in Port-au-Prince

2010-01-30T16:42:16-05:00

This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) J.C. Bouvier who is on the ground in Port-au-Prince working with the Animal Rescue Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) teams.

Yesterday, ARCH teams were again hard at work, helping dozens more animals from several Port-au-Prince communities...in the morning of the 29th, the ARCH coordinating team leader and IFAW Emergency Relief Manager Dick Green met with a top official from the Haitian Ministry of the Environment...while IFAW, ASPCA and AHA staff deployed into some of the harder hit areas...over the course of this 48 hour period dozens more animals were helped with vaccinations, flea baths and nutritional supplements...

Today, the 30th, the teams found a badly injured dog named Dik, whose owner says he had been in a building with a seven year old boy when the earthquake struck...although injured, Dik was able to be pulled from the rubble...When we inquired about the boy's situation, the owner said that despite every effort, the boy didn't survive...

After evaluating the Dik's injuries, a plan was set to bring full veterinary support to Dik's aid tomorrow...stay tuned for a video update on Dik's situation...

For more information on IFAW's efforts, please visit http://bit.ly/arbhaiti

IFAW Haiti: ARCH Teams Treat Dozens of Animals, Many More Need Help

2010-01-29T10:15:00-05:00

This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) J.C. Bouvier who is on the ground in Port-au-Prince working with the Animal Rescue Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) teams including the Dominican Republic Based Sodopreca, who are the focus of this post.

1.28.10

Yesterday the ARCH team continued its work on the ground in Port-au- Prince, Haiti, with the Dominican Sodopreca team treating 38 animals yesterday alone...treatments for animals in these circumstances include vaccinations, de-worming and nutritional boosts. Several of the dogs treated yesterday were puppies found living with families in the city...and the families were very receptive to the Sodopreca teams efforts...after meetings with Haitian officials in the morning, the ARCH team will begin to develop a more in-depth plan for the aid of Haiti's animals.

A highlight of the trip so far for the Sodopreca team was the meeting of the one and only Julio Iglesias at the Dominican Embassy. The guys say he was very interested in the work of the ARCH team and overall a very nice guy...

While the city is beginning to return to a quasi normal state of function, there are still many animals who need our help...for more information, please visit www.ifaw.org

IFAW South Africa: Saving township dogs from a deadly epidemic

2010-01-26T14:10:25-05:00

This is a report from International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Campaigns Officer, Lisa Cant-Haylett, who is based in IFAW’s Cape Town, South Africa office.

Just last Thursday, Cape Town newspapers carried front page headlines warning of an outbreak of the often deadly Canine Parvovirus.

Animal welfare groups in the affected areas reported they were being forced to euthanize dozens of sick dogs, while dozens more were being treated for the disease.

As the worst affected areas are only a short distance away from Khayelitsha, where IFAW’s dog and cat project operates, it seemed logical that it would only be a matter of time before Parvo made the jump to the township where the disease would quickly spread among the many immuno-suppressed dogs. As it was, we had two puppies with Parvo brought in on Friday alone – these two pups were immediately quarantined away from the other dogs and, sadly, one of them died over the weekend.

We decided that rather than take a wait-and-see approach, a pre-emptive campaign to vaccinate dogs was essential. Jane Levinson, the clinic co-ordinator, got the ball rolling by making contact with vaccine manufacturers Intervet and distributors Norpharm. In no time they had committed to providing the much needed vaccines at greatly reduced cost, including a number of free doses.

By Friday afternoon all was on track, the entire clinic staff had been brief, the drug boxes were checked and packed and we were set to kick of the Parvo vaccination drive.

At 10h30 on Monday three vehicles departed from IFAW’s dog and cat clinic in Khayelitsha, headed for Site C, a shack development with many dogs and which had been earmarked to kick off the vaccination campaign. One truck carried the particularly important and lifesaving cargo, a box of vaccines, to be used in effort to curb the spreading of the deadly parvo virus amongst dogs, and puppies in particular. Eloise Goosen from Intervet followed in one vehicle with Peet Steenkamp from Norpharm in another. Jane, animal welfare assistant Maria Limani, and me were out in front, leading the convoy to Site C, an area of mostly corrugated iron shacks.

The local library was our landmark and on arrival at the site, preparations for the day’s work began amid the swirling of mini-sandstorms blown off the nearby sand dunes. The first client arrived after hearing about the vaccination drive through announcements which were being broadcast through the clinic van’s PA system. She was anxious and very keen to have her dog vaccinated against the disease. As more clients arrived we were delighted they had heard of the drive via broadcasts on the local Radio Zibonele and via our pamphlets.

Lazola Sotyingwa, one of our livewire animal welfare assistants, Peet jumped straight into administering vaccination shots, while Lazola gave each dog (and the odd cat) a “once over” to ensure there were no underlying conditions and Eloise issued the owners with vaccination certificates. Within 10 minutes, a haphazard line had formed and the atmosphere at the mobile was jovial as owners were keen to be next in line to ensure that their dogs are given what locals call “the stof” to prevent their companion animals from getting sick.

An 11 year old patient ambled alongside her owner towards the crowd gathered around the mobile. Slightly hesitant at first, due to all the commotion, the well cared for dog was reassured by her owner and told to wait her turn. She listened obediently and settled down on the dusty sidewalk. With the mobile stationed along a fairly busy road, some owners opted to hold their dogs in their arms (Pic 325) while waiting in line, a heartwarming indication of the value that many owners place on their companion animals.\

For more information, please visit http://www.ifaw.org

No end to the destruction in Haiti

2010-01-26T08:05:06-05:00

This report was filed from Port-au-Prince, by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) ER Communications Officer Michael Booth.

On the second day of operation in Haiti (Sunday, 24th of Jan.), ARCH (Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti) members traveled South of Port-au-Prince to the towns of Leogane and Jacmel. We had heard a lot about the extent of structural damage and loss of life in these two places but needed to go and assess the situation with the animals. Unlike the capital city, these two more rural areas understandably hold a larger population of farm animals.

It didn’t take long until we encountered a number of goats, pigs and dogs all assembled near dump sites along the local fruit and vegetable market haphazardly set-up on the side of a dirt road. Haiti had made great progress in re-housing street markets not too long ago but the earthquake brought the roof of the new market down and with it any attempts at an organized, safe and clean distribution center. Within just a few days, the vendors had again established themselves really anywhere they could and instantly animals were drawn there to rummage in the garbage in an attempt to find whatever food they could.

We continued for more than an hour and a half to cross the hills outside Port-au-Prince and reach Haiti’s southern shore. The distance is not all that long but the highway has considerable damage and big cracks have literally displaced many sections of the road. Land and rock slides also cut all access to Jacmel for several days so our team was one of the first people to make the ride.

At Jacmel, we saw more of the same, tragic scenery. Toppled houses marked by fluorescent signs that indicate SAR (Search and Rescue Team) work done in the rubble. You see numbers in the signs, some indicate the number of bodies found, others indicate the survivors, as expected the latter number is usually the lowest.

Roaming and ‘community’ dogs abound in Jacmel. Unlike the city dogs, these seem to be a bit more passive. Many are far from being healthy but one would expect that little has changed since the earthquake struck. Chickens, pigs, cattle, horses, we encountered many animals, struggling to survive in a country that is limited in almost every way possible, but life goes on, much like it did before the 12th of January.

We met with local officials there and also visited a Canadian armed forces hospital set-up in the now damaged port. Incredibly enough, Canadian SAR teams are still active there, looking, hoping for signs of life. Already 2 weeks after the quake, there is little chance, but as history will prove, it’s not completely impossible, so they go on, hoping.

On our way back to Port-au-Prince we stopped at Leogane. This city, just 20 or so minutes away from the capital was hit very hard. Only a 2 story school and a handful of houses were able to withstand the quake. What must have once been a beautiful church was a big pile of stones, in front, yet another ‘tent’ city had been established, they should really call them ‘sheet’ cities, few are lucky enough to have tents, most have to settle for a few walls made out of bed-sheets allowing some sort of privacy but really no shelter.

More chickens, more dogs, all searching for food. I noticed a couple of stray dogs had ‘latched’ on to certain people. They would just follow them from one place to the other, a few meters away, scared and nervous but hoping that they could find a family to belong to. Some were ignored, others pushed away, it made me think ‘did these dogs have a family before Jan. 12?’ is that the reason why they ‘cling’ hopelessly to passer-by’s? I really don’t want to know the answer to that; I just hope our work in Haiti can help relieve that pain, loneliness and sadness. Thanks again to all our IFAW supporters, without you we could not be here. Your contribution will help Haiti’s animals when they need it the most.

IFAW Haiti: Responders Land on the Ground

2010-01-24T11:59:26-05:00

This report was filed from Port-au-Prince, by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) ER Communications Officer Michael Booth who is on the ground working with the IFAW/WSPA led Animal Rescue Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) to help the animals abandoned, injured and in need.

After a few days of preparation in the Dominican Republic, we landed in Toussaint Louverture airport at 9:20 am local time in Haiti. During the 1-hour flight aboard a small fixed-wing aircraft, we caught a glimpse of the devastation from the air, it wasn’t just the collapsed buildings that caught our eye, but also the masses of displaced people congregating on the streets and living in huge ‘tent cities’ scattered around Port-au-Prince...

The airport was packed full of Emergency Response teams including helicopters from the US marines, humanitarian groups and a huge UN contingent. We were dropped off in the middle of a grass field next to the runway. Our first, very unexpected, challenge was to find a way carry all our bags and supplies to the airport terminal without getting in the way of cargo planes moving left and right.

We entered a dark, powerless airport and quickly got our passport stamps. The first signs of the earthquake’s fury were visible all across the airport’s cracked walls. There was no time to linger though, Dr. Thomas was picking us up outside to head over to a meeting with Dr. Max Millien the Haitian Minister of Animal Health. In normal circumstances, one would’ve had to head to the city center for these meetings, but like so many buildings there, Dr Millien’s office was under several feet of debris, completely wiped out.

In the interim, several Ministries were setting up in private buildings used as temporary emergency operating centers to hold critical meetings, and this was one such meeting. Some of the agreed upon priorities include prevention of disease outbreaks, and also to help farmers get back on their feet and kick-start the collapsed Haitian economy. The government is grateful for the outpouring of support from IFAW and all the members of the coalition and it was a very productive planning meeting.

From there we headed to the city center. Among the collapsed building we spotted several dogs and one cat all looking for food, for comfort. They all look pretty undernourished, many were exhibiting signs of disease or injury. Many were traumatized and moved away from us, but when we could the vets provided initial care.

Walking among the wreckage and misery that is Port-au-Prince is nothing one can get used to. Coming back to our base at night, we were inspired by a mass prayer ceremony held at one of the ‘tent cities’. Haitians were dancing and signing, desperately trying to find the peace and the strength to carry on. An entire country is in pain, it’s visible and palpable everywhere you go. Thanks to our supporters, we are here, now, to lend a hand, to assist both humans and animals and bring relief to Haiti.

For more information and to donate please visit www.ifaw.org.

IFAW Team Begins Move into Haiti

2010-01-22T17:21:49-05:00

This brief post was written by the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Deputy Director of Programs A.J. Cady, who is overseeing the deployment of IFAW and ARCH teams into Haiti.

Early this morning, I was able to get a quick update from Dr. Ian Robinson and Michael Booth, both members of IFAW’s emergency response team, which has freshly landed on the ground in the Dominican Republic. The team has been anxiously awaiting permission to enter Haiti and is thrilled to report they will moving into Haiti tonight. Additional members are set to follow by air tomorrow.

Our first priority will be meeting with Haitian government representatives in the capital of Port-au-Prince and begin finalizing a plan for ongoing aid.

When I spoke with Michael, he was keen to convey the magnitude of the issue on the ground. IFAW is currently staying in an area which is flooded with relief workers of agencies originating from all corners of the world. There’s a strong sense of purpose and everyone is grateful for the outpouring of support from the international community.

As IFAW’s Emergency Relief Communications Lead, Michael will be working to keep everyone up to date on our efforts and any needs or urgent challenges, so be sure to watch for updates via email and through our Facebook and Twitter pages.

We are working closely with the World Society for the Protection of Animals in the continuing coordination of the Animal Rescue Coalition for Haiti and will also be sure to immediately update you on coalition progress as soon as the news comes in. I am quite sure there will be many sad sights to see, but our hope is that we will also be able to report back to you on many happy endings.

Thanks to all of our supporters for their generous donations and for helping us bring aid to the animals struck by this disaster.

A.J. --

For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s efforts on the ground in Haiti, please visit www.ifaw.org.

IFAW China: White-tailed Sea Eagle Rescue and Release

2010-01-16T04:12:00-05:00

This report came in this week from the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Beijing Raptor Rehab Center in China.

On January 12, 2009, a white-tailed sea eagle, an endangered species listed under first-class protection in China, recovered from poisoning and was returned to the wild today by the IFAW Beijing Raptor Rescue Center (BRRC).

Mr Yi together with four bird-watcher friends, found this eagle near Guan Ting reservoir in Yan Qing, 70 km northwest of Beijing in Hebei Province.“It was off balance and could not fly. We thought the bird had been injured and hurried to help it by taking it to the raptor rescue center, Mr. Yi said.” Then we saw another White-tailed Sea Eagle not far away from this one, sadly at its last gasp.” The second White-tailed Sea Eagle died on the way to BRRC.

At the BRRC, rehabilitators quickly diagnosed the condition as organophosphate (insecticide) poisoning and treated the eagle accordingly. The bird responded well to medication and recovered well over the following few days. He is strong and well but unhappy over being in captivity. BRRC rehabilitators assign importance to minimizing stress to the animals in their care. Stress severely compromises animal welfare and an animal’s ability to heal. As soon as the eagle is considered safely out of danger from the poisoning incident, he will be released. In the meantime, all precautions are taken to optimize the comfort and sense of security of the bird.

This eagle and the companion who died were victims of secondary poisoning. Rural people are known to spread poisoned food as a means of poaching wild animals. The animals are then sold on the market as food. Several dead ducks were found on the lake where the two eagles were rescued. The eagle that survived had vomited duck feathers, and had most probably ingested a poisoned duck. Secondary poisoning of this sort is a common cause of death in wildlife, including many endangered species.

Mr. Yi observed that the number of wild birds in the area around the Guan Ting reservoir is reduced this winter compared with previous years. After rescuing the eagles, he called the police to report the suspected poisonings.

“It is common for local people to capture pheasants and hares, and we will punish suspects who hunt rare animals,” said an officer at the local police station.

In Beijing, White-tailed Sea Eagles are rare winter migratory birds, inhabiting areas near broad rivers. They hunt primarily fish, but will also capture birds and small mammals. They are found across northern Europe and Asia. Following 16 years on the list of threatened species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), European recovery efforts for the species enabled the international conservation status of the species to be more secure since 2009.

Raptors are carnivorous birds that are high on the food chain. As such, they are susceptible to toxins that their prey ingest. The BRRC has received and treated around 3,000 raptors since its establishment in 2001. Of the rescued birds, approximately 5% were victims of secondary poisoning. The poisons are usually insecticides and rodenticides. BRRC advises the improvement of government regulations on the use of these chemicals to minimize the damage to wildlife, domestic animals and humans.

For more information on IFAW's work helping animals in crisis around the world, please visit www.ifaw.org

IFAW Rehab'd Penguin spotted in breeding colony 3 yrs after release!

2010-01-05T10:18:07-05:00

This post was filed by Valeria Ruoppolo, an International Fund for Animal Welfare vet based in Brazil...

The first time we saw penguin IF-0141 was back in May 2006. Together with 194 fellow Magellanic penguins, he had come ashore in the southern tip of Argentina. Victims of an unknown oil spill, the penguins were extremely weak and hypothermic - just moments away from death.

Rescue teams led by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Consejo Agrario Provincial de Santa Cruz (CAP) rushed to the scene and started caring for the birds but the extreme weather conditions at the bottom of the world made the rehabilitation process close to impossible. A critical step towards the penguin’s survival was regaining their feather covering’s waterproofing abilities. Constant exposure to the rehabilitation pools after the oil-cleaning stage is necessary for the rehabilitation to be successful, unfortunately with temperatures ranging from -4° to -14°C (24 to 7° Fahrenheit) teams struggled to keep the indoor pools warm enough and the penguins dry after their swim.

In an urgent bid to save the birds, the provincial government of Santa Cruz and the Argentine Air Force worked with IFAW to airlift 195 penguins to warmer weather up North. On July 11, 2006, the birds arrived to San Clemente del Tuyú home to Fundación Mundo Marino, IFAW’s collaborator in the rescue.

After a few weeks of rehabilitation, the first batch of penguins was released back to the ocean on July 31st, 2006.

Flash-forward to December 2009, just days from the turn of the decade we received news from Pablo Irazoqui, one of the Park Rangers working in Cabo Vírgenes. Pablo had spotted a band on one of the penguins. There he was, number IF-0141, more than 3 years and 2000 km (1242 miles) from where we last saw him swim off!

Pablo took a few pictures and told us that the penguin looked healthy and ‘calm’, less afraid than other penguins at the sight of humans. Pablo and his colleagues at the Park are keeping an eye out for IF-0141 to see if they can spot and document him in his nest with his chicks.

Once again, IF-0141’s story is positive-proof that wildlife can be successfully rehabilitated and released back to the wild. Seeing him healthy after all of these years is yet another cause for celebration as IFAW starts a new decade of rescuing animals in crisis around the world.

Thinking of Dogs During the Holidays - Continuing Northern Dogs Effort

2009-12-23T11:06:57-05:00

The following report is coming from Jan Hannah, Project Manager of IFAW's "Northern Dogs" initiative, which centers its work on the dogs living in remote impoverished communities of northern Canada.

We are knee deep in the holiday season which means that planning has begun for the next Northern Dogs visit to northern Quebec. I have sent out letters to each community contact addressing some changes that I hope we can implement in the next set of clinics and another dog data sheet which is intended to help us understand the flux in dog populations. But holiday time also has repercussions for the dogs. Winter has set in and the temperature is dropping, puppies are now weaned and roaming the streets looking for food and shelter, and while the dogs are looking for their needs to be met, it’s a busy time for people who may not think to provide for them. I have been contacted by one community member who says there are so many pups on the street. She asked if IFAW could again help by meeting her in Montreal to take and rehome eight pups in need. Because of her ongoing work in rescue, it is definitely time for her to begin to make contacts in the Montreal area, both for rehoming and for transport. This way, she can create a system that meets her needs and is sustainable from her end. I sent her contact information for numerous Montreal-based groups and also had a helping hand from Nik Gour of Humane Society International - Canada who is well connected in the Montreal area as well. The pups arrived on Sunday and were distributed to different groups for adoption or transport to other rescues. There are so many committed groups and volunteers working on different facets of dog rescue and rehoming across Canada that you just have to hook into the network to benefit and to help others.

