Animal help in the Dominican Republic - for a better cooperation between humans and animals
When miracles are that simple...
Dear Friends, Donors and Helpers
– in short: dear Amigos-de-Lucky Family!
Together we have helped and
together we have given many animals a better life and have saved many lives,
together we have made one or the other small "miracle" happen…
First of all, as always, I would
like to give you the facts and figures of our spay/neutering-campaign in
February 2012:
- 256 animals were fixed (in 12 work days) – 132 of them were female dogs, 46 male dogs, 54 were cats and 24 tom-cats – as always all of the animals were treated against parasites
- 173 puppies were spared living on the streets (which usually ends fatally after a couple of months)
- 7 other operations were performed e. g. eye excisions, leg fractures and umbilical hernias
- 51 further consultations/medical treatments took place
- 5 dogs were successfully treated against CTVT (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor)
- 11 abandoned animals found a new home
- 636 car miles were driven
- 2 additional cars were in use, not to forget the fantastic helpers, who picked up patients and returned them
- 42 loads of laundry (towels, blankets, op-shirts and so on) accumulated – without my reliable Miele washing machine I would be lost!
- 4 delicious luncheons were lovingly prepared by our helpers
- 2 great dinners were held, to which we were invited by the owners of the restaurants La Terrasse and Hotel Coyamar
- 1 completely relaxed day off work for vet Nina at Hotel Madrugada was sponsored by the hotel owner
- Altogether 24.5 lb of weight was lost (Buschi, Nina and I), which we have already put back on again... ;-)
- 1 ambulance was involved in a crash (namely ours...) it was "overlooked" by a truck driver...
- biting incidents occurred!
Sanchez, or when pelicans
flew over our heads...
In the poor fisherman's village
of Sanchez (a 15 mile drive from Las Terrenas via a winding mountain road) we
set our operating tent up directly on the (unfortunately very dirty) beach of
the little haven. One of the beach dogs, Mariposa, thought that this was a
great idea and stayed with us in our tent every night from day one. For five
days we had our work cut out for us: many people brought their dogs and cats,
we managed to catch the wild beach cats with traps and could neuter the stray
beach dogs as well, starting with Mariposa and of course Negrita, whose
pictures you will know from the Donation Barometer. None of her puppies
survived – surely a traumatizing experience for Negrita – which shows us again,
how important the spayings and neuterings are!!!
In the morning we were greeted
happily by the beach dogs, they knew that they would be getting a couple of
meals out of us to get over their surgeries and recover quickly. But we didn’t
only have cats and dogs around us, pelicans, herons and frigate birds bustled
around our tent as well – a very special experience.
Unfortunately we were also
confronted with some difficulties in Sanchez. For one there were the owners of
the dogs – religious (Catholic) fisher families – for whom fixing pregnant
animals just isn’t an option. I accept any religious orientation, but when
faith makes animals suffer, I stop accepting. When there is no food for the
mother dog, how are the puppies to survive??? The danger, that those puppies
will painfully starve to death or get poisoned, abandoned or run over by a car
is so great, that I was able to find enough arguments that God couldn't have
wanted this. For very stubborn cases I came up with "medical" reasons
securing that in the end the owners were reassured and agreed to go through
with the procedure, the more so as exactly those dogs were pregnant with 8 to
12 embryos. I think God will forgive me...
The other problem was even bigger
– the stray dogs of Sanchez lead a hard life, which usually consists of
beatings and other bad experiences with humans. They survive by trusting
nobody. They don't let anybody touch them, because that could mean death and
"Gringos" (us white-skinned people) are totally unknown to them. No
food and no coaxing could lure them closer to us than 6 ft, no chance of
catching them that way... Some of the dogs even had owners, but there was no
help coming from them, because they didn't want to touch their own animals. I
got myself into a risky situation with a watchdog called Rambo one day. I had
gotten his owners’ permission to neuter him, but I had to take him off his
chain and bring him to the surgery tent on foot. This made poor Rambo (a rather
big and strong dog...) very nervous – after all, all he knew was his life on
the chain– and out of fear he started biting. Buschi, Tobias and one of our
workers Jackie, were finally able to overpower him by throwing a thick blanket
over his head and anesthetizing him. Soon I will go and check if his owner is
keeping his promise to let Rambo off his chain, now that he is neutered.
Despite the difficult conditions
– as well as the heat in the surgery tent – we were very successful in Sanchez,
100 animals (84 of them female) could be fixed, many more were dewormed,
medically treated and so on. We will return to Sanchez, the misery there is so
great and so many animals live there that urgently need our help.
Las Terrenas, or the
positive changes that our work has brought about...
When I started working here, I
often had the feeling that I was fighting against windmills. Indeed, I was able
to provide a better life for an individual animal by fixing him/her, but
changing something in the heads of the people – and by that creating a more
animal-friendly environment in the long run – was very difficult at the
beginning. Only two years ago, when I brought a freshly operated animal back to
its owner, long discussions took place about letting the dog at least have its
own space on the porch where it was dry and clean and where it could recover
after the operation. And today? Today I come into (!!!) the house with the
animal in my arms and there is a blanket and a pillow (!!!) as a sickbed and the
patient is greeted and stroked by the whole family while happy tears run down
my face.