On the wind down towards holiday time, I put out one final advertisement in the community magazine to remind people that dogs need us. They depend on us for food, water, and shelter, and if they are contained, they also need exercise and socialization. While many people think that roaming dogs are living independently of us, they actually aren’t. Whether owned or unowned, roaming dogs still get their food from people’s garbage, from the dump or from the bowls of other animals, they will sleep under a porch or seek shelter around the side of a building, and most will still seek human companionship. So don’t forget the dogs who might very well live in your neighbourhood and need your help. Remind people that dogs are depending on us to meet their needs. The Northern Dogs Project will continue to work with northern communities to meet the needs of their dogs!

Download Nation Advert Dec 09 full

Tianjin Cat Rescue

2009-12-10T11:59:25-05:00

The following is a report from IFAW China’s Angella Zheng, Companion Animal Project Coordinator, on the dramatic rescue of 700 cats on their way to slaughter.

Nov.28th, night, International Fund for Animal Welfare(IFAW) colleagues and I received a message about 700 cats found in Tianjin city, in cages and ready to be sold as meat. We learned that at first, people feeding cats in the community saw a few cats locked in caged in an abandoned house. They called Cats Hope, a local cat rescue group. When Cats Hope managed to open the door, they were shocked to find that there were 35 battery cages of cats. They estimated there would be 700 ~800 cats. It is suspected that these cats would be sold as meat to the south by cat dealers. After hours of confrontation with cat dealers, rescuers were able to finally move the cats into an abandoned elementary school, as a temporary shelter.

Judging from the behaviors of these cats, most of the cats are pets. They were probably let outdoor and got trapped by cat dealers. IFAW helped contacting China Daily, one of the biggest national newspapers, to make a story about the cats and a local newspaper also made a report. 60+cats were soon reclaimed by heartbroken owners.

The IFAW team went to Tianjin city on Nov. 30th, Kati, the vet consultant, Jeff, the communications manager, and I, the companion animal project coordinator. Two TV-crew people joined us to document this emergency relief effort. We arrived at about 9am and learned from Cats Hope that the total number of cats rescued is 726. Three had already died of disease and another 3 escaped. Cats Hope is a brand new group and have little experience dealing with such a large number of animals but we all think they did pretty well. Our vet Kati conducted a brief health examination of the cats and, overall, most cats seemed healthy and social. Very few cats, less than 20, had eye discharges and reacted in a nervous manner.

As the school where they were holding them was situated close to people’s homes, the Police said they received complaints. Cats Hope soon found a new facility in the countryside of Tianjin and moved all the cats there. During the move, all cages were fastened so that no cats could escape, labeled so that records wouldn’t get lost; volunteers carried cages onto trucks, and strapped them down to avoid their displacement. We were pleasantly impressed by their efficiency during the move. Based on the local conditions, we made some practical suggestions on shelter management, like the use of special working clothes and gloves in the quarantine area to avoid cross infection and separating the cats in different rooms with a chemical tray at the each door for disinfection to avoid disease outbreaks.

It’s already been 9 days since the visit. We have maintained daily contact with Cats Hope, and still try to create media attention. We are also coordinating with other rescue groups to bring more help and attention to these displaced cats. Up to date, 440 cats are separated into two facilities where volunteers provide care. All in all 40 cats are staying in foster homes, and more than 60 have been happily reclaimed by their owners. Around 150 have been adopted, among which 54 were given to Luckycats, one of IFAW’s partners in Beijing.

Thinking about these 726 cats gives me mixed feelings: they are very lucky to have been rescued, and luckily many of them are already adopted, some even made their way back to home; but the remaining 440 cats still face many difficulties: daily care-taking, vaccination, spay/neuter, adoption promotion… and incidents like this happen a lot in China, as there are no animal welfare laws in place, and the current laws have a lot of loopholes. IFAW has been advocating for an Animal Welfare Law which recently got drafted for the very first time, but more time and effort is needed for the law to be in place and effective. On a daily basis we see animals in suffering and we fight back, but we alone can’t solve the problem. Stopping the cruelty towards animals requires the joint effort of all of society.

VIDEO: IFAW Dubai - Rescued Juvinile Nile Crocodiles

2009-12-09T07:05:14-05:00

In this short video, Gulf News interviews Dr Al Sayed Ahmad Ahmad Mohammad, Programme Director, International Fund for Animal Welfare in Dubai about a rescued juvinile Nile crocodile. For more information, please visit www.ifaw.org

IFAW Germany: A Visual Protest to Help Save Elephants

2009-12-05T10:21:00-05:00

This post was filled by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's press officer in Germany, Andreas Dinkelmeyer.

Let's save the elephants! Early on Tuesday we left Hamburg for Berlin, the capital of Germany, in the high speed train. We had prepared an action to visualize how many elephants die per day. In the days to the action we prepared 416 elephant footprints, a huge banner and our petition elephant. In the very heart of Berlin, in front of Brandenburg Gate, we wanted to make the public and politicians aware of the plight of the elephants.

As soon as we had set up, people came up to us, asking what this was all about and eagerly signed our petition elephant, a wooden, live size elephant with our call to end ivory trade. Soon several MP’s also came to visit us and the Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the countries heavily affected by elephants poaching. Both, MP’s and Ambassador voiced their support for our action and for the elephants and agreed that the German government needs to arrive at a firm position against ivory trade for the next CITES conference in March 2010. The German government has a special responsibility as Germany played a key role during the last CITES Conference in The Hague, forging an agreement that four southern African countries could sell their ivory stockpiles. The stockpile sale ignited even more elephant poaching.

It made a quite impressive picture, the hundreds of footprints in front of Brandenburg Gate, a stones throw from the German parliament. We got many admiring remarks from Germans and tourists alike, commending our work to protect the elephants.

The only lasting solution is an end to all ivory trade, only then will these gentle giants of the savannas be able to live in peace.

For more information on how you can help IFAW help elephants, please visit IFAW.org

IFAW Dubai: "Fernando" now "Gizmo" Finds Loving Home

2009-12-05T03:48:00-05:00

This update from Dubai came in today, our pal "Fernando" has been reborn and is now living with a loving family...Thanks to all for the continued support. J.C. - IFAW

"I quickly snapped off some pix of our very spoiled much loved boy for you. They are not wonderful and I would have loved to have got some of him running around outside – but I hope these will suffice...

Gizmo our 2.8 legged dog lives with 1 cat, 1 dog, a chinchilla and sleeps in Brianna’s bed at night!

What a gift having him live with us!"

IFAW Russia: Orphan Bear Cubs Prepare for Winter - Soooo Cute

2009-12-03T05:42:00-05:00

These photos of two orphaned Russian bear cubs were recently taken at the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Bear Rehabilitation Center. The notes below come from our staffer Lena Averianova.

The autumn comes to an end. Ostakh and Gena have grown, they are stronger, and we hope they have already forgotten how their story began.

Beautiful, free animals, just look at photos.

They are now walking in a open-air wooden enclosure, they show the skills and ability to find food and they skillfully climb up trees. Employees at the center sometimes feed the bears apples, for them this is a big delicacy.

These young bears already have the necessary weight and warm fur coats so they are ready to 'lie down' for the winter in a den prepared by IFAW staff.

Everything is well with Ostakh and Gena at the IFAW BRC and now we can wish them: “Kind winter dreams!"

IFAW Staffer Helps in an Unexpected Sea Turtle Rescue

2009-12-02T14:00:00-05:00

When IFAW Russia's Lena Averianova left for vacation to Thailand, we never thought she would soon be reporting back with an animal rescue! It seems you can leave the job but the job never leaves you. Below is her experience with a one-armed endangered sea turtle that was rescued off a beach in the Island of Phuket.

I recently spent my vacation on Thailand's Phuket Island. As I was enjoying a walk along the Katong beach, I suddenly realized that people were all running to a spot a few meters from where I was. Realizing that something unexpected was happening, I decided to go and have a look. Much to my surprise, I found a big sea turtle there, surrounded by lifeguards that were busy digging out a pool for the turtle to rest in and water-down. It soon became evident that the turtle had been inadvertently pushed out of the ocean by the very big waves that were spread out on the entire coast. The turtle had been visibly struggling to get back but had a hard time because it only had one flipper. How and when the turtle lost its flipper remains a mystery to me but it seemed that she had been able to survive like that for quite a long time.

A lot of tourists surrounded the turtle but no one really understood how careful you have to be around these animals and they soon started taking out their cameras and approached to touch her. I immediately told everyone to step back and that we would need to help her in this time of need, not place extra stress on the animal. I contacted the rescue team and waited there, watering the turtle and feeling nervous for her during 10 minutes while help arrived to where we were. They were soon able to examine the turtle and we placed her in a special basin for transportation. I didn't leave her side until the car left, headed for a suitable holding location where she will be rehabilitated and then hopefully go back to her ocean home.

I've worked in IFAW's Russian office for nearly 8 years now and during that time I've helped many different animals. I was so happily surprised that even when far from my office and country I was again needed to help an animal in distress. I again understood that I'm really doing the work I'm supposed to do. It was also heartwarming to meet people that dedicate their lives to rescuing animals and know that I will find them all over the world.

For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's work around the world, please visit http://www.ifaw.org

IFAW Canada: Northern Dogs - Mano Makes a Major Commitment

2009-11-30T16:06:37-05:00

This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Jan Hannah, working from remote Cree communities, in the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada.

Tuesday: I was in Quebec City enjoying the first snowstorm of the season when I received an email from a southern Ontario firefighter who was teaching a rope rescue course in one of the communities that IFAW’s Northern Dogs services. In his email he said, “I've only been up here a couple of days but I have noticed there are quite a few dogs around and most are pretty skinny… but very friendly. One large, red coloured lab looks like he has mange -- he’s missing much of his chest and under belly fur and his skin looks quite scarred and flakey. He certainly doesn't look like he'll make it through the winter.” His message went on to say that he had seen IFAW’s work on the web and a) wondered if IFAW was still working in the community, b) would appreciate any help that IFAW could give him regarding this particular dog, and c) that he thought what IFAW was doing was great and would love to get involved in some way on his return!

I emailed him back, thanking him for getting in touch and I explained that while the dogs are roaming, they are not stray (the correct terminology is owned roaming and unowned roaming. Note: most unowned roaming dogs were at some point owned!). In fact, most are owned and they return to their homes to sleep or eat at different times throughout the day. No generalizations can be made about dog ownership because individuals, let alone communities, have different attitudes towards their dogs. Taking dogs from any community (worldwide) can be contentious and needs to be done in a transparent manner if done at all otherwise it can create negative relations between community members and others who enter the communities to work. He responded that he would definitely go through the appropriate channels, including educating the owner about proper care, if he found him.

Wednesday: The next day there was an email update from Mano in my inbox. He is only in the community for another 3 days but has just found a very skinny, young, lab mix puppy chained with a heavy chain to the top of a post. The chain was so twisted that ten feet had become three feet. The make-shift string collar was also so badly twisted that he couldn't get his fingers in behind it. He untwisted it and gave the pup water, which the pup drank and drank and drank. It turns out that Mano has found out who owns the red dog with the skin issue – the same people who own the puppy! It sounds like Major, as the red dog is called, is no longer wanted and will be going home with Mano. As for the puppy, Mano took the opportunity to educate the owners about taking better care of her -- puppies need to be fed at least 3 times a day, they need access to water at all times (just like dogs), the pup needs to be socialized and interacted with, and finally, she needs shelter. Together, he and the young owner cut off the string that was being used as a collar and put on a makeshift, but better fitting collar. Mano said that the owners were receptive to the information he gave them and now he needs to find a crate to fly Major south! If he can’t find a crate, he’s decided to build one. Now that’s commitment. He reports, “My big friend is a super happy dog and the nicest looking in town… except for his poor coat and lack of body condition. But both he and the pup were fed today which is good!”

Thursday: From Mano… “I still don't have a crate for him so I'm going to call the radio station to put out a post for one. In the meantime, I’ll try to build one out of wood over at the firehall.” Crates are not easy to come by so I suspect Mano will be building a crate himself.

3:00 a.m.: “Well I built a makeshift crate at the fire hall. Without the right bits for the screws I had to screw it together by hand (very slow!) and just finished now -- well almost… the saw ran out of juice. I should have enough time to get it done tomorrow morning before I leave. I called Air Canada cargo and the person said he couldn't see why a makeshift crate wouldn't be allowed as long as it has breathing holes and the dog can stand up, turn around and lie down. Well I'm going for it! What I really hope is that tomorrow will come and go without a hitch. I'm hitting the sack for a bit and then back at it”.

Saturday: I had given Mano my home number and told him to call me if he needed help with Major on arrival in Toronto. When I got in this afternoon there was a phone message. “Hey Jan, things were really looking up yesterday until it was time to leave and Major was no where to be found. I had seen him and even tried him out in the crate earlier in the morning but at that point I still had to attach a door. When I was all ready to put him in just after lunch he had disappeared. So, I left the crate to be used as a dog house for the puppy (with a tarp over it, of course). On the flight home I met a couple who will be going back up north next weekend and will take a crate for me. I’m hoping Major’s owner will load him in that crate and put him on a plane to Montreal. So my plan is to drive a crate to Montreal on Saturday and pick up the crate with Major in it on Sunday. Do you have a crate I can borrow?” Yes, yes I do.

Sunday: “Thanks! I do still need the crate. I spoke to the owner over the phone today and he's totally on board for getting Major south. He will put him in the crate Sunday and ship him to Montreal via prepaid shipping. I'll be waiting in Montreal to pick him up. The owner says that Major and the puppy are doing great. The crate I built is now the puppy’s new dog house and is up beside the front door on their deck. They told me they are feeding both every day. It seems they've taken more of an interest in their dogs especially the puppy. So it looks like Major is actually coming! Unfortunately, I still can’t keep him because I already have two but I wonder if you know of a good place who will find him a good home.”

Monday: Mano sent me photos of Major and he looks just like a Labrador retriever. Whenever I am rehoming a dog from the Northern Dogs Project, I like to put the breeds into breed rescue. As far as I’m concerned, there are people who are looking for specific breeds and who will go to rescue to find them. I emailed Lab Rescue (www.lab-rescue.ca) who has taken labs from me before. They are a volunteer run, non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing and re-homing Labrador Retrievers in Ontario. Their mission is to place loving labs into homes that provide them with the safety and security to live the happy lives they deserve. I know that if this committed group of lab lovers has room for Major, he will only be placed into an excellent home.

Fantastic news -- Lab Rescue has room for Major. From the photos, they think he's handsome now but will be gorgeous when he’s cleaned up… and he will be. He will go straight to their vet to figure out what is wrong with his skin. I faxed over our vet records from the Northern Dogs clinics (he was neutered in 2006 and vaccinated in 2007 and 2008). So hopefully Major’s owner can get him on the plane this Sunday to Montreal where Mano will pick him up and drive him back. It looks like all Mano’s commitment and work will pay off. I can’t wait to hear how Major is when he gets in.

Wednesday: I just realized who Major is! I have photos of him from previous clinics when we would go door to door doing vaccinations. I can’t believe that throughout this whole process, I have never put two and two together.

Sunday email from Mano: “Major is on his way here now and is ten minutes from Montreal so we're heading to the airport now. I'm so excited even though it cost me a bunch -- it's going to be so worth it. Off to the Airport!!!”

Monday email: “I'm home! Major is at the vet getting checked out. Unfortunately I didn't get to speak with the vet but I'll go back over to visit him tomorrow. When I picked him up at the airport at 8:30pm he was just resting in his crate and started wagging his tail when he saw me. He was a bit stiff getting up but was happy to walk on leash to the car. Man was he ever thirsty and hungry! When we got him to where we were staying I took him for a lengthy walk and fed him some more. At 5:30am I went out to walk him -- he was curled up but was very excited to see me when I opened the crate. I fed him again, walked him and then gave him a bath....what a great dog! He was so well behaved, only reacting for the first ten seconds or so. Then he totally let me soap him up and rinse him down head to toe. He was also awesome in the car on the way home. I wish I could keep him but I know he'll find a great home. I'll send you pictures when I get a chance to download them.”

Tuesday email: “Major is very happy now even though he is still at the vet’s. Everyone thinks he’s fantastic! Lab Rescue and I both try to visit and walk him daily. Yesterday my nephew and I went to visit him and took him and another lab rescue for a half hour rollerblade. They ran the whole time and came back totally content. Major is so easy to walk and run yet is quite relaxed when inside. What a great companion he's going to be for some lucky person. After the run he was happy to go right into his cage, heading to the water bowl and then relaxing. I gave Major a beef bone knee joint which gave him something to do the rest of the night until his next walk. I'm working today but plan on taking Major out again tomorrow. The vet has given him his vaccinations but they don’t have the results of his skin scraping. I will continue to see him and be involved in his well being until he is fully recovered and adopted out. Every time I see Major he brings a huge smile to my face and it seems that he has become very attached to me as well, following me wherever I go and lightly grabbing my hand every now and then. His tail never stops wagging.”

Thursday: “It turns out that Major doesn't have mange but a fungal infection. His blood work is good, so he will be dewormed again and then he's going to a foster home some time next week.”

Tuesday: “It's hard to believe that Major is the same dog, although he still has about fifteen pounds to gain. His fur is growing back faster than I thought possible. I gave him another bath just the other day and I swear the next day he had even more fur! Major is going to a meet and greet with an interested family. I have my fingers crossed, even though I'll miss him tons. I’ve continued to take him rollerblading each day with my two dogs, and for long hikes. He's great off leash and just follows right along. After spending half the day with me and my dogs the other day, he wouldn't get out of my car. I wish I could keep him! From what I've seen so far he's going to be the most awesome dog. It’s fantastic to see him so happy.”

Major is very much like many of the dogs in the communities that IFAW’s Northern Dogs Project works in. These dogs have been able to live like dogs and to survive, they are resourceful and well mannered. But when you bring them south to rehome them, they are also hugely thankful. Mano and Major’s owner committed to getting Major south and I know that Lab Rescue will find only the best and most suitable home for someone so handsome and deserving.

For more information on IFAW's work around the world, please visit IFAW.org.

IFAW-rehabilitated Clouded Leopards go wild in India!

2009-11-23T12:26:58-05:00

IFAW-WTI’s Shibani Chaudhury just spent a day out in the forest with two endangered clouded leopards undergoing rehabilitation in Northeast, India. This is her report from the field:

In 3 seconds they shot down to the forest floor, from their enclosure held on a platform 12 feet high, and before you could blink they had bounded up a tree and disappeared high into the canopy!

Two self propelled bolts of lightning the two clouded leopard cubs being rehabilitated by IFAW-WTI in collaboration with the Assam Forest Department and the Bodo Territorial Council were all set to walk, or rather shoot across the forest to their new, larger enclosure a little distance away.

Rescued in March this year by the Assam Forest Department, the cubs were hand raised at the IFAW-WTI Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) station in Kokrajhar and moved to their rehab site in Kochugaon, western Assam on the 24th of September.

Weak and utterly vulnerable when they first arrived, the two little cubs were meticulously nurtured by the team for about 5 months at the Kokrajhar centre before being shifted to the rehabilitation site.

The journey into the forest was an arduous one. 26 rough kms off the highway – the forest road, post the monsoon, was a challenging slush and slide track; negotiated only because of the high powered trucks provided by the Eco Task force of the SSB, a wing of the Indian Army. The area being prone to political unrest, security was also provided by the SSB for the transfer of the cubs to the forest.

Initially they were walked in harnesses by their keeper in the forest. Within the first two weeks the cubs were quite at home in the forest dashing up and down trees. Gradually they were eased out of their harnesses during the walks and allowed to explore their surroundings independently.

On the 2nd of November, the cubs were moved to a new, larger enclosure deeper in the forest. It took 9 people 3 days to build the platform with logs and branches and place the large enclosure atop it. All the workmen and the fabrication material had to be shipped across 26 kms of rough forest road to the site, just off the Indo-Bhutan international boundary, 3 kms away from Hel river.

And here we were now, trying to keep pace with them as they darted about like speckled lightning on their walk to their new home… They chase each other up thick tree trunks and then slender young trees with equal ease. When the young trees bend over with the weight of both the cubs, they just drop off to the ground like ripe fruit and are off again! Often they would climb on to the most impossible perch and then peer down at us with their grey-blue eyes.

They come down headfirst on vertical tree trunks (the only cat species to do so), hang upside down from branches like monkeys and walk along the thinnest branches appearing to be as light as squirrels! Their agility defies belief. It is only rarely when they sit still, in their quieter moments, that you realize how young and vulnerable they still are.

Nath, dressed in a green suit, is their ‘surrogate mother’ and regularly leads them up and down the hills on their acclimatization walks. Despite their unfettered movement in the forest now, they do not move beyond Nath’s vision and come to his side the moment he calls out to them with a special sound that they respond to.

We followed Nath and the cubs trying to keep a safe distance. We were pointed out how the cubs would suddenly stop in their tracks to sniff some other animal’s spoor on the ground. We saw elephant footprints and boar spoor. He also told us how on their dawn walks they often lick the dew off the leaves, perhaps to naturally quench their thirst. At this stage though they are provided water in their enclosure, it is part of the acclimatization for them to slowly develop an instinct to keep themselves hydrated in the wild. Nath reports that when the cubs are occasionally walked down to the Hel river, they avoid stepping into the water and seldom lap at the stream.

In their current schedule they are walked in the wild twice a day between 5am-8am and 3pm-5.30pm; they rest and catch naps around noon usually. Nath reports that the cubs have made 3 fairly adept attempts at predation – 2 jungle fowls and one barking deer. So far, they have not captured any wild prey, but they are surely trying!

It’s nearly 2 months now that the two cubs have been out in the forest and slowly they are being allowed to go wild. Nocturnal and arboreal as they are, the acclimatization process can be a challenge – that too in an area prone to political unrest. But fortunately the two spectacular cubs are going strong – as is the highly inspired and dedicated rehab team.

More orphaned bear cubs head for the wild in India

2009-11-17T16:24:17-05:00

Three orphaned Asiatic black bear cubs are being walked inside Pakke Tiger Reserve located in India’s Northeast state of Arunachal Pradesh. Achieving acclimatization is an essential step towards full rehabilitation and release back to the wild.

The rehabilitation is being carried out by the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department and IFAW-WTI (International Fund for Animal Welfare – Wildlife Trust of India). In two similar attempts in 2006 and 2007 respectively, seven black bear cubs were rehabilitated in Pakke. Additionally, last year, three orphaned bear cubs were released in Manas National Park in Assam, following prolonged acclimatization.

“Pakke Tiger Reserve spreads over 800 sq km and has many sites suitable to rehabilitate Asiatic black bear cubs. In the first two attempts, the bears were rehabilitated in Upper Dikarai and Khari Pong. The current release site near Doigurung anti-poaching camp, as with the earlier sites, was selected following a study on the suitability for the cubs in terms of habitat, food availability, security etc,” said Dr NVK Ashraf, Director, Wild Rescue Programme, WTI.

Currently, near Doigurung in Pakke, the three cubs are taken for daily walks accompanied by a human foster ‘mother’. The walks provide these orphaned cubs an opportunity to acquaint themselves to the natural environment, and to instinctively learn skills necessary for independent survival.

Two of these cubs -a male and a female- were confiscated by the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department from Khonsa in March this year. The cubs were admitted to the IFAW's Bear Rescue Center in West Bank, Pakke, for hand-raising and rehabilitation. The cubs were relocated to the release site in July. A month later, they were joined by the third cub –a male- that was handed over by the Assam Forest Department.

“The cubs have a strange yet interesting relationship. The two cubs rescued from Khonsa quarrel often. The third cub imitates the female from Khonsa, as a cub would imitate its mother, although they are of the same age group. It is as if he understands that she is more experienced and that he can learn from her,” said Soumya Das Gupta, WTI field officer.

“Over the past two months, the cubs have learnt to identify a variety of common wild food including bamboo, canes, insects, crabs and even fish. However, as they have not yet experienced the wild during the fruiting season, they still have a lot more to learn. The cubs will be walked for several months more. They will be radio-collared when they ‘demonstrate’ their ability to survive without their foster mother, following which they will be released and monitored remotely.”

IFAW's Ian Robinson on Releasing Water Buffalo Back into the Wild

2009-11-03T12:32:18-05:00

Ian Robinson is the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Emergency Relief program director, he recently spent four weeks in India working with our partner organizations and visiting projects…

The mighty Brahmaputra river flows down from the Himalayas and across the breadth of Assam, before entering Bangladesh and emptying into the Bay of Bengal. The heavy monsoon rains bring floods – both a blessing and a curse. Silt washed from the soils of the high Himalayas brings great fertility to the floodplain each year, which not only supports the rice paddies of the human population, but a great wealth of natural flora and fauna, making this area a biodiversity hot spot.

When the floods run high, they drive both people and animals from their homes, seeking the safety of higher ground. On this journey many animals become displaced as they run a gauntlet of human development that surrounds each National Park in the region, and commonly infants get separated from their mothers. Which is how IFAW ended up with two wild buffalo calves to rear, rehabilitate and return to the wild in the first place...

The National Park of Dibru – Sikova is an island entirely surrounded by the Brahmaputra river, an ideal habitat for water loving wild buffalo. Hand reared at our rescue center on the outskirts of Kaziranga National Park, these two young buffalo were transferred a year ago to a large electric fenced release paddock on the island. This move was a feat in itself, with over a hundred people involved in carrying the buffalo, each in a wooden crate supported on long bamboo poles – teams of 20 – 30 people took it in turns to carry the crates the 3km from the boat to the release paddock.

Now, coinciding with my trip to the North East of India, we were going to sedate our two male buffalo and fit them with radio collars so that we could track them on release from their temporary home, so that we can monitor their adaption back into the wild. To reach the site, first we have to cross the river, on a wooden boat that looks like the big sister of the ‘African Queen’. She probably dates from the turn of the century; this large flat bottomed barge is steered by an ancient chain mechanism linking the helmsman at the bow with the rudder at the stern. The helmsman’s other tool is a small buzzer with which he communicates with the engine room – a differing combination of buzz indicating the required speed of the engine. In this way we navigated through the murky waters which conceal ever shifting banks of sand and mud.

On arrival we walked and waded across the sandbanks and streams to the park guard’s camp near our paddock. Here the park guards live for months at a time while on duty patrolling to prevent poaching in the park. With the most rudimentary accommodation, no electricity and a hand pump for water, it is a hard life. Despite this they cheerfully gave me the best seat in the camp and made delicious tea, boiled on a stove made of an old oilcan over a wood fire.

When we arrived the buffalo were enjoying themselves as only buffalo can – wallowing in thick grey mud then thrashing their horns in the vegetation until their heads were garlanded with a thick tangle of vines, making them look like some mythical beast. The problem was, could we dart them with sedative while they were in the wallow, on the assumption that the sting of the dart hitting would persuade them out? If not we would have to deal with the sleepy buffalo up to our waists in the mud! Fortunately they decided to vacate in time and we were able to dart the first buffalo on dry ground. Startled by the dart, he ran off into the undergrowth, but soon became sleepy and we were able to approach him and fit the collar, complete with radio transmitter. We then followed the same procedure for the second, smaller male. He was now a bit more wary, and it took time to get close enough to fire the dart from outside the pen. Finally, we got a clear shot with the dart gun and down he also went. However, he was quickly on his feet again, whilst the larger male, darted first was still sleeping deeply. The difference between the two was remarkable, as the first male slept for another three hours before finally standing. By this time it was getting dark and we had to hurry back across the streams and sandbanks to find our boat in the fading light. By the time we were heading out across the river it was pitch dark. Logically, but rather worryingly, the plan for navigation in the dark was to turn off all the navigation lights on the boat , to enable the pilot to better see sandbanks beneath the swirling current. Fortunately there was little other traffic out on the river at that time. We did manage to run aground on a newly shifted sandbank, requiring considerable effort with poles, and eventually several of the crew leaping off the boat, to push us back into deeper water. Soon we were back on the shore and heading home.

After a couple of days to settle down following their experience, the buffalo were released by simply removing a stretch of the electric fence and allowing them to wonder out at will. So far they have explored new territory outside their paddock. The larger male has already encountered wild buffalo, and fought briefly with a wild male. Fortunately neither animal was injured, and our boy was able to retreat with only bruised dignity. Hopefully these events will soon fade as the two newcomers are accepted by the wild herds in the neighborhood. We are able to follow their progress on a daily basis with a simple radio receiver – this would never be possible without the radio collars and gives invaluable insight into the success of our rehabilitation and release techniques.

For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's efforts around the world, please visit, http://www.ifaw.org.

IFAW Canada: Northern Dogs Veterinary Effort - Montreal Pups

2009-10-28T11:26:23-04:00

This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Jan Hannah, working from remote Cree communities, in the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada.

I received a call from a woman in one of the communities that IFAW’s Northern Dogs Project visits each spring. Over a number of weeks she had managed to take in six puppies –not littermates; just picked up one by one. Her question to me… could IFAW help her rehome them if she could get them as far as Montreal. I said yes. If I can get to Montreal and you can get the pups on the plane, it’s a go. Emaciated and mostly too young to be on the street, the pup count kept increasing until the night before she was leaving… final puppy tally = 11. If it had been any later, I’m sure she would have had more. All different ages, colours, sizes and litters. It’s cold up north and pups born at the end of August or early September have the added disadvantage of harsh winters to contend with. Small, young animals certainly feel the cold more than older, larger animals.

Sunday: A good friend volunteered to accompany me and this is such a big treat. Twelve hours of driving is long when you’re alone and a second pair of hands is invaluable when dealing with the pups on the way home, especially for the pee breaks. Lucille is awesome. You want a volunteer who sees something that needs doing and just does it. That’s Lucille.

Monday: We stayed overnight in Montreal last night so it only took us five minutes to get to the airport this morning. The plane arrived, the baggage hatch opened and I could see the crates with the dogs. Just as she said, all different sizes, ages, and colours. It never ceases to make me smile to see the way the baggage handlers talk to the dogs and stick their hands in the crates. Never. They gently offloaded the three crates and wheeled them off the tarmac and straight to us. No matter how dogs are described to you, you always build your own picture so of course none of them looked like I had imagined. There were two chocolate labs (or crosses) about 6 weeks old; one golden retriever cross about the same age; one black lab about that age and two that looked to be about 10 weeks old; one six month old female who looked like a flat coated retriever; one black wiener dog cross; and the only littermates in the bunch, a black and tan female and black and white freckled male, about four months old. Everyone looked in good shape, yapping and wagging their tails as we quickly took them out one by one, walked them around quickly to do their business and stretch their legs, and then put them into the crates in the van. Ten minutes and we are ready to go.

The only fly in the ointment was when I heard that the bigger of the chocolate pups had had diarrhea that morning. My heart sank… Parvo came to mind. With so much change and excitement in their young lives, it’s certainly not a for sure, but un-vaccinated, young puppies with diarrhea equals alarm bells. But what do you do? They’re there, you’re there… all you can do is start driving home. In two tries, we were on the right highway going in the right direction and motivated to make it to the shelter near the IFAW office by closing.

I did the first bit of driving while Lucille was in the back checking on the pups and reporting back on how sweet they were. The two brownies were full of beans; the little blond had the big worm belly that puppies have but was in good spirits (and trying to sleep with the rambunctious browns); the male and female littermates were sandwiched happily together in another crate; the black dachshund cross was in with the flat coated girl (with a sharpei shaped nose!) and the larger black labby male; and then there were the two blacks, the one with the one blue eye who spent the majority of her time yapping at us, and her crate companion who was down and out. He worried me but I crossed my fingers that he might only be motion sick. I wanted to get the pups to the shelter and settled in as quickly as possible. It’s not possible to synchronize bathroom stops for that many young puppies but it’s amazing how few accidents you have -- they really let you know when they have to go and the key is finding safe places to stop. Whether they are used to be confined or not, dogs do not like to toilet in close quarters.

We made it to the shelter in just about six hours. We missed rush hour in Toronto and headed up the 407 to get out of the jam that starts on the east side of the city. The shelter is first rate. They have an incredible adoption rate and the dogs are under super care while there. Dropping off all the pups at one place is a logistical dream and I can’t thank the shelter enough for taking the whole group. Drop them off, drive away, watch for them to come up on the adoption page of the web site and read about their new lives in the adopted section. Done.

However, we did have one sticking point -- the diarrhea of the chocolate guy. We hadn’t seen any on the drive but then again, we hadn’t seen much of anything from that end of the pups! Parvo is a highly contagious virus that causes damage to the intestine. It doesn’t sound like much but it can kill a pup in no time, even with veterinary care. There is a vaccine for Parvo but these pups have no access to veterinary care except when the Northern Dogs clinic visits. Symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy and lack of appetite. I crossed my fingers. Parvo is very expensive to treat and the death rate is up to 35%. When shelters have dogs and puppies coming in, they have to take the health of the population into account, and most protocols call for euthanization if pups test positive for the virus.

The pups had just the best accommodations waiting for them! Everyone was put into a special communal run just the right size for them, and left in utter comfort… fleece blankets, toys and food and water. And just as we were leaving, we were able to do a fecal test on one of the pups to test for Parvo. We waited. And waited. Walked around with butterflies in our stomachs. They can’t have Parvo… they look so healthy, are behaving so normally. But what if this one does test positive? What will I do with ten puppies who will all likely test positive over the next few days? I’ve never had Parvo pups come south and now I may have ten! Tick, tick, tick. Positive. My heart sunk. I knew what my options were. Euthanize or take to a vet for treatment and keep my fingers crossed. Euthanizing those animals who are sick is one thing but these weren’t even symptomatic yet. I made the decision to take the one who had tested positive and the blue eyed black one who he had been crated with. The shelter did me a huge favour by keeping the others. This is a big deal. The pups have to be quarantined and such a contagious and persistent disease in a shelter environment requires extreme care or it can run through all the other dogs. Together we decided that we would make decisions about the others as they tested positive and keep our fingers tightly crossed that they wouldn’t.

Lucille and I left feeling really down. We were tired, we were bummed, and we had two sick pups to get to the vet. To be honest, it was naïve to think the others wouldn’t get sick but I think when you have put so much effort into a rescue, you want so badly for all the dogs in your care to be okay. Especially when so much work and time had gone into taking care of them up north, flying them down and getting them into a good place.

An hour later, we showed up at the side door of the vet clinic. Nava came out with what looked like HazMat gear to take the two black pups into quarantine at the back of the clinic. I’m looking at the cages in the quarantine room… counting them. I can’t fit 10 dogs into this room if they all come up positive. The pups are put in a cage together and treatment with dewormer and TamiFlu begins.

Tuesday: I called the shelter to see how the other pups were doing. They are fine so far! Great news. I think we can beat it. Off to work I go.

Early afternoon, I get a call from the shelter. The larger black one is down and out and has tested positive. One of the brown ones is also positive and the little blond girl is down. They have diarrhea and are vomiting and it’s the dehydration that’s so deadly. Puppies easily succumb to dehydration, and on top of the virus, each one is chalk full of worms, Giardia, coccidia, covered in lice and fleas and undernourished. It’s surprising any of them survive in the communities. We make the very difficult decision to euthanize. I’m heading over to pick up the still bouncy chocolate girl and deliver her to my vet for treatment as well.

Back at the vet’s, the two black ones are responding well to treatment. The blue eyed one is full of beans. The other one, Hank, is still down but eating. Good news. We add chocolate girl and head home.

Wednesday: I received a call from the vet to say that the pups are doing well but so full of worms that it’s like looking at a text book. Cleaning up after puppies is a messy job at the best of times but this is beyond normal duty. The girls doing the cleanup deserve a medal!

I had just arrived at work when the shelter called. The black and tan female littermate is down. Her brother is not well. Another day of difficult decisions. We euthanize the female and I drive to pick up the black and white freckled brother and take him to the vet. He’s symptomatic by the time I get him to the clinic and into a crate on top of the others. Now the quarantine room is full and I am resigned to the fact that the remaining two at the shelter will test positive and I will have nowhere for them to go.

Thursday: My morning call from vet is good… everyone is doing fine! Full of parasites but eating and drinking. “Freckles” is doing much better! Surprisingly, the two at the shelter are not showing symptoms. Fingers crossed.

Friday: All good news today. I’ve spoken to the shelter and the kennel manager is going away for the weekend but we’ll stick to the same plan. Call if there is a positive.

Saturday afternoon: I received a text that the chocolate girl is sick and the vet will keep me posted. The blue eyed black girl is also not doing well. This comes as a total surprise because I’ve not seen her at anything other than her yappy tail wagging best.

Sunday morning: The blue eyed girl died over night. The girls at the clinic who have been taking care of her are shocked and sad. She was so feisty. There are now three at the clinic and two at the shelter.

Sunday afternoon: The chocolate girl is depressed but shows no other symptoms. Thankfully, Hank and Freckles are doing well.

Sunday evening: The vet is on her way to euthanize the chocolate girl. She is very sick and can’t lift her head. I will have to tell the kennel manager at the shelter that one of her favourites didn’t make it. It’s a roller coaster.

Monday: No news is good news. The remaining four seem to be holding their own.

Tuesday: I have a potential adopter for Freckles… a friend of mine who has just moved into the neighbourhood. I’m excited about taking her in to meet him because I think he’s not only cute, but the perfect dog for her and her lifestyle. We can only stand outside the quarantine room but it will give her an idea of what he’s like. When we arrive, the girls are cleaning the cages and he’s playing on the floor with Hank. They look fantastic! The girls say the pups are happy when they have human company (like when the cages are being cleaned) but seem a little depressed otherwise. My ears perk up… depressed? They assure me it’s not medically depressed, just down. It didn’t take more than that short look for Joan to fall in love with Freckles. The news at this stage is that if they eat and drink consistently, they should be fine! Fingers still crossed.

Tuesday evening: Hank is down. I can’t believe it because he looked so healthy this morning. The vet tells me that there is no way he’s going to die and she’s hooking him up to fluids immediately. I feel sick all over again and tell her that if he needs to be euthanized at some point during the night, to please call me.

Wednesday morning: Hank is back up! Eating like crazy. They are watching him closely but everyone thinks he’s going to make it.

I called the shelter this afternoon. I had figured no news was good news but I wanted to check in. The flat coated girl and the dachshund cross never became symptomatic and are fine so far. More great news! Parvo incubates for up to 10 days and tomorrow is 10 days. They should be clear!

4pm: The clinic called to say they had tested the puppies and both are negative! How amazing to hear those words. Joan is totally going to take Freckles and now I just need to find a place for Hank so that he can get on with his life.

Friday: Joan is picking Freckles up this afternoon and Hank is being taken in by Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) out of London. ARF works with local First Nations communities to provide veterinary care and find homes for unwanted animals so they are perfectly suited to take on little Hank. ARF does fantastic work with many dogs from similar environments to the one these pups came from. They are often working with dogs who have medical or behavioural issues stemming from the lifestyle they experience in the communities. ARF’s experience working with and rehoming these dogs means that they understand the issues and have the protocols that fit. A local asset for sure and one that does so much with grass roots fundraising alone. I’m picking Hank up at the clinic tomorrow and driving him to London to hand him over to his ARF foster family.

Saturday: I picked Hank up at the vet’s office at noon. Because he was down and out on the way back from Montreal and then in quarantine, I’ve never really spent any time with him. What an unbelievable joy he is! He’s little and still a bit skinny but his tail never stops wagging! Non stop tail wagging and total interest in what you are doing. We went for a walk along the trail so that he could do his business and hopefully tire for the 2.5 hour drive. The drop off went smoothly. He is one of those puppies who just wins your heart over in a second. Again, I’m so happy that he’s in ARF’s hands as I know they will find him the best home. Thankfully, Freckles is also doing amazing in his new home and I will get to see him often. I tell you, it’s been a tough two weeks with a ton of driving and heartache, but if those pups hadn’t come south, none of them would be alive today. It’s amazing how hard everyone worked for 10 pups who were nothing but strangers before this journey began. Thank you.

IFAW Rescuer Shares Experiences from Philippines Typhoon Efforts

2009-10-21T07:19:00-04:00

International Fund for Animal Welfare Emergency Relief Responder Sarah Sharp filed this story at the end of animal rescue operations in the Philippines.

My colleague Jackson and I arrived in the Philippines on October 8th as the second wave of disaster responders. With the response in full-swing, we hit the ground running. In the lake-side village of Sukol the need for help was so great that our team had run out of both human and animal relief supplies on the previous day, so we returned to this area to reach all those in need. Our first rescue of the day was a kitten stuck on a hot metal roof, emaciated and dehydrated from the flooding ordeal. My colleague gave me a boost to get out of the murky flood water and onto the roof to feed her. Although skittish at first, she was so hungry that she could not resist the smell of food wafting up to her. When she came out of hiding, we realized just how thin she was, and that without a caretaker present, there was no way this little one would make it. Fortunately, we were able to capture her and get her safely into a crate, where she happily ate the rest of her food while awaiting her trip to the shelter.

Our most successful day that week was also one of the hottest. Dressed in full dry suits and riding in long narrow boats referred to as “bangkas” we split up into three teams and collectively fed 138 cats and 392 dogs, treated 12 cats and 24 dogs, and rescued two abandoned emaciated dogs. The furry faces of each and every animal we saw and helped are forever seared on my mind. At the end of this exciting and exhausting day, we returned to a remote location near the lake where Dick Green, our response manager, thought he had heard barking. Although the boat operator was not thrilled with bringing the small bangka into such deep open water, Dick insisted that the team investigate. Sure enough, we discovered a mother and puppy stuck on the roof of an abandoned shack that was sitting just barely above the water. The two were lethargic and their ribs protruded prominently under their skin. Dick swam from the bangka over to the roof, where he carefully climbed up. The roof was not very strong, and kept buckling under him, but he was able to rescue both of the dogs – first the puppy and then her mother. As we carried the dogs back in our arms, I knew without a doubt, that neither of these dogs would have made it if it were not for Dick’s careful ear and caring heart.

Our time in the Philippines was punctuated with rescue after rescue and the warm smiling faces of the Filipinos who were so grateful that we were helping both them and their animals. One of the days that we were out in the field, a man came up to me and said how lucky he felt that we were there to help the animals, because they are so often forgotten in tragedies like these. Ironically, I felt like the lucky one, to be part of such a special team of people trying to help those most helpless in a natural disaster – the animals.

Over the course of sixteen days on the ground, IFAW’s team reached over 11 flooded communities containing 15 ‘barangays’ or villages helping more than 3000 animals by feeding, treating and rescuing those in most need.

For more information please visit http://www.ifaw.org

Elephant calf stuck in mud pit rescued and reunited with mother

2009-10-20T09:10:10-04:00

A wild elephant calf, stuck in a mud pit in a tea garden near Kaziranga National Park in the North eastern Indian state of Assam, was rescued and reunited with its mother, by the Assam Forest Department assisted by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and partner Wildlife Trust of India.

The male calf, about four-years old, was found trapped in the mud pit in Kanchanjuri, Bagori Range, Kaziranga. The distressed mother, who remained in the vicinity of the trapped calf, reportedly damaged a bicycle as people approached the calf.

“The mother was nearby and would respond to the calf’s calls and try to approach the pit every time it called. The forest guards kept watch and even fired in the air to scare away the mother, while we tried to rescue the calf,” said Dr Phulmoni Gogoi, IFAW-WTI Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) veterinarian, who attended the rescue.

Dry earth was put into the pit to enable the calf to climb out on its own.

“The calf was healthy, just a bit fatigued by its repeated efforts to extricate itself from the slippery mud in the pit. However as soon as it got out of the pit, it started chasing all of us! It eventually headed off to follow its mother,” Dr Gogoi said.

Annually, a number of Asian elephant calves are separated from their herds due to natural or man-made causes in Assam among other Indian states. IFAW-WTI, through its MVS units in Central and Lower Assam, has attended to seven wild elephants this year, of which five have been released following necessary interventions.

IFAW Canada: Continuing Journal of the Northern Dogs Veterinary Effort

2009-10-10T08:38:00-04:00

This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Jan Hannah, working from remote Cree communities, in the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada.

Day 1 – It seems like we just got home, found great, committed homes for the five dogs we brought south for re-homing, reorganized supplies, but it’s already time to hit the road again. The van is repacked and ready, the road map is out and the Northern Dogs Team is headed back to James Bay, this time to take veterinary services to under-serviced communities along the coast. Essentials for a 22 hour road trip include an interesting audio book, good tunes and a compatible copilot. Jessica, our humane educator from Animals Teach, is that person on this trip. She’s super supportive of Northern Dogs, she’s super comfortable in the classroom and with our overlapping interests we’ll have no trouble filling the 10 or so hours of driving we have ahead of us today. Reaching the coastal communities means hugging the east side of James Bay via the James Bay highway – these communities are farther away than the last ones. We are starting in the northern-most community which is 100 km west of the main highway just below Radisson (which is where the highway ends). From this community, we will travel south back along the James Bay highway to set up clinics in four other communities, each of which is at least 100 km off the highway. Like the last set of clinics, we have all we need for a fully functioning veterinary clinic in the back of one van. Crystal is once again traveling from Ottawa, meeting us for our first overnight in Mattagami.

Day 2 – We made it to our destination last night in just over 11 hours. Along the way, Jessica and I were able to talk through possible improvements to the in-class presentations that she will take to as many classes as possible in each community. She and I have developed this specific Northern Dogs presentation to be relevant to the community kids and the needs of the communities. Jessica will talk about the fact that dogs and people have the same needs; dogs and people have similar feelings; how to read dog body language; when to leave dogs alone; and how to act around and touch dogs. Jessica has so much classroom experience after having designed and presented different programs to more than 450 classrooms per year that I don’t hesitate to leave the classrooms to her.

The James Bay highway stretches north for hours (with no cell phone access or stop offs) and while we are always keeping our eyes peeled for wildlife, so far there have been no exciting bear sightings and the caribou have long since migrated. However, by the number of porcupines, we’re obviously just in time to catch them feasting on the new growth at the side of the road. So far, we’ve seen eight porcupines… even though they amble (even at top speed), I’ve failed to capture any of them on film. Crystal has just figured out that the small, red diamond-shaped signs you see along the roadside are road bumps warnings. One diamond means small bump, two means bigger bump and three means the biggest bump. However, sometimes the road feels like nothing but bumps so the signs quickly become irrelevant! As we get closer to the only service station along the highway (kilometer 381), the trees are getting shorter and thinner… it’s like spring in reverse as you head further north -- the leaves turn into buds and the tamarack revert to the brown of winter. The whole time I’m driving, I’m going over inventory in my head, mulling over logistics, and trying to gauge how many animals will visit us in each community.

Day 3: Someone in the community called me at the office last week, very upset about a dog in her community with a deeply embedded collar. So when we arrived last night, we stashed our belongings in the dorm-like hotel room and immediately set out to find him. The dog has been spotted multiple times but no one can catch him. I’m optimistic and have brought along sedative that we can put in dog food if we get lucky enough to get near him. I had contacted the local police after hearing about the dog and they too knew of him… one of the officers had even chased him but running through town is a river flanked by forest with tons of hiding spots. Unfortunately, if we don’t catch this one while we’re here, he will most likely die from infection, or be killed because he looks “sick”. Either way, we are here and it’s unnecessary for him to suffer anymore. If we can find and fix him, there is no reason for him to die. We drove up and down. Nothing. Unlike past years, we didn’t see lots of dogs either. This community is the largest (as well as the farthest) and yet it’s pretty dog quiet. After about an hour of searching, we called it quits and headed to our room.

But today is a new day and I really hope to luck out by finding the dog. I’m also looking forward to seeing Isis, a totally unsocialized puppy from last year who was adopted by one of the local police officers. Last year, he happened to be working during the night when she was in a crate recovering from her spay. She made so much noise that he found her and ended up spending a large part of the night with her. This particular officer had worked with difficult dogs in the past and while I was skeptical that anyone could meet Isis’ needs, from what I hear, she’s grown into an awesome dog. Anyone who saw that wild thing on intake last year can’t wait to see the new and improved version!

The remaining team members arrived by plane at noon – MJ, Martine and Denise are back for round two, plus two vet techs who are new to the program. The team is comfortable and competent working in these conditions and having such an efficient team, most of who already know each other, makes everything run more smoothly. While they readied the equipment in the surgery trailer, I received a call from a community member who was concerned about a dog near her trailer. She wanted us to come and have a look at the dog and if need be, take her back to the clinic for treatment. Denise and I headed out with leashes and biscuits to find the cluster of houses. The dog was a yellow lab, reddish in colour with a blocky face. Even from a distance we could see that her hind leg was badly swollen and that it caused her to limp. When we approached her, she didn’t move away, just looked at us with big, soft brown eyes. When we made a noose and slipped it over her head, Denise was able to take a closer look… it wasn’t just her leg that was swollen but she looked to have either a severe case of mastitis or a large mammary tumour. We gently lifted her into the back of the van and drove carefully back to the clinic where MJ or Martine could have a better look at her. On arrival, Martine palpated her gently and found that the dog’s underbelly was swollen and hard. It was obvious that she was in serious condition, but it struck us all how gentle and uncomplaining she remained even though she was in considerable pain. She gobbled up the biscuits that we fed her and Martine delivered her diagnosis… mammary tumour, perhaps multiple tumours. If we had been in the last community, the one farthest south, we may have been able to get Becca (as she was called by her community caretaker) to a clinic in the south. While there is no guarantee that she would have recovered, I know we all wanted the opportunity to try. As it was, she was too sick to be transported over the next week as we made our way south via the other communities. Becca was euthanized with her caregiver and Crystal at her side.

Day 4: The community clinic schedules work like this. Half day drive from community to community in the morning, clinic set up, surgeries until 6 pm, one full day clinic the next day, clinic take down, overnight in the same community, drive to next community in the morning. Staying over that last night means that we can work late if need be on the last day and if any complications should arise, we are still in that community and easily available. Right now, we are on the full day of the schedule and I’m still hoping to find and capture the dog with the embedded collar. Isis has come by the clinic for her vaccinations and those of us who saw her last year are totally blown away by her transformation. She isn’t a particularly large dog (about 50 pounds) and unbelievably, she has turned from a spitfire into a quiet, submissive girl. This is one of those happy endings that could have turned out very differently had she not had the commitment and experience of her owner. As we are all fawning over Isis, a call comes in from an officer – the dog with the embedded collar has been spotted! Denise and I climb into Evan’s truck and head to the area where the dog was last reported. Today is the last day to find and help this dog. If we can’t find and catch him, this is it. We drove every street twice, we looked up and down and in and out but in all honestly, that dog knows more hiding places than we would ever think to look. As we head back to the clinic, I admit I’m beginning to lose hope. I tell Evan to keep his eyes open and if he can catch this dog, make sure to call us… no matter where we are. He drops us back at the firehall where Angel, Cheech-sh, Ginger, Puppy, Duffy, Poopsy, Nellie, Wally I, Wally II, Jason and Buck are in varying stages of recovery post surgery. While they recover, I source dinner. Believe it or not, finding food can be one of the most difficult and frustrating tasks. Restaurants, if they exist, do not have consistent hours so you find yourself listening to the radio to hear who’s selling dinner out of their house. This is how you can find Chinese food, pizza, spaghetti, or lasagna in James Bay. Tonight we end up with pizza, clinic take down, and a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow’s drive is five hours for me and my team, three hours for Crystal’s team. This is our first year of splitting the team and servicing two smaller communities simultaneously.

Day 5: This is the day we will determine if splitting the clinics is a good way to move forward. These next two communities are small and the community contacts are not as proficient in advertising and organizing as those in the other communities. Instead of having a full team on site with only a few surgeries to complete, we will have one vet and one tech in each community, meeting up again in Nemaska. We were back in the firehall in ‘our’ community but I learned from Crystal that they had been set up in the old medical clinic which was perfectly outfitted and had a stunning view of the lake just across the way. Penny, a dog with a shattered femur, was taken south last year for extensive surgery and then rehomed. Denise had returned to the community with photos of the dog to show the previous owner, who cared for the dog but couldn’t afford the surgery. While the clinic set up was fantastic, Crystal’s team found two husky type dogs living in small, elevated wire cages just behind it. Irresponsible and cruel treatment of dogs occurs everywhere in the world, but it takes a toll on team morale when we see it. Crystal and Denise worked to find the owners, or someone who would release the dogs. This is a priority and we’ll continue to work on it from home.

In our community, I was pre-planning in my head; if there not many people came to the clinic, we would leave the following day at noon and get to the next community for early set up. Crystal and her team could stay in their community if they were busy and meet us at the next community either late the next night or the following morning. My hope was that we get the people, but if not, I wanted to get moving to the communities that do the work to prepare their community for our arrival. The people started coming even before we were set up. Lexis was a 9 month old tri coloured husky cross in for a spay. Cinquant was a black and buff husky cross to be neutered. Hunter was a big, 2 year old yellow lab who ended up recovering under Martine’s feet as she continued surgeries on Weepshin and Connor. In between, Crystal called to say it was really quiet in the community they were in. We decided to keep in touch and again, plan to move out if things didn’t pick up. We finished up the surgeries, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and hit the sack.

Day 6: Near the end of the day yesterday, an elder brought in a 6 month old lab cross who had been hit by a car. She was hoping that it was nothing serious but it turned out that the pup had a broken femur which needed surgical repair. The mobile clinics are not set up for that kind of surgery but I told her to think about sending Abby down south with us where we would have her fixed, and then find a way to get the pup back to her. When I touched base in the morning, she said she was concerned that she wouldn’t get Abby back, but she wanted her to have the surgery. As Martine was neutering the last dog, a big yellow lab, Abby arrived at the clinic with a leash and a bag of her own food and we put her in the crate in the back of the van. Her owner was obviously torn between not wanting to lose the dog, and wanting the dog to have appropriate care. I wasn’t sure how we would organize getting Abby back but figured I could use volunteer drivers or find someone who was already planning to head in the general direction. When I had another community member ask me to take their dog south, it dawned on me that rather than jostle Abby and her broken leg over 200 km of dirt roads, she could stay with her owner and I would double back on our way home to pick up the two dogs. This would take an extra 6 hours but it made more sense.

As I was talking on the phone, the last surgery had recovered enough to stand up, wobble, weave from side to side and then gather enough momentum to throw himself toward the door, out of the firehall and around the corner. At the last second, I was able to grab him and attach him to a trailer where he had dropped. It’s amazing how fast they can shuffle even though they are still sedated. Once he was picked up by his owner, we finished loading the van, dropped Abby back at her house, and headed to Nemaska, a trip of about 3.5 hours.

Day 7: Finally we saw some big wildlife! The road that leads to Nemaska is about 3 hours along a dirt road east off the James Bay highway. As we headed in yesterday afternoon, we saw a black bear off to the side of the road. She sauntered through the spruce trees, looking back at us until she was a speck. Last year there were hundreds of caribou moving along and across this same road when we were enroute but that was April. Nemaska is my favourite community -- the people are friendly and active, and the community is the only one with trees interspersed among the houses. Every time I say it’s beautiful, I’m told that it’s nothing compared to the original site before the community was moved to the present day site by the government. Nemaska just has a really good vibe and I was glad to be back. We set up the surgery in the board room/kitchen of the firehall and prepared for surgeries. It’s the annual fishing derby (bass) but people still came as soon as the doors opened and by the end of the afternoon, we had recovered, or were in the process of recovering, 24 dogs. Those who were still recovering were fanned out on towels, loosely leashed to whatever we could find in case they decided to leave on their own accord. The dogs go home the same day as their surgery and each one must be able to go into the house or onto a porch where they can finish their recovery. Puppies recover so quickly and with so few noticeable effects (even the surgery openings are tiny) while some dogs will sleep and sleep and sleep. We were still at the clinic at 9 pm eating take out and recovering the final two dogs. Five, six week old female lab pups were brought in for spay surgery. The males had already been rehomed and the owners were taking responsibility for the remaining pups by having them sterilized before they went to their homes. Imagine if each of these females lived to adulthood and had one, if not two litters by the time we returned next year. That’s a lot of puppies having puppies in just twelve months!

Day 8: Breakfast at 8, surgeries starting at 8:30. I expect that we did the brunt of the surgeries yesterday and that we can leave early and make it to Waskaganish by nightfall. However, we’re happy to stay here all day if the need is here. As it turns out, eleven animals were brought in ranging in age from 2 months to 3 years. Bruno was the last dog to be brought in and every one of us was smitten. However, the feeling wasn’t mutual. When you are dealing with a dog who is a flight risk, you always use a slip collar. A dog can shimmy out of a collar, but not out of a noose. Until Bruno. Somehow he managed to loosen, pull and escape before we could tighten. The last I saw of him, he was running back to his house and then miraculously, there he was again, coming in the back of the firehall and willing to forgive us all for the low price of one dog biscuit. Denise came out and sedated him as quickly as possible so that we didn’t lose him again and though he fought it, the sedative always wins. His current owner is actually the aunt of the original owner, a young girl who didn’t know how to take care of a dog. Unfortunately, many dogs are owned by young kids who have no idea what it means to care for a dog. Because everyone loves a cute puppy, puppies find homes easily (and often with young children), but when they become dogs (even if they are chronologically still pups), they are no longer cute and can end up abandoned. We are working on changing attitudes but it takes a long time.

Estimated time of departure, 4 pm. Estimated time of arrival in Waskaganish, 7:30 pm.

Day 9: When Crystal arrived last night, she did an informal, drive by dog count and found just over 70 dogs. She also located our contact and worked out details for the morning. The firehall has seen better days but this year, there is a fresh coat of paint and it looks likes it’s been cleaned since we were there last year. As per usual, the doors open and the dogs come. Two of the first patients are a bit of a surprise because both male owners initially declined the neuter surgery. Reasons for declining a neuter include it’s not fair, it’s not natural, it will change his personality, he won’t be a good hunter and the ever consistent, I just don’t want to. I can say with certainty that very rarely does anyone decline a spay for the same reasons. If anyone does decline a spay, it’s because they want the puppies, not because they feel for the female. But it’s different with males and their male owners. When you neuter a male dog, it will not affect his hunting except to possibly make him more focused on the task at hand and not on the females. Also, neutered males do not roam to find mates, they do not beat up on females for access to them, and they don’t fight for mates. Bottom line for a male owner, however, is that if he thinks of himself when you ask him to neuter his male dog, he won’t do it. The first two surgeries were male dogs, owned by men and the first answers were no. So it was a pleasant surprise when somehow what we said resonated with them and they decided to go ahead. Two black lab youngsters -- easy surgery, quick recovery.

Then came the interesting case of the day. Blackie, a two year old black lab, was brought in with an infected head wound just above and between her eyes. The wound was infecting and oozing, and the owners said that she had come home in February with a bump the size of a golf ball which later exploded -- from then on, it had been oozing but she had not shown any other negative side affects. She was to be spayed so MJ would complete that surgery before looking at her head wound. When MJ called me into surgery, she had cleaned the wound, cut away the skin and found a hole beneath that was at least an inch deep. Hypothesis… piece of bone, blunt trauma of foreign body, or bullet, except that a bullet should not create such infection. She probed inside the wound but couldn’t find anything. She flushed the wound repeatedly and said that she could do nothing more at this point than suture the skin and put Blackie on antibiotics. Some owners are particularly caring and we were confident that these owners would provide the appropriate aftercare. Blackie stayed to recover for most of the day and I will be calling them to check on her progress when we get back home in a few days.

Day 10: Today started when a gentleman came in to ask for help with his whelping dog. He explained that she had started giving birth the previous night but was unable to pass her pups and was in obvious pain. She was a smallish, young dog and this was her first litter. She had also been hit by a car earlier in the year, perhaps affecting her ability to whelp normally. Denise accompanied the owner back to his house to assess the situation but when the dog heard Denise’s strange voice, she moved under the deck. Denise returned to the clinic and told the owner to call if things didn’t progress. Next report was that the young mother-to-be had dropped a puppy on the lawn, but sadly, it was dead. She then moved back to the deck and her owner was concerned that she was exhausted and in pain. Denise and I drove over and there she was, under the front stairs, whimpering. She wouldn’t come out and Denise couldn’t get to her. At this point, the owner pulled the front steps off the deck and Denise bundled the girl into a blanket -- we headed back to the clinic where MJ worked on the young dog for 20 minutes, trying to free the next pup. She pulled me inside to ask if the pups could be saved, would the owner bottle feed them. But it was too late. The process had been too difficult and the remaining two pups were stillborn. The dog was spayed, hooked up to fluids and laid out on an air mattress to recover comfortably. We told the owner to come back for his dog in a couple of hours, which he did, but we sent him home to allow her more recovery time. He came back every hour as she reclined on the mattress, checking that she was okay.

The whole team was leaving on the 3 pm flight to Montreal and we were packing up around the recovering mother, at the same time as owners continued to bring their dogs in for last minute vaccines. We had to pack the vans in a way to accommodate another young mother and her litter of pups which were taking south to rehome. Drop the vets and techs at the airport, sweep, mop, load the vans and breathe a sigh of tired relief that another successful Northern Dogs has come to an end. Early to bed, looking forward to getting an early start and making the 12 hour journey home! The only fly in the ointment is that the pups are very scared and will need lots of work at home. Thankfully, we have 12 hours to assess our options….

IFAW's J. Leask on the 20th Anniversary of the Ivory Trade Ban

2009-10-09T06:39:00-04:00

This month is the 20th anniversary of the start of the global ivory trade ban. In 1989, the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) gave elephants the highest level of protection, which effectively banned the international trade in ivory. This action was taken in response to the alarming slaughter of elephants in Africa in the 1980s, when ivory poaching slashed the continent’s population from more than 1.2 million to about 450,000 in just 10 years.

The anniversary of the ban is not, however, the happy occasion it should be because numerous actions over the past 12 years have undermined its integrity. There is no doubt that, soon after its adoption, poaching levels, illegal trade, ivory prices and global market demand all plummeted -- and with them the incentive to kill elephants.

The unraveling of the ban began in 1997, which undermined its short-lived but positive effects.

In 1999, CITES member countries allowed Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to sell 50 tons of ivory to trading partners in Japan in an “experimental” one-time stockpile sale. As part of the “experiment,” programs were developed to monitor poaching and illegal trade: Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) and the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS). The decision to allow the sale relied heavily on the ability of MIKE to determine whether potential increases in poaching were related to the CITES action.

However, MIKE was unable to deliver the necessary information. Because the decision to allow the “experiment” in the first place was premised on MIKE being able to effectively link the sale to its potential consequences, many CITES members felt deceived.

A number of African elephant range states expressed concerns about increased levels of poaching and illegal trade and tied them to the experimental sale. The sale, they argued, was responsible for a growing ivory demand, especially in Japan and China. These range states, with the precautionary principle in mind, suggested that no further discussions on trade take place because it appeared that the rising demand could never be satisfied through legal one-off sales.

But trade deliberations continued at subsequent CITES meetings and -- despite several West, Central and East African nations providing unequivocal proof of increased poaching and illegal trade inside their borders -- CITES authorized the sale of a further 106 tons of ivory in 2007, which was delivered in 2008 to traders in China and Japan.

Even in developed Western nations, we have an almost impossible job of policing the illegal trade in ivory. It seems absurd to think that selling tons of African ivory to the vast end markets of Japan and China could be successfully policed.

The question becomes: How could a deeply flawed and ultimately failed “experiment” lead to the approval of even more ivory sales?

The answer lies in a well-worn practice in the world of politics: compromise. Some southern African countries wanted to sell ivory. Some countries with burgeoning markets for ivory wanted to buy it. And, some countries, concerned that their elephants were being rapidly killed off, wanted to ban trade.

In the CITES context, it became a game of give-and-take in which Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were allowed to sell their 106 tons of ivory and the worried elephant range states were appeased with a 9-year moratorium on further sales. The ivory sellers and buyers gained financially. But the countries that tried to protect their elephants gained nothing. The 9-year moratorium on further ivory sales is simply too little, too late. More elephants began dying as soon as talk of legal ivory sales began.

Consider some of the recent reports of poaching and ivory seizures and you can’t help but be alarmed. On 30 September 2009, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) seized almost 700 kilograms (1,540 pounds) of ivory with a potential value of $1.5 million. Also in September, police seized a shipment of 684 kilograms (1,504 pounds) of ivory at Nairobi's international airport that was bound for Bangkok, and police in Cameroon intercepted a shipment of about 283 pieces of ivory, weighing nearly 997 kilograms (2,193 pounds). Last July, Kenyan authorities intercepted 16 elephant tusks and two rhino horns being illegally exported to Laos from Mozambique. Ivory weighing 6.3 tons was seized in Hanoi, Vietnam, in March 2009.

Such has been the deadly toll on elephants since the partial lifting of the ban in 1997. There was a 6.5 tonne Singapore seizure of 2002 and a widely reported massacre of elephants in Chad in 2006. From August 2005 to August 2006, scientists estimate that approximately 23,000 elephants were killed to supply global ivory markets. Recent estimates suggest that 38,000 elephants are killed each year – 104 each day.

Elephants are being killed by the thousands to support a flourishing illegal trade in ivory. Who should be held accountable for this needless slaughter?

Every person and every nation involved in facilitating the ivory trade decisions of the past 12 years should take responsibility. The European Union, in particular, has played an important role in facilitating these deadly compromises. Let’s face it; a political body of 27 member nations has a lot of negotiating clout in international treaties such as CITES.

Proponents of the ivory trade and stockpile sales “experiments” have to realize that they’ve helped create a serious problem which, if not curtailed soon, will take us back to the elephant “killing fields” of the 1980s. They must take immediate action to prevent poaching and illicit trade by providing the elephant range states that are calling for practical assistance with expertise and assistance.

The only way to save the world’s remaining elephants is to eliminate the global ivory trade, legal and illegal -- to permanently close all ivory markets and totally ban the ivory trade. Perhaps this is the light in which the 1989 ban is worth celebrating – knowing that a solution exists – and that it is within our grasp.

Jason Bell-Leask - Country Director
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) - South Africa

Efforts Intensify as IFAW Rescues Animals Stranded for More Than a Week

2009-10-08T11:21:21-04:00

International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Michael Booth reports from the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana. To donate, please visit www.ifaw.org

It has been two days since my last blog entry and much has happened here in the Philippines, so I’ll just dive right into it.

Yesterday we had a very successful day out in Laguna. This town is located approximately 1.5 hours south of the capital city of Manila. The region sits next to a huge lake, beautiful scenery, but not the place you want to be when a Typhoon strikes. In two days, the water level rose in a flash and flooded many of the coastal communities. Some locals expect the flood will continue for the next two months! To assess and rescue animals impacted in this region, we had to source a number of boats. Unlike the floods in much of the city, the water in this rural landscape was much deeper, so it was impossible to suit up and cover the area by trucks or on foot.

Luckily, a boat club learned about our rescue work over the Internet and soon volunteered their time together with 4 boats and 1 kayak to help us reach animals in need. It’s inspiring to meet people like them; they have put their daily lives on hold to help in rescue efforts following Typhoon Ketsana. The day after the storm hit, they were out on their boats pulling people to safety and just a few days ago they were helping the Red Cross in relief efforts conducted in Manila. For more than a week now they have offered their resources and time – true heroes that rose to the occasion, no questions asked.

One of their more valuable assets is an Air Boat, a propeller-powered boat that glides through the surface and can navigate through all the debris produced by the storm, much like those used in the Florida Everglades. This proved a vital resource in Tuesday’s rescues. To cover the large area of Laguna, we split into 4 different groups. In all, there were 22 rescuers on the water, all orchestrated by IFAW team leaders: Brenda Stanton, Dick Green, Rich Crook, and Carl Boyle. Once again staff and volunteers from PAWS (Philippines Animal Welfare Society) joined us in the rescues. The city was divided into 4 sections and at the end of the day, every flooded street and alley was covered. Food was distributed for dozens of animals and their human caretakers and vets provided care for those with medical conditions. Some of the more exciting work occurred in the very limits of the lake town, areas where the water was so deep that stranded pets were unable to jump from roof to roof and too weak to swim to safety.

We first found 2 kittens, probably 2 or 3 weeks old stranded on the roof of a small wooden hut. These cats were scared, dehydrated and emaciated. They had not had anything to eat in a week and had survived by drinking the little rainwater that accumulated on the rooftop. As we approached them, they quickly hid behind the rafters. They were feral cats and taking them to safety would be a little harder than simply carrying them on the boat. My colleagues Dick and Carl took some food out and in a matter of seconds they were already poking their heads out of the sides of the hut and started devouring the food. With two swift extractions, Dick pulled the cats out of the inside of the hut and into a net held by Carl. It was a quick and painless maneuver that took the kittens by surprise. Their concern soon disappeared when they were offered more food to satisfy their hunger!

Another exciting rescue was that of 3 dogs living on two rooftops and a bamboo barge full of ducks. It was clear that someone was boating out every day to provide feed for the ducks, but the only way the dogs were surviving was by eating duck feces and drinking rainwater. Needless to say, these 3 dogs were literally a day or two from passing away. They were just skin and bones and extremely traumatized by their ordeal. They dove into the water and swam off as we approached with the boats but thanks to the skills of our capture team, we were able to pluck these dogs out of the water and into safety. Two of the dogs are already making an incredible recovery. Back at the rehabilitation center, they are eating and already show positive signs. Sadly, the other poor little one is still struggling. He has slept for two consecutive days and although he is cared for by experienced vets 24/7, this disaster might have been too much for him to endure. The next 48 hours will be decisive and we are all pulling for him, he has already gone through so much.

Stay tuned for more on IFAW’s work in the Philippines. As we enter week 2 of operations, we visit new impacted areas, some of which have not received any aid since the Typhoon struck. For more information on how you can help save animals impacted by disasters around the world, go to www.ifaw.org.

IFAW India: Critically ill leopard treated and released in Assam

2009-10-06T14:44:37-04:00

This brief update was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's partner the Wildlife Trust of India. Shibani Chaudhury, their General Manager for Communications and Planning penned the post below:

Dinjan (Assam), September 30, 2009: A sub-adult female leopard, found in a critical state on September 9 in Dinjan Military Station, Dibrugarh, Assam, was released in Joypur Reserve Forest last week by the Forest Department, following treatment provided with the assistance of the veterinarians from the Army and IFAW-WTI.

The leopard was found in a ditch within the military station. Dr Anurag Kohli, Lieutenant Colonel and Remote Veterinary Corp, began the treatment immediately. The Army personnel informed the Forest Department authorities.

“The leopard had no external injury, but passed blood stained stool and was vomiting. We suspected it to be a case of feline enteritis. It was sedated to administer the medication. Saline infusion was made as it was dehydrated. It was injected with antibiotics and painkillers, and oral supplements was provided laced in meat chunks. It recovered quite well,” said Dr Abhijit Bhawal, veterinarian of the Mobile Veterinary Services – Upper Assam, run by the Forest Department and IFAW-WTI.

The leopard was released at dawn last Sunday in Joypur Reserve Forest under the guidance of Jiten Baruah, Range Officer.

"A discussion was held with the locals before the release. The Forest Department officials assured that the release area will be monitored, just in case the leopard strays out of the forest," added Dr Bhawal.

Since the early 2000s when IFAW-WTI’s rescue programme began in the northeast Indian states particularly in Assam, more than 50 leopards have been attended to by the IFAW-WTI vets assisting the Forest Department. These include 13 cases in Upper Assam, of which five were released after stabilisation and necessary treatment while the remaining were transferred to other facilities for further treatment.

IFAW rescue and relief operations still underway in the Philippines

2009-10-05T04:51:41-04:00

Michael Booth, IFAW ER responder and communications officer reports from the Philippines.

We’re on day 5 of operations here in the Philippines. Yesterday was an extremely busy and tiring day for us but very gratifying at the same time. Once again we headed out to Pasig City part of Metro-Manila, still flooded about chest-high deep in many areas.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare team arrived on scene at 7:00am ready to join a Philippines Armed Forces convoy heading to unexplored areas of the submerged city. This time we headed further South on Mercedes Street and into Greenwood Village. We traveled into the area on a big Army truck full of humanitarian and animal relief supplies.

Ten minutes into Greenwood, we stopped to offer bags of food to an elderly couple that had set up a makeshift camp by the side of the road, one of the only dry spots still available. They were in turn the owners of 4 goats and 2 dogs and were extremely grateful for the aid.

Word spread quickly and we were soon notified that there were 9 families living on top of metallic rooftops in a section that used to hold 15 families in a small and isolated shanty-town. The families owned 5 dogs and 4 cats and both humans and animals have been living in very precarious conditions since Typhoon Ketsana thundered through. After making our way out on an inflatable kayak, we carefully climbed on to the roof. Residents and their pets have been living literally on the edge. It was a balancing act to get around and distribute food for all of them. IFAW team-member and trained paramedic Brenda Stanton (member of the Washington State’s HEART group) attended to an apparent snake-bite on one of the villager’s arms. Fortunately the bite had come from a Philippine Reticulated Python, a non-venomous snake.

On this roof we also met Lucky, Balbon or “Furry”, and Hunter. These three dogs were so excited to see new faces and of course smell the food brought for them that they started to run around the maze of planks and metal roof. Hunter soon realized how dangerous this was by slipping and falling into the water below. Luckily the man helping us anchor our kayak was there in a few seconds to retrieve the scared dog.

More aid will come to those families that cling to life just a few feet from the water. Lucky, Balbon and Hunter will also be checked regularly by the city’s vet who has pledged his support to IFAW and local teams.

Before leaving Greenwood Village, the truck parked on a relatively low-flooded alley way and we all stepped out to deliver humanitarian and animal relief. The ‘human package’ included water bottles, sardine cans and bread, enough to satisfy the hunger but not for too long. These relief campaigns will surely continue for weeks, maybe months. Areas like Pasig have been cut-off from the rest of the city and depend on these convoys to survive. At the news of IFAW’s presence, people started to bring their pets with them. Dogs and cats were also given donated dry food and cans. It is always encouraging to see the positive response we get from people who are not used to seeing relief items for both humans and animals given side-by-side. IFAW has responded in many of the world’s worst disasters for years and we know that humans and animals are inextricably linked. The quicker the owners are able to get ‘back on their feet’ again, the easier it will be for them to care for their animals.

Tomorrow we are heading to Laguna. This city is about an hour and a half South of the capital city of Manila and experienced tremendous floods that have the water still neck-deep and higher. Our mission remains the same, locate, rescue and provide relief for animals impacted by this disaster. Many are stranded on rooftops and have not seen water or food for days. Thanks to your support, help is on the way. For more information on how you can help, visit our website.

Check out this new video on our animal rescues in the Philippines!

IFAW rescues animals in flooded areas of Manila, Philippines

2009-10-02T07:35:45-04:00

This report was filed by Michael Booth, IFAW ER responder and communications officer currently in the Philippines.

It was a Tuesday morning when I first got word of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s immediate deployment to the Philippines. It is hard to assimilate the news when you are given only 2 or 3 hours to pack and get on the first plane out, but that is ‘business as usual’ for our disaster response team. Time to think about it? Well, there’s enough time to do that during the 22-hour journey from Boston to Manila.

The mission was very straight-forward. IFAW had been asked by a coalition of animal welfare groups and the local government to assist with animal rescues following the devastating Typhoon Ketsana (aka Ondoy) that flooded huge areas of Manila and surrounding districts. IFAW was to provide specific water rescue responders. The list of challenges included the presence of hazardous debris in the water, electric and phone cables, open man holes, toxic water, and the possibility of a shortage of boats.

Despite all this, a tired but enthusiastic team finally landed at the Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 3:50am on Oct. 1st. One of the first things we noted was the weather. It was hot and humid. If it was like this at 4am, what would it be like at midday? No time to think, or even lie down for a nap in an air-condition room, no, we had a scheduled meeting with the Animal Welfare Coalition and the Dept. of Agriculture that would lay down the plan to move forward in rescue efforts of those animals in crisis and distress.

After one of many meetings, the IFAW team split in two to cover 2 of the hardest hit ‘subcities’, mud- covered Marikina and underwater Pasig. I headed for the water with Rich Crook who joined IFAW’s team from Utah where he works for Best Friends.

Rich and I were not alone, we teamed up that day with local group PAWS (Philippine Animal Welfare Society) who we have a long history with. Their shelter in Manila was built with support from IFAW more than a decade ago and we met our friends from PAWS just last year while we conducted an Emergency Response Training in Indonesia. Well, it was time to put that training into good use and after careful coordination with officials from the Philippine Army, Navy and Military, we set off on military trucks as far as we could go and then by boat and on foot to the areas still chest-high in water, places where humans and animals alike had been left isolated.

It’s hard to explain just how surreal it is to walk over flooded streets and encounter makeshift boats and children swimming where cars and motorcycles usually roam. It may have been the jetlag mixed with the unbearable heat felt under the special dry suits we had on, but just being there and rescuing some of these dogs in certainly one of their greatest time of need is enough to get your blood boiling and the adrenaline pumping. We walked many hard-earned miles that first day until there was no more light to continue. On the way we helped many struggling animals by providing food, water and medication and took two of them back with us for extended care at the animal shelter.

At night, we restored our energy and were out again today, rescuing stranded dogs on rooftops or mud-bogged islands of debris and continued our assessment of those animals in rural areas. But as good as I feel about the progress made so far, there are challenging moments ahead of us. As I write this Typhoon Parma is making landfall in the North, not too far away from where we are now in Manila. On its heels another potential Super-cyclone headed this way. They will surely bring more water, more floods and put many lives at risk but we will not stop. IFAW is able to respond anywhere around the world because you make it possible. To learn more about our work to save and protect animals, please visit our website.

IFAW South Africa: Updates from Happy Valley

2009-09-30T10:52:59-04:00

This post was written by Lisa Cant-Haylett, Campaign Officer of the Companion Animals projects for IFAW Southern Africa. It is part of a series that will track the progress of our IFAW’s cat and dog project in Cape Town, South Africa, in the Happy Valley informal settlement.

September 23, 2009 - Our morning in Happy Valley begins with the dropping off of dogs and cats spayed/neutered the day before. All animals given the okay to return home to their owners are loaded into the clinic’s trailer and one by one they are returned home to their owners.

It is delightful to see how excited they get when the pickup truck and trailer stops outside each home - every pooch seems instinctively to know when they are home and as soon as their paws touch the ground they rush off into to find their owners.

As the pick up truck and trailer winds through the dusty streets of the Valley, word that the clinic has arrived spreads and owners wait outside their homes with anticipation, bringing an air of excitement to what is otherwise another day of hardship for those living in this forlorn area.

After all the previous days charges are safely back home, we head off to our starting point for the day to start our door to door work. Project Manager Jane Levinson, volunteer vet Paolo Koch, Laura Dobson and myself turn on foot into the first road. A youngish dog with a bad case of mange comes bounding down the road towards us. He is skittish and we follow him as he makes a beeline for a house up ahead.

As we approach his owner’s home our attention is diverted as a heavily pregnant bitch comes into view lying against a concrete wall. Even though she is lying in a tight bundle trying to shelter from the wind, it is evident that she is very pregnant. The dog stays lying down as we approach her to take a closer look, our presence not seeming to deter her from continuing to try and keep warm in the wet sand.

A young lady from a home next door smiles and asks us how we are, we reciprocate the greeting and, as is the case in most instances when we ask residents how they are, they respond without hesitation that “alles is goed, ons kan nie kla nie” or “everything is good, we can’t complain”. It is of course, rather a case of they can complain and some do, but the majority of folk are humble and grateful for what little they have and the assistance we provide to them and their pets.

As we make a note that we need to return to the home of the pregnant bitch to speak to the owners about providing shelter for her, heavy rain starts to fall and people scatter towards their homes to seek shelter.

We huddled in the bakkies waiting for the rain to abate, before continuing on down the road.

I notice a young boy of four or five standing outside a fenced yard cuddling a young cat that was desperately trying to persuade him to share whatever it is he is eating. The boy’s mother appears and we ask her if the cat belongs to her. She says yes and we ask her if she would like us to take the cat to have her spayed. Her response is a resounding yes but before we turn to leave, she pulls me to one side and quietly asks what the cost would be for the operation. I tell that it is free and I see her breathe a sigh of relief.

We carry the cat back to the vehicle to vaccinate and deworm her and put her in a cage to take back to the clinic. Out of the corner of my eye I see the young boy come bounding down the road with a small puppy dangling from his arms. I take the young pup from him after he very proudly tells me that it is his dog. Laura examines the puppy and although lethargic, she can’t find anything wrong with him. She deworms the young pup and then notices that there is some blood in his stool, the thought crosses our minds that this could, possibly be an early symptom of the parvo virus?

We decide to take the young pup back to the clinic after the owner tells us that the puppy’s sister died the day before. It is clear that it is likely a case of the parvo virus and the young pup will need to be put on a drip.

Paolo and Jane retrace their steps to find the owners of the mangy dog whilst Laura and I notice three young boys heading towards us with a medium sized tan dog. Laura takes a look and upon closer examination is astounded to find that he is riddled with ticks, more than she has ever seen on one animal.

I don a pair of surgical gloves and join Laura in removing the ticks from our patient. After removing 30 ticks we stop counting and comment to each other that it is a wonder the dog doesn’t have biliary. A small crowd gathers as neighbours and passers-by notice the bundle of ticks next to the dog. We also notice a two centimeter wound on his back and ask the young boys if they know what happened there, their reply is that he was in a fight with another dog. We treat the wound and apply anti-parasitic solution to his neck and back to discourage and kill off any further ticks.

Jane arrives back at the vehicle and says she has a cat for me, knowing that I can’t resist any feline needing care and attention. The cat was found under a sofa in a house close by where almost everyone in the house was drunk and she had a broken leg. No-one could tell us how long the cat had been lying there and the cause of the injury was unknown. It was abundantly evident that no one in the house was concerned with the cat at all and so we took a decision there and then not to return the cat to the house.

Driver Juta and Animal Welfare Assistant Lazola arrive with the pick-up and trailer loaded with dogs and cats for spay and neuters for the following day. We wrap up our morning of door to door work and head on back to the clinic. Before we are about to leave a passerby, awkwardly carrying a heavy wooden door, stops us and asks if we will be back as he says: “I have a dog nearby that needs some help”. Our response, yes, we will be back in the Valley to check on his dog.

For more information, please visit IFAW.org

Amur tiger released back to the wild!

2009-09-22T10:53:07-04:00

The following post was filed by Masha Vorontsova, the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Russia Director, following the release of an endangered Amur (aka Siberian) Tiger, one of only 450 remaining in the wild.

Last week, in Russia’s Far East, a 14-month old male tiger was successfully released after six months in rehabilitation. Prior to the release, the young tiger was radio-collared by scientists from the Russian Academy of Science who will monitor the cub after the release.

When the orphan tiger cub was found on the 1st of March of this year in the village of Avangard, no one even believed there could be a happy end to this story. The small and weak tiger cub, which at the age of eight months weighed only 17 kg, came to the village in the call of hunger.

In his desperation, the starving cub tried to kill a villager’s dog. Alerted by the noise, locals immediately contacted the government’s tiger protection team: Inspection Tiger to ask for help.

This tiger rescue, unlike many others, was an easy one. The tiger cub was so weak that it took little time for the specialists from Inspection Tiger to catch and move it to a temporary enclosure in Razdolnoe. This enclosure was build with support from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in 2007 for what was ground-breaking rehabilitation work with four orphan tiger cubs. For a few weeks, the tiger was cared for by Oleg Grinenko from Inspection Tiger, but at the end of March a group from IFAW under the leadership of IFAW’s Emergency Relief Director Ian Robinson, visited the cub and deemed the animal a good candidate to be rehabilitated and returned to the wild. At that moment, IFAW then issued a grant to support the veterinary care and feed for the tiger.

Different organizations including IFAW, WCS, the Phoenix Fund and the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources came together for intensive consultation and arrived to a consensus that yes, the young tiger had an excellent chance to be successfully re-introduced to the wild and that it should be moved into a larger enclosure at the Zoological Center, part of the Russian Academy of Science’s Institute of Biology and Pedology for an extended period of rehabilitation.

From the 28th of May up to the day before his release, the tiger was under the daily care of Dr. Viktor Udin. In order to help the tiger quickly gain his weight back, Udin was feeding him porridge with vitamins. In the first month, the cub was able to gain 10 kg. Among the important tasks in rehab, Udin needed to teach the cub to avoid people and to hide from them; create a healthy fear of humans so that the tiger would not be tempted to return to any villages which would lead to life-threatening tiger-human conflict.

The tiger made amazing progress in his six months of rehabilitation. He grew to become a 70 kg.-strong and young tiger, who showed a fear of humans and who could hunt for its prey species.

The tiger cub was released on September 16, at the buffer zone of the Ussuriisky Nature Reserve. This was only the second tiger released into the wild in Russia after extended rehabilitation.

The monitoring of the cub will be conducted by the scientists from the Russian Academy of science. Since 2007, IFAW has been involved in the rehabilitation of six orphan tiger cubs. We wish this last one a safe life back in the wild, his natural home.

IFAW South Africa - New Vet Volunteers Land in Happy Valley

2009-09-21T11:53:33-04:00

This post was written by Christina Pretorius, Programme Manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare Southern Africa. It is part of a series that will track the progress of our cat and dog project in Cape Town, South Africa, in the Happy Valley informal settlement.

(15 September 2009) Yesterday morning bloomed blustery and overcast, but not cold thank goodness. Spring has definitely come to the Western Cape and daisies flower thick in every grass verge.

Three new volunteer veterinarians arrived over the weekend – Paolo Koch from Italy via the UK where he has been working in a small animal practice and brushing up on his English (which seemed excellent to me), Laura 1 and Laura 2 – Laura Dobson and Laura Waring – both new graduates from London University.

They will be working at IFAW’s dog and cat project for between one week (Laura 2) and three months (Laura 1). Paolo will stay for two weeks.Yay! With Rozelle, our fulltime vet on maternity leave, we need all the help we can get.

After doing a clinic orientation we decided to get our newbies straight into the saddle by taking them on Monday’s mobile clinic to Happy Valley. There were dogs and cats from the area that had been sterilised, returned home and needed their stitches taking out, plus the usual mobile clinic activities of consulting and treating, and our door-to-door work to encourage proper pet care and collections of course.

So off our convoy of three bakkies (South African slang for pick-up trucks) headed for Happy Valley “informal” settlement (As an aside, I hate that term. For me it kind of suggests that shack communities are somehow temporary, when the truth is they aren’t. With the slow pace of service delivery in South Africa, living in a shack will be the only home most people will ever know).

After years of working in some of our very poorest communities I’ve built up a thick skin, but I think Happy Valley came as something of a shock to our fresh-off-a-plane- from Europe vets.

On arrival we stopped briefly to let Lazola, one of our energetic animal welfare assistants, hop out to ride “shotgun” on top of the trailer. Perched up high he can see over fences and into the yards of shacks to spot if dogs are tied up.

Not 200 metres down the road Lazola yelled for us to stop – he’d spotted a dog on a short chain. The owners were home so, after asking permission we entered the property. The dog was terribly skinny but cheerfully leaping again and again on its chain.

Lazola and Paolo tried to persuade the owner to let us take his dog for treatment and sterilisation and that’s when things turned nasty – the owner was drunk (at 11 am!) and also appeared to be drugged up, although his female partner was keen for us to take the dog.

After a lot of shouting and screaming between the two of them – the owner said he needed the dog for protection, and wouldn’t let it go, while she kept trying to untie the poor animal. Eventually we reached a compromise and Paolo was able to treat the dog for worms and vaccinate it on site. We agreed between us that we’ll return in a day or two’s time when the owner has sobered up and might be persuaded to send his dog to the clinic.

In the meantime the mobile had set up on our usual site, and we had a steady parade of owners arriving with their dogs and cats for treatment and bringing their sterilised pets to have their stitches removed. The vets managed the consultations while the door-to-door crew canvassed the area for dogs and cats needing help.

One interesting feature about Happy Valley is its large population of calico cats. They are incredibly pretty with their patches of black, ginger and white – but I’ve never seen so many of them in one place before. It would be interesting to know why?

Later in the afternoon we moved the mobiles to another area of the community. Parking at the bottom of Ocean Street we split up to go door to door, and within 10 minutes it became clear that we needed all the vets at the clinic bakkie to cope with a flood of pets needing treatment – including many, many puppies. We treated well over 50 pets in a couple of hours.

Delightful was the fact that most owners of adult dogs were prepared to let their pets be taken off for sterilisation and, by the end of the afternoon, we’d loaded up 13 dogs and three cats. All these pets will be sterilised today and returned home to their owners tomorrow.

Back at clinic Paolo said his first day was a baptism of fire: “I never thought it would be that bad”. But, after our daily debrief decided to send a second mobile back to Happy Valley today, guess who was first to volunteer his services?

Dog cull set to begin today – Write your Chinese Ambassador Now!

2009-09-11T11:44:00-04:00

Reports from China indicate a citywide dog cull is beginning today in a district of Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province near Beijing. Dogs that are not registered and vaccinated will reportedly be killed, along with stray animals.

Residents with dogs over 14 inches in height or with those which are considered to be “dangerous breeds” were being asked to kill their own dogs by yesterday, September 10th. If these animals were not killed, police were set to form dog-beating squads, combing the district and killing all such dogs. Owners would then be fined for the killing.

While authorities are attributing the plan to recent dog-biting incidents in the area, IFAW’s Asia Regional Director, Grace Ge Gabriel says, “To pick this time to enforce the dog regulation, it is obvious that Qinhuangdao hopes to “clean” the streets and put on a good show for China’s National Day on October 1st. But, by inflicting cruelty on animals, the city is doing the exact opposite.

Mass killing of dogs is going to generate outrage from people all over the world, damaging China’s image of a harmonious society.”

Due to the lack of rabies prevention programs, consistent dog population controls or responsible pet ownership education, city governments often resort to mass killing of dogs as a means to control dog populations and prevent rabies outbreaks. This May, the cull in Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province was responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 dogs. “This brutal killing of dogs further highlights the need for legislation that will ensure the humane treatment of all animals,” continues Gabriel.

Meanwhile, the central government is working with IFAW and other groups in China to draft national animal welfare legislation which Gabriel says is the only way to ensure the humane treatment of animals for the long-term.

“Qinhuangdao must stop the mass slaughter of dogs and attend to the root causes of overpopulation and rabies transmission. Above all else, this includes the need for vaccination and sterilization.”

“We are of course pleased that the draft of China’s first animal welfare legislation is near completion but it we fear it will be too late for the tens of thousands of dogs in Qinhuangdao,” concluded Gabriel.

Visit this link to fill in your name and address (merely to identify your legislators), click “Submit,” and there you can send a letter to your Chinese Ambassador. Please act now for these dogs.

IFAW-rescued dolphin spotted with pod in open water

2009-09-10T15:02:23-04:00

The following report comes from International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Sarah Sharp. Sarah is an Emergency Relief officer and coordinates IFAW’s Marine Mammal Rescue Team.

September is usually one of our slower months for strandings and as I got out of bed on September 1st and headed out the door for a run, I thought how excited I was to be nearly done with the craziness of summer. Unfortunately, before I could get one foot out the door, the hotline rang at 6:45am. A gentleman living in Wellfleet had just seen two dolphins strand right behind his house on Chequesset Neck Rd. He reported that the animals were about 5-6 feet long and lying on their bellies, and the tide would be rising for another 3 or 4 hours.

Immediately, my stranding adrenaline began pumping and I quickly called our first responder volunteers in Wellfleet and Eastham to get out to the dolphin as quickly as possible. When our first volunteer arrived on scene, the dolphins (identified as Atlantic white sided dolphins) were already in nearly a foot of water and were about to be refloated and swim off on their own. She watched the larger animal make a few strong strokes and disappear out of sight, then watched the second animal, swim off, heading unfortunately towards Great Island, a treacherous and remote location.

We always have mixed emotions when animals free themselves and swim off in Wellfleet Harbor. We are glad that they aren’t experiencing the stress and physical pressure of being stranded anymore, but it is an extremely complex harbor to navigate, and they are rarely able to successfully find their way out to open water. As our volunteers watched the dolphin swim in slow circles near Great Island, I received another report on our hotline of a stranded dolphin on Great Island. The woman could see two dolphins, one was swimming near shore and the other (likely a third animal) was stuck on land. Our volunteers made their way over to the Great Island access point and prepared for a hike out to the dolphin - over a mile on uneven sandy terrain with heavy buckets of gear. Myself and Jane, another stranding staff member were just arriving in Wellfleet, and called the Wellfleet Harbormaster to see if they could bring us out to the dolphin by boat, and they graciously agreed to help us out.

As we arrived on scene, we found a young female Atlantic white sided dolphin with only a few scrapes on her belly from oyster shells, no other dolphins were visible. She was calm, her respirations were strong and steady. We quickly got to work making her comfortable and conducting a thorough health assessment including blood analysis on our portable blood machines. We were thrilled that the examination revealed that she was healthy! We attached an orange tag #78 to her dorsal fin and arranged for her release. We decided to tow her alongside the harbormaster’s vessel in her stretcher, as slowly as possible, out to Jeremy Point, the tip of Great Island, where she would have a clear shot into Cape Cod Bay.

This trip took an hour and a half, with four volunteers holding onto the handles of the stretcher, making sure that her blowhole was out of the water so she could easily breathe during the whole trip. When we finally reached the release location, the volunteers together dropped one side of the stretcher and gave her a little nudge to start swimming. And did she swim! She took off like a bullet and headed directly into Cape Cod Bay, the last we saw of her was the distant tip of her dorsal fin breaking the surface, heading, we hoped, to find the rest of her pod.

Now most times, that’s where the stranding story ends, we hope for the best, but rarely find out what happens after the animals are released…but not this time! The very next day, a Gloucester based whale watch boat sent photos of an Atlantic white sided dolphin with orange tag #78 on her dorsal fin – it was our girl! She was seen and photographed (above) by staff from the Whale Center of New England on a whale-watching cruise as she swam with 50-60 other Atlantic white sided dolphins and looked fantastic! Our whole team was ecstatic to hear the news. The rescue had been a tricky one, and we took a chance releasing her by herself, hoping that she would find others of her kind again. Thankfully, all the hard work and stress had paid off, she had successfully met up with a group of dolphins and looked really healthy. This is the kind of story that we stranding responders live for, one with a truly happy ending!

For more on IFAW's Marine Mammal Rescue team and other animal rescue work around the world, please visit www.ifaw.org.

The following video shows the moment when Dolphin #78 was released:

Traumatized slow loris released after treatment in IFAW field station

2009-09-09T14:30:35-04:00

A slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) rescued from Dholagaon near Dibru Saikhowa Wildlife Sanctuary by the Assam Forest Department, was released following treatment by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and Wildlife Trust of India's Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) unit, last month. The loris reportedly lost grip while attempting to cross between two trees on a cable wire, and fell into a bush.

“A crowd gathered when they saw the loris walking on the cable. The loris must have slipped while it hurried to escape the gaze of the onlookers,” said Dr Abhijit Bhawal, veterinarian of the MVS, who accompanied the Forest Department officials during the rescue.

“It’s injuries were minor, and it seemed more shaken on seeing so many people, than due to the fall,” he added.

The loris was taken to the MVS field station in Dibru Saikhowa Wildlife Sanctuary for stabilization. Its injuries were treated, and following two days of observation it was released in the wild in the Kayatia camp in Dibru Saikhowa.

A shy, nocturnal primate, slow loris is listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act. Main threats to lorises include habitat degradation, poaching for bushmeat and trade in parts for traditional medicines as well as in live animals sold as pets. In 2007, the genus Nycticebus comprising at least three species, was upgraded from Appendix II to Appendix I in the UN’s Convention on International Trade of Edangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) database.

For more information on how you can help rescue animals like this slow loris, go to www.ifaw.org

IFAW South Africa - Helping Cats and Dogs in Happy Valley

2009-09-08T12:06:54-04:00

This post was written by Christina Pretorius, Programme Manager for IFAW Southern Africa. It is the first of a series that will track the progress of our cat and dog project in Cape Town, South Africa, in the Happy Valley informal settlement.

(8 September 2009) Nearly two weeks ago IFAW’s dog and cat project in Cape Town began taking its mobile clinics to the Happy Valley informal settlement.

It’s hard to imagine what was on the mind of the bureaucrat who named this desperately poor community of shacks and lean-tos built on the sandy Cape Flats about 30 kilometres from Cape Town – as this Happy Valley in no way recalls the glamorous, if dissolute, lives of the wealthy aristocrats and adventurers of Kenya’s renowned Happy Valley set of the 20’s and 30’s.

But Happy Valley it is, and there for all to see emblazoned on a sign sponsored by that very famous fizzy drink brand.

In our first two visits to the settlement 35 dogs and cats were removed for sterilization and then returned home – as I write this more than 80 dogs and cats have received this vital surgery that IFAW’s project provides.

From kick-off it struck me that to follow our work in Happy Valley in the weeks to come would be an ideal topic for a blog. A new area, a new challenge, and a community desperately in need of animal welfare support – and, as importantly, this settlement is representative of many of the places where IFAW’s cat and dog projects work in South Africa; so maybe this blog will provide some insight into the challenges that face us in our work to bring hope and health to pets.

To give some context I did a little research on Happy Valley and informal settlements in general around Cape Town. According to the City of Cape Town we have 223 informal settlements dotted around this metropolitan of four million people. In 2007 it estimated that half million people were living in approximately 109,000 dwellings.

And according to a recent report by the African Centre for Cities (associated with the University of Cape Town), 77 per cent of people in Cape Town’s informal settlements live below the official poverty line – a monthly income of R1,600.00 or about US$160.00. A final shocking statistic from the city is that 40 per cent of people living in informal settlements are unemployed.

There are no statistics to tell us how many dogs live in these communities but Happy Valley has plenty, and lots of cats too.

Similar to most of these communities Happy Valley is blighted by all manner of social ailments from high crime, child and wife abuse, alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, HIVAids and TB.

The area in which we are working is home to 5,000-odd people, relying on communal taps for (cold) water and portable lavatories for sanitation – those that are able claim their “own” lavatory by securing it with a padlock, so they don’t have to share.

Housing is rudimentary with everyone living in shacks, some smaller and some a little larger, some fairly robust and some very ramshackle. They line the grid of sandy access routes that criss-cross the settlement – it’s this web of well-demarcated paths that will help us in our door-to-door work to identify dogs and cats in need. And, you might ask, how shall we know where to return a sterilized pet? Well, believe it or not, each sandy track has a name and each shack a number, so every pet has a home address!

On our first visit to Happy Valley, our door-to-door investigations turned up no less than four litters of puppies – 30 in all – in four shacks that were side by side! One mommy dog had dug herself a den into the sand under her owner’s shack to protect her pups from the weather; another was nursing her pups on some old sacks under a corrugated iron shelter that offered no protection from the biting wind or from the damp sand below – it is late winter in Cape Town and very wet and cold.

Few people in communities like this will allow their dogs into their shacks – the space is too small, and it’s hard enough to keep the sand out without having a dog bring more in, and not everyone can afford a kennel or realizes that a dog needs a warm, dry bed if they are to sleep outside.

Fortunately the owners of two of the litters were persuaded to let us take the moms and their pups back to clinic. A quick conversion turned our run into a maternity ward with a couple of cozy kennels and once the puppies are weaned, the moms will be sterilized and returned home and loving homes found for their offspring. All are doing well.

On a much less happy note, on Monday we had to rush a female dog that had been stabbed by a drunk back to clinic and into surgery. The dog was hurt after it started to bark at the man who had intruded onto her owner’s shack property. The knife wound had punctured her large intestine in three places.

“Lappies” (the name means “rags” in the local vernacular) was operated on for nearly three hours by our volunteer vet Esme Wilson. It’s still touch and go whether or not Lappies will make it but we are hopeful.

In the meantime, we understand her owner knows the man who stabbed her and he will be encouraged to lay a charge against him – but, in this small, tight-knit community, the owner may prefer not to do so. I’ll keep you posted.

So that wraps up the first Happy Valley blog – it’s a bit long, but I hope you stayed the course. More from the Valley shortly.

Endangered Hoolock gibbon under care at the IFAW Wildlife Rescue Center in India

2009-09-04T10:40:29-04:00

An infant western Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) rescued from Borgaon near Dibru Saikhowa Wildlife Sanctuary late last week, was admitted to the IFAW Wildlife Rescue Center in India last week for hand-raising and possible rehabilitation. The mother of the gibbon was found dead.

Dr Abhijit Bhawal, veterinarian of the IFAW-WTI Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) in Upper Assam, assisted the Assam Forest Department during the gibbon’s rescue. It was kept by a local household for about a day. After persuasion, the local family, who had planned to raise the gibbon themselves, handed it over to the authorities.

The gibbon was immediately stabilized in the MVS field station in Dibru Saikhowa WLS, before it was transferred to rescue center.

“The gibbon is 3-4 month-old male, and is dependent on milk for food. The mother had perhaps died about 9-10 days ago. We saw the carcass, but as it was putrefied the cause of death could not be ascertained,” Dr Bhawal said. “The infant gibbon must have been really hungry when the local family found it near the mother’s carcass, screaming…” Dr. Prasanta Boro, one of the center’s vets, said that the gibbon is weak, perhaps due to lack of food, and that it was in a state of trauma. ‘We are not sure how long it went without food after its mother died. At the moment, we are feeding it with vitamins and mineral-enriched milk formula, but it is not taking food as a normal young gibbon would. It seems to be emotionally disturbed, almost depressed.”

The Hoolock gibbon is the only ape found in India, with its distribution localized in the northeastern states. Extremely agile arboreal primates, the Indian population, comprising two species – western Hoolock gibbon and eastern Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock leuconedys), is threatened by habitat fragmentation caused by jhum cultivation and mining, among other reasons. They also face persecution for trade.

Endangered rhino calf admitted to the IFAW Wildlife Rescue Center in India after being abandoned by its mother

2009-09-03T17:08:46-04:00

An endangered Asiatic One-horned rhino calf found alone near a settlement adjacent to Kaziranga National Park was transferred to the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Wildlife Rescue Center in India for care last week.

The calf, a two-month old male, was found in Panchgharia, a settlement comprised of five households, near Haldibari camp in the Kohora range of Kaziranga. The calf is believed to have been left behind by its mother during a mating attempt by a male rhino.

Dr. Phulmoni Gogoi, a veterinarian at the center, visited the site, on being informed by the Forest Department officials. The calf was dehydrated so it was quickly stabilized with an electrolyte solution.

Attempts to reunite the calf with the mother were made by the Forest Department officials assisted by Dr Gogoi. The efforts continued today as well, but had to be abandoned as the calf appeared to be weakening.

“The calf was suffering from dehydration. Its condition was worse today. It also had congestion in its eyes and had a high temperature. We had planned to stay overnight to try the reunion again, but deteriorating health condition of the calf compelled us to move it to the center for critical care,” said Dr Gogoi.

“If the calf recovers soon, and if the mother is located, the reunion will be tried again. We have asked the locals to call us if they hear or see signs of the mother.” Rhinos, unlike elephants, have a limited home range and hence the mothers can be more easily tracked. This is the third rhino calf to be admitted to the IFAW-run center in 2009. The total number of endangered rhino calves currently being hand-raised at the center has now reached four.

Three of the older rhino calves hand-raised at IFAW’s Wildlife Rescue Center were rehabilitated in Manas National Park in western Assam, in an unprecedented reintroduction program. Manas had lost all of its rhinos to poachers during the political unrest that continued from the late 1980s to the 90s.

IFAW Africa: Tsavo West National Park Update - Summer 2009

2009-09-03T11:16:52-04:00

Summer 2009 – Stories from Tsavo West National Park

These stories were submitted by our team on the ground in Africa, working closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service, our partner in Tsavo West National Park. For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's work in Tsavo, please visit www.ifaw.org/kenya

Rhino and buffalo translocation: In the 1960s, Tsavo hosted the largest black rhino population in the country – between 12,000 and 15,000. During the 1970s and 1980s, however, poaching was rife and Somali bandits ran riot throughout the 21,000 square kilometer Tsavo National Park, finally withdrawing once they had wiped out all but a handful of rhinos.

As an emergency measure to save the remaining rhinos, the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary was established in 1985. It started with three female black rhinos and a fenced-in area of 3 square kilometers. Over the years, more rhinos were relocated and brought into the safety of the sanctuary.

Today, after gradual expansion to its current area of 91 square kilometers, the sanctuary is home to about 70 rhinos and hundreds of buffalo.

The Rhino Sanctuary is secured by an electric fence which stops animals from ranging outside in search of food, and vice versa. With the third consecutive rainy season failing in 2009, animals within the sanctuary started showing signs of malnutrition. Competition for food has become too stiff and little fodder was available due to a severe drought that has hit most parts of Kenya.

Wildlife, mainly buffalos and rhinos, suffered, stopped breeding and would have faced starvation, if nothing was done. In mid June 2009, the Kenya Wildlife Service capture team drove 229 buffalos out of the sanctuary by pulling down a section of the electric fence and chasing family herds out by helicopter and light aircraft. Once the animals were out, the fence was quickly re-erected. Soon after, four rhinos were also moved from the sanctuary into the IPZ (Intensive Protection Zone) of Tsavo park. One rhino has since broken back into the sanctuary. Competition for food is much less now thanks to the reduced numbers of buffalos within the confines of the sanctuary.

Curio dealers: These curio dealers used to sit in the shade of an old tree next to the main entrance gate to Tsavo West National Park, as they do at almost all the other Kenya Wildlife Service park gates. Here they carved, marketed and sold their wares without any facilities for professional production, display or sales.

IFAW supported the construction of a new building that will house the curio dealers and provide them with space for production and sales.

The objective was to:

Support the local curio industry in an eco-friendly and sustainable way.
Organize the association to benefit all members, not just a few.
Ensure that the local curio industry replants the trees they use for production, therefore ensuring an environmentally friendly and responsible product.
Change production methods so the products can be marketed with a green label.

Information boards: Information boards supported by IFAW have been well-received by students and other park visitors. This one at the Visitor Information Centre in Tsavo West, for example, clearly portrays the Mzima Springs process, and how water affects people and wildlife. Students are more attracted to these visual aids than to dry lectures so they pay more attention and grasp the associations and connections much better. In Tsavo, it is crucial for the communities to understand that Mzima Springs is not only a water source for wild animals – while “inaccessible” as such to neighboring communities -- but is also the main fresh water supply for Kenya’s human population living in and around the coastal city of Mombasa. The reason the Kenya Wildlife Service is strict in protecting this freshwater spring becomes clear to every student, as does the fact that most local communities do benefit from Mzima -- contrary to general belief -- by supplying water to rivers that are outlets from Mzima. The signboards help improve the relationship between the neighboring communities and the parks and also explain the importance of conserving water.

Community education: Getting to the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) is a major highlight for many local school children. They don’t often get the chance to see wildlife within the Park and get to know the different animal species on safe grounds. Their experience with wildlife may be limited to elephants raiding their small-scale farms at home or buffalos threatening them on daily walks to school. In these circumstances, a visit to the VIC (although in dire need of renovation) is often the only way for school children to learn about their own national heritage. It is important for youth to understand that elephants are not simply the ‘monsters’ destroying that destroy the only crop in their family’s farm, but also have tight relationships within their herds and a mental and physical development similar to human’s. Coming to the VIC enables the community to understand the connection between their own welfare and the importance of conserving wildlife. IFAW helps Tsavo National Park provide educational opportunities to people in the local communities.

Drought: Due to a prolonged drought, Tsavo has lost more than 150 hippos and a multitude of other grazers, mainly buffalo and zebra. Giraffes, who are dependant on a varied diet, can only feed on acacia leaves for now.

The drought is a totally natural die off and occurs in cycles of every 10 to15 years. It is a sad but expected situation.

By July 2009, Tsavo had experienced the third consecutive failing rainy season. This meant that seasonal dispersal among the animals could not take place. That led to a high and ongoing density of wildlife around permanent water sources which depleted the food reserves. The impact continues to be devastating.

Some of the droughts in the past had detrimental effects:

1960-91 – 300 black rhino died
1970-71 – 6,000 elephants died
1972-75 – 3,000 elephants died

Considering that the Tsavo Conservation Area (43,000Km²) is deemed large enough to allow these natural cycles to take place without irreversible consequences, the Parks’ management has a policy of "hands off" management. However, there are plans to develop artificial water systems, which can be activated in future times like this in order to support the dispersal of the animals.

For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's work in Tsavo, please visit www.ifaw.org/kenya

Taking the extra step for animals in Taiwan

2009-09-02T16:13:30-04:00

This post was filed by emergency responder Jackson Zee, moments after arriving from a successful mission in Taiwan.

For the Taiwanese people, Typhoon Morakot made landfall on August 8th was just going to be one of the many typhoons over the summer and nothing to really worry about and very similar to the hurricane was get every year on the east coast of North America. However, the many days of torrential rains that caused the severe flooding and deadly mudslides were unexpected and devastating. This was the worst weather related disaster for the island since 1950. The communities and animals in southern Taiwan province are still trying to recover from the August 8th (88) typhoon disaster.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare disaster response team traveled to Kaohsiung to meet with local government agencies and animal rescue groups to have a better understanding of the magnitude of the impact from the typhoon and assist with the response, only to discover that there were pre-existing stray animal problems and the groups were untrained and un-prepared for dealing with animals during a disaster.

When we started our assessments of the private shelters I was overwhelmed when I saw the amount of mud and debris that was in the shelter's dog pens covering the floor and water line marks near the ceiling. I knew many dogs drowned in the floods or were washed away to an uncertain demise. The lucky dogs were able to keep above the water or climb on the roof now are roaming around the shelter looking for food and many with skin problems. These shelters were built on the edge of villages to not disturb the neighbors but it also happens to be in the low lying and undeveloped parts of town. Not only were the animals affected but the kind-hearted grannies, aunties and uncles that looked after the animals were also living in this nightmare. I just felt the situation was horrible for the animals, their caretakers and their community.

We had a difficult time trying to find ways to get out to the townships most impacted by the mudslides for an assessment due to the poor weather and road closures due to public safety restrictions by the military. When we were finally granted access with the county animal health inspection and quarantine veterinarians, part of the roads we were traveling on had crumbled and fallen into the ravine or river below or were covered by mud and car sized boulders. It seemed like an image from a major earthquake. We were trying to get to a village called Xiaolin but when we arrived all we were able to see was a field of rubble and stone. This village had lost over 400 residents along with their pets and animals in just a few minutes when the mudslide covered the village in over fifteen feet of mud and rubble. I am incredibly saddened to see the amount of destruction due to the disaster and hope that there will be recovery soon.

We came to Taiwan to assist with the disaster response for animals but have learned that there is more to do to help the animals and their communities to prepare, plan, respond and evaluate to disasters.

We are planning to return to Taiwan in the near future to have a debriefing meeting with all stakeholders and participate in a vaccination and spay/neutering clinic with the county government and then to return to offer training in animal-related disaster to the animal rescue groups and government agencies.

Mr. De Zhong Du of Jianshan village in Taoyuan township had to walk over ten kilometers of dangerous road conditions with a six week old puppy clutched to his body, to get to the military road block to find transportation to the evacuee shelter. We met with Mr. Du and helped to provide dog food for his 30 rescued dogs. He thanked us for caring about the animals in the affected areas. He said "It’s already difficult to just care for the human victims during a tragedy let alone taking the extra step and caring about the animals of the disaster. I appreciate all the help IFAW is providing to us."

It will take a long time for the communities to recover and I am very proud to be part of the IFAW team to able to contribute to helping the communities and their animals during their most urgent hour.

Introducing IFAW's "World of Animals" - Issue 1!

2009-09-02T13:19:49-04:00

International Fund for Animal Welfare's - "World of Animals" - Issue 1

Well, it's been a long time coming, the new International Fund for Animal Welfare "World of Animals" magazine is finally here! Take a read, send the link along and please feel free to download it!

IFAW’s Typhoon Morakot Response

2009-08-18T09:02:28-04:00

This post was filed by IFAW's Michael Booth reporting from Taiwan.

Imagine a torrential downpour that is capable of dropping 10 feet of water in less than a couple of days. Hard to imagine isn’t it? Well, lucky for us, it’s not a common occurrence. In fact, those numbers have been seen just a handful of times in recorded history! Unfortunately for Taiwan, this once-in-a-lifetime storm descended on the island the 8th of August.

With a storm this size, you quickly encounter flash-floods and mudslides that immediately impact the welfare of all living beings. Washing away roads, highways, bridges and everything on its path, the flood crippled Southern Taiwan and now 10 days after Morakot, the rescue and recovery process is only just beginning.

As far as we know, IFAW is the only international group on the ground responding to the animal’s needs - and needs there are! At the moment the President of Taiwan is under great pressure to expedite human rescue under extremely difficult conditions. Search and rescue teams have been deployed to the areas of greater devastation and are pulling people out. Sixteen black-hawk helicopters and other military helicopters are tirelessly flying from staging areas to the mountain villages that have been cut-off from the rest of the world.

We were in one such staging area last Monday in Cisuan, Kaohsiung County. A healthy congregation of humanitarian groups, volunteers and media anxiously waited for the military helicopters to touch down with more survivors. But what about their animals? What about their pets, their backyard livestock, what is their fate? That is what keeps us up at night. As far as we can tell, the majority of animals have been left behind, with little or no chance of survival.

For the past 2 days, IFAW has been visiting some of the cat and dog shelters stricken by the floods. One of the shelters has all but washed away, and now dogs tread over mud-bogged terrain, still shaken by the storm that took close to 100 of their companions. Shelter volunteers spent the next few days disposing of their carcasses and on our visit yesterday, incense was burning and Buddhist mantras played on a loop near their improvised mass grave to honor their souls.

The donations of our generous supporters allows us to be here, assessing the damaged areas and help source the food, water, and medical supplies that will help the animals during this time of great need. Our work continues in Taiwan to try and reach the forgotten animals of this disaster and help the damaged animal shelters get back on their feet.

To learn more about this response and IFAW’s work to help animals around the world, go to www.ifaw.org.

'Freddy' the rescued seal finds company

2009-07-24T14:42:49-04:00

Freddy, the first rescued seal pup in the season for IFAW-supported British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) in the UK, is happy to share life with another fellow Harbor seal undergoing rehabilitation. Freddy rescued just a few weeks ago, was named after International Fund for Animal Welfare C.E.O. - Fred O’Regan, so we are particularly proud of this little one. The following is a report from BDMLR staff on the ground working around the clock to care for Freddy and Jules - her companion.

They are both doing well now with Freddy weighing in this morning at 12.2 kgs. So in the three weeks from when she arrived, she has gained 4 kgs and yesterday was finished with milk, having been weaned over the past four days.

We have to get their systems used to eating solid food, so for now it’s only small trimmed-down herring. Once their systems gets used to the fish we will increase it to a percentage of their body weight per day, divided over four feeds.

Freddy and Jules have been together in the same pen for around ten days now and seem to be bonding well. Sharing the pen is essential to their mental welfare as it means they get their stimulation from each other rather than looking to us.

Freddy and Jules are swimming between feeds and are very playful in the water; they have burst a lot of the inflatable toys now that they have teeth. We have been putting child’s arm floaty wings with them half-filled with water then blown up. They seem to be throwing them around until they burst, then they lose interest.

Hopefully within the next few weeks Freddy and Jules will be eating for themselves, once they do this they will go to the outside pool where they will fatten up and when they’re up to 30kg, they will be released back into the wild.

For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's efforts for seals, please visit www.ifaw.org.

Dump dogs rescued by IFAW in Cozumel, Mexico

2009-07-22T14:27:43-04:00

International Fund for Animal Welfare - Veterinarian Eduardo Santurtun and Monica Velasco from the Humane Society of Cozumel rescued five puppies and one adult dog at the municipal dump in Cozumel, Mexico yesterday. This work is part of IFAW’s ongoing effort in the island to improve the welfare of cats and dogs that are suffering cruelty and negligence from careless owners. The following report was filed by IFAW’s Eduardo Santurtun following the rescue:

“The conditions where these dogs and cats live are awful. Even though they receive a little attention from people that work at the dump, most of them are left to find food and water on their own, amidst heaps garbage and waste and harassed by millions of flies and dozens of buzzards that compete with them for food. Life for these dogs and cats is an everyday struggle. They fight between each other for the small pockets of shade under abandoned cars or discarded oil barrels to hide from the unforgiving Caribbean sun.

The deplorable living conditions at the dump causes most of the dogs and cats to become dehydrated, emaciated and contract diseases like mange, heart worm, eye infections or ehrlichiosis, a potentially life-threatening disease spread by infected ticks.

The puppies that we rescued today were quickly taken to the IFAW-supported clinic run by the Humane Society of Cozumel to receive emergency medical attention. In the upcoming days we are hopeful that we will find a new and loving home for them that will allow them to have a second chance in life”.

IFAW-rehabilitated Clouded leopards closer to release

2009-07-16T15:43:38-04:00

Two orphaned clouded leopard cubs currently rehabilitated by International Fund for Animal Welfare staff continue to thrive and show positive signs in their road towards release back to the forests of Northeast India.

The cubs rescued in April are now 4 months old and have been weaned off milk. They each eat about 250 grams of meat every day and weigh around 3 and half kilos (7.7 pounds) each! Their body coat color is now prominent with black and white patches, a distinctive skeleton-like mark that has marveled humans for so long but is unfortunately prized by hunters. Little is known about this animal’s behavior as it is one of the most reclusive of feline species.

Clouded leopards are arboreal cats making them excellent climbers. During their time in rehabilitation they have been encouraged to test and learn the climbing skills and play-fight for hours on end, excellent habits that will prove vital for their survival in the wild.

IFAW staff in India has already visited 3 prospective release sites and have narrowed down a suitable location. Once the logistics and necessary permits are cleared, the cubs will be back in the forest, a significant step for the conservation of these endangered animals.

To learn more about our efforts to protect and preserve endangered animals, go to www.ifaw.org .

IFAW Canada: Journal of a Heroic 7 Day Veterinary Effort

2009-07-07T17:45:04-04:00

This post was filed by IFAW's Jan Hannah, working from remote Cree communities, in the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada.

Day 1 – Today we headed out from the Guelph area on the first of our two day drive to the inland James Bay Cree communities to run veterinary clinics. Everything you need for a mobile veterinary clinic is packed into one mini van – two anesthetic machines, suture material, surgery packs, vaccinations, intake forms, leashes and collars… you need it for a mobile clinic, we have it! It’s always exciting to head north again, knowing the vets and vet technicians provide a service that isn’t accessible. Many of us take our vet clinic for granted -- where we’re headed, porcupine quills can be a death sentence. For a change, we took the 101 up the Quebec side of Temiskaming. No exciting animal sightings to report but the scenery was beautiful! Nine hours of driving down, six more to go.

Day 2 –Crystal drove up from Ottawa and met Jen and I in the hotel just before a wicked thunderstorm blew in last night. But today is clear…and the temperature is reminding me that I didn’t bring my winter clothes like I’d been told to. It’s always difficult to pack hats and mitts when the temperature at home is hovering around hot. As always, we have to drive a section of road, just before you really feel like you’re leaving the south, where you see dogs tied to dog houses, curled up or straining on their chains. Note to self -- stop and drop off some info on responsible dog ownership. We arrived in our first community at about 2 pm and there were the dogs, doing what they do best -- lounge out front of the house, lie on their porch, hang out at the gas station, or meander through town looking for food, friends, or action. Crystal and I are so used to seeing roaming dogs now but when anyone new is on board, it takes some getting used to.

We headed straight to the high school to make 7 boxes of equipment and supplies plus one classroom and a chunk of hallway into a seriously functioning veterinary clinic. It’s hard to imagine but once you move all the desks to the side you can make a pretty perfect surgery room. Six foot tables become surgery tables topped with $10 air mattresses, sheets and a blanket. The air mattresses raise the height of the table to help the surgeons’ backs and the softness allows the animals to sink in a bit when they are undergoing surgery on their backs. Desk lamps make for good surgery lights and are easily clipped near where the animal’s head will be. Anesthetic machines are set up on at the head of the surgery tables and when the vets and techs arrive tomorrow, they will lay out the meds and vaccines in the most efficient way for them. The autoclave is set up near the sink in the corner so that the techs can wash and steam-sterilize surgical instruments and we head out to set up the intake. Another couple of tables, surgery authorization forms, after care instructions, master sheets to keep track of numbers… it’s all there. The vets and techs will arrive by plane in the morning and I expect them to be doing surgery by 11. It seems that with the long weekend, two out of three restaurants are closed so we are off to the ET Chip Wagon for some grub.

Day 3: We had a good night’s sleep and were at the clinic at 8:30 to receive our first patient. The plane was to arrive with the rest of the team at 9 am but then they still had another hour to drive to get to us. 10:00 am - no team. 10:30 – still no team. 11:00 - still no team. By now Roxy, the 1 year old Boston Terrier who had been waiting for over an hour and a half was asleep on the floor and her owners looked like they were a step away from sleep themselves. Finally (for those of us waiting at least), the vets and techs arrived near 11:30, and hit the ground running. We’ve all worked together for about four years so it’s a well oiled machine. They just waved hello and disappeared into the back to work their magic by finishing the setup. At intake, we started seriously taking patients. When we were first in the communities, spay/neuter was a new concept and it took some time for people to be comfortable with it. At first, they wondered if we were going to kill their dogs. But now… it’s a soft sell -- it doesn’t take long for people to recognize what fewer dogs looks like, and to see the behaviour changes. If you haven’t experienced an intact dog population recently, you probably can’t picture what males packing up on females looks or sounds like (imagine a mob focused on one individual along with the sound of a very nasty fight with crying thrown in – just outside your window). Spaying/neutering means fewer male fights, less wandering and certainly fewer heats and puppies!

To be honest, today was a total a blur. The highpoints that I remember… I fell for Barney, a husky cross because he was 10 weeks of cute. We neutered him, spayed his mother and neutered another littermate. Meh-hee-gan was another husky mix who’s name means “wolf”. Her owner came in with her and another dog, Pete, a lab cross who had been hit by a car the week before. Wouldn’t you know that his lower jaw was broken right down the middle. Have a look at the picture to see the vets wiring it together, using canine teeth on both sides of his mouth to hold it tight. I will have to remember to call to check on him when I get home. There were also the two cats that came in, Jasper and Scoffield, but all I saw of them were huge, black eyes full of terror and a lot of hissing behind closed doors. It’s always a joy to see Blanche, a yellow lab, who we spayed in 2006 after she had had a litter of 13 puppies – she looks fantastic and her owners have another dog who they say saved Blanche’s life when she fell through the ice this past winter. More small dogs continue to show up; house dogs they’re called. Lots of shitzus and Chihuahua mixes. Thirty surgeries, 56 vaccinations and almost 12 hours later we were finally sitting down to dinner. Thanks to Mrs. MacLeod, we had a fantastic home caught and cooked and dinner. And a big congratulations to Krystyna MacLeod for receiving IFAW’s Youth Animal Action Award for all her work at the clinics over the past 6 years. She deserves it! However the day wasn’t over until we drove (carefully, while scanning for moose) the hour and a half to the next community…. Bedtime = 2 am.

Day 4: I’m so excited about today because over the past couple of years, the number of dogs to the clinic in this community has dropped precipitously. In fact, last year we only performed 7 surgeries when we used to do more than 20. It’s disheartening to feel like you’re wasting your time after you’ve worked to build trust and provide a necessary service… and realistically, it’s not cost effective. Thankfully, Samuel returned to Public Safety and the numbers came back with him! When we visited in April to teach the elementary school kids, we put posters in all the mailboxes but I have not doubt that it was Samuel who made the real difference. The building that we work in here is the sports centre but it’s more like a wonderful wood cottage. There are lots of windows and the surgery tables are set up in an alcove the overlooks the sand and spruce landscape. The prom had been held recently so the decorations were still up… I’m not sure what the theme was because we were pretty quick to start tearing everything down. Our first client was a mother cat and her two teenage kittens. We know the owner from past years and he said that he now has cats since he had had bad luck with his dogs. That’s three spays right off the bat. Then came Mack, a lean and fit basset hound who had unfortunately known the discomfort of frozen testicles over the winter. Get rid of those! Next, Stanley brought in a lovely red, golden retriever who we called Golden Girl. He didn’t know who her owner was and someone over 18 years of age has to authorize any services. Spay and neuter surgery is often described as a ‘simple’ surgery but remember, the animals still have to go under general anesthetic and for females, you’re going into the body cavity. We tied Golden Girl to the front desk and she slept the morning away while Stanley promised to find her owner. It was early afternoon when he came in to say that the owner had given her stamp of approval and that he would sign for her. Even if dogs are roaming, they are owned and owners need to be aware of what they are agreeing to and also take responsibility for their pet’s after care. Golden Girl was sedated and readied for surgery. The next thing I heard from the alcove was that she was pregnant with 15 pups. 15! Thank goodness we were there when we were or else there were possibly 15 puppies having or making more puppies within the year.

Day 5: We are in our last community and for the past two years, the dog clinic has coincided with Community Day with great success. But this year, we’re here a month ahead of the festivities due to scheduling conflicts so I don’t expect as many ‘customers’ as recent years. We still carry out the clinic in the firehall here – surgeries are undertaken on the board room table in the back, and intake takes place in front of the fire trucks in the garage portion of the hall. Our contact here is fantastic and I know that when we come, he’s done his homework. Oxygen is ready, the posters have been posted and he’s been on the radio advertising our visit. When we visited in April we went into the elementary schools in all three of these communities so I was really pleased to hear when our first patient’s owner said that her son was in one of our presentations and now he knows that dogs have feelings too! Jennifer, who volunteered for this set of clinics, has decided that she has found her niche by making sure that the master spay/neuter and vaccination-only sheets are filled out properly. Each sheet contains the dog info and owner contact information and it is these masters that I pull statistics from when I get home. One stat that has changed over time is the number of dogs that come for vaccinations who have already been spayed or neutered at a previous IFAW clinic. That is probably the best feeling… to know that people are keeping their animals from year to year, and taking care of their health. I’m helping Denise by dispensing dewormer which goes home with each dog. Each dog is weighed so that they are given the appropriate amount of dewormer – to weigh a dog, pick the dog up and stand on the scale. Get the total weight of you and the dog. Then put the dog down and weigh yourself. Subtract your weight from the total weight and voila, you have the dog’s weight. Denise does all the physical exams, vaccinates the animals and listens to any issues identified by the owner.

Day 6: This is it for these communities for this year. The airport is about an hour and a half away and we need to make sure to stop the clinic in time to take everything down, update the inventory list (so that we know what to order for the next set of clinics), pack up and get the vets and techs to the airport on time. This year they are driving themselves to the airport and we will stay behind to recover any remaining dogs and to sweep and mop up. We plan to stop at 2 pm in order to get all this done. But for now, it’s business as usual.

Our team photo was taken and we were packed and ready to go. While we were about three hours towards home, we actually backtracked to pick the van up at the airport and carry on back to the first community where we were picking up a dog and cat for rehoming in the south. The dog was about 4 years old and had been neutered at a previous IFAW clinic. The owners travel a lot and wanted the dog to find a new home. When we arrived, we drove over to Oscar’s house to let the owners know that we would be taking him the next morning. There he was, wrapped around the pole of the back porch, his posture quite cat-like -- low head, high back and a tail that was so tightly tucked, it touched his belly. I told him we would be back in the morning and off we went for more French fries at the ET Chip Stand!

Day 7: I always wake up the morning of our long drive home and think about the rest of the team who have already arrived home and even slept one night in their beds already! For us, it’s up and off to pick up our travelers with the intention of getting on the road for 8 am. From past experience, I know that expecting to be on the road at 7 is just plain unrealistic. We’ve arranged the van in order to accommodate our new passengers and off we went to pick up Oscar. Obviously not a morning dog, he growled when we approached but I think he knew he was outnumbered and wasn’t going to win this battle. With some coaxing he was in the van and off we went to meet the cat. Amazingly, a number of cats have traveled the long trip to the south and every single one has done it in close proximity to some number of dogs. They have always been super quiet, and very easy going. This one, however, vomited in the crate and while Crystal was in the back cleaning up messes, she found that he was happiest if in her vest. So that is where this little guy spent the first few hours of his trip south.

Rescued Bear Cub "Ostakh" has New Stepbrother "Gena"

2009-07-07T14:12:35-04:00

This post was filed by IFAW’s Lena Averianova reporting from Russia.

In a recent visit to the public prosecutor’s office in the Smolensk region in Russia, one could see a number of items held as evidence involved in various crimes. Amidst all of them, there he was a living orphaned bear cub! On the 27th of May, a police officer on patrol stopped a car and found a bear cub in it!

The driver and other passengers in the car claimed that they had found it in the forest not far from the village Arkhipovka and decided to bring it to Moscow’s zoo center. The policemen then made the right decision and seized the bear until all the circumstances were clarified and to temporarily house the bear in the nearby village Petushky with a man who owned an appropriate and safe enclosure.

It took a long time to decide the fate of the small orphan. It’s hard to imagine what it was feeling while he was kept in the enclosure as material evidence. As soon as the situation leaked out, the International Fund for Animal Welfare took action.

IFAW provided all the necessary papers to the Public prosecutor’s office of Smolensk region to get the right permissions to admit the bear-cub into the IFAW Bear Rescue Center located in the Tver region. Center staff immediately went to retrieve the bear from the village enclosure where he had been kept.

On June 8th, the cub arrived at the center and began rehabilitation. First of all Gena, as he was named, went through the full medical examination, which is compulsory for all the bear cubs arriving at the Center. They are weighed, bathed, their temperature is measured, fur and skin condition assessed – a complete check-up to identify its health and screen for potential wounds or injuries. Fortunately for Gena, antibiotics were not needed. The next step was measuring its height, body length, paw-size and appearance – color and tone of the fur, individual features of the color, etc.

Today, Gena is out of quarantine and has joined little Ostakh, a bear who arrived early January unable to open his eyes or walk and that now can climb trees! The Center officers are sure that the cubs will become friends and will happily grow together and become “true” bears, as with 4 bears that in spring this year were released back to the wild after the full course of rehabilitation. The released bears are all radio-collared which will allow us to learn more about their first year in the forest. According to staff at the center, all the released bears that are currently under observation are healthy and have successfully adapted themselves to the free life.

For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's work on bears, please visit ifaw.org.