In the past the situation in Las
Terrenas didn't differ from that in Sanchez or the rest of the country, today
we have spayed about 80% of the female animals in Las Terrenas and this is
showing very clearly everywhere. Animals have become family members, and after
being fixed and medically treated they are healthier and even more
"beautiful" than before, they have a longer life expectancy and
therefore it isn’t necessary to get used to new animals all the time which
leads to a tighter bond between owner and animal.
At the beginning I got sneered at
– especially by the Europeans that live over here - , they said things would
NEVER change here no matter how hard I try. How nice, that they were wrong...
And when I see the dogs, that are much older than 10 years of age, and the
uncountable stray dogs, that have found a home, the many dogs with yellow ear
tags, that are healthy and even fat, Dominicans, who share their lunch with
exactly these animals, cars and motorbikes, that don't aim for the animals
anymore, but evade, owners who frolic about with their dogs at the beach, who
think about deworming and food for their animals, buy collars and dog beds at
our stall. When in the past everybody looked away when they saw an ill, skinny
animal in the street (which used to be the rule), we today get numerous calls
(especially from Dominicans), asking us to help that animal. I can guarantee
you: your generous donations and all our work have been worth it 100%. Today
our motto "For a better togetherness between humans and animals" is
no longer a pious hope, but a wonderful reality! After working in Las Terrenas
for seven days (156 neuterings and spayings), we could hardly find an animal in
the street that hadn't been fixed. We will carry on in order to retain this
condition.
Our helpers, or sometimes
surprising things happen...
Since Buschi was meant to support
me more "outside of the tent" this time round - with educational work
– we had to look for a new assistant for Nina. Anna, a vet herself, was to take
on the job. After one week we had to send her back to Germany, not everybody is
capable of working under such difficult circumstances as ours and sometimes the
opinions on a project don't coincide. So our "Dream-Team" (Buschi as
Nina's assistant) was reunited.
Making it all the more a
pleasanter surprise, that a young couple from Cologne headed off to Las
Terrenas during their holidays to support us energetically. Teresa and Tobias
didn't only have a wonderful way of handling the animals, they also instantly
saw where help was needed and didn't consider themselves too good for anything.
Our others helpers, Silvi, Jörg, Yesenia, Virginie, Melanie, Jill and Steve and a couple of
others, yet again showed total commitment – thank you so much, all of you!
What "remains"
in the end, or how quickly you can come by more animals...
Salomon came to us during the
last campaign in May 2011 (see 8th NL,
14th NL, 15th
NL and Sponsorships). Early in January
this year he unfortunately lost his fight against cancer. The condition of
permanent-patient Bianca (cancer as well) worsened so dramatically, that there
was no hope of recovery for her (see 13th
NL and Sponsorships). Upon consultation
with Nina we decided heavy-heartedly to put her down. Today we are still
grieving for those loveable creatures and would have wished a longer life for
them, but sometimes fate has other things in store. Actually, you could think,
that our remaining 7 dogs (plus 2 dogs that live with our worker on our
property, but are looked after by us) and 2 cats would be enough – far from
it...
In Sanchez male dog Opi (means
grandpa - in the Donation Calendar under "Opi 2") had practically
come to terms with his life. He was lying – abandoned, starving and abused – in
the street, curled up in a ball, and waiting for his nearing death. That was
how Silvi and Tobias found him, when they drove through Sanchez on the lookout
for dogs and brought him into the clinic. Opi had no teeth at all anymore, his
eyes were infected and he was feebly giving in to his destiny.
Female dog Omi (means grandma)
came to our surgery tent herself, as if she was asking us for help and her
condition was as well a single (toothless) disaster.
Somehow those old and miserable figures
are especially near and dear to me, since it is comparably easy to find a home
for a cute puppy, but who is going to take in such poor creatures? We are of
course...
After being fixed and receiving medical treatment and a lot of good food,
vitamin paste and so on, a small miracle happened after only two weeks – Opi
and Omi turned into "real" dogs. Especially Opi amazes us: while in
the first week all he could do was lie on his dog bed, he now frolics around
like a puppy and has the will to live for ten!
Then for several months a black
tom-cat sneaked over our property every now and again at night and meowed
piteously. Since he was so shy, we were only able to catch him with the
cat-trap. He was starving; chasing rats had become impossible for him due to an
ulcerated abscess on his front paw. He was in a terrible condition. Since he
was in need of more medicine, he moved into our guest bathroom for the time
being (what else are guest rooms for...). He was really lucky to have been
caught by us so I baptized him Masel (Yiddish respectively Hebrew for luck). In
the meantime I have actually had to rename him to "Little Devil",
since he (meanwhile moved into our sleeping room) keeps us busy all through the
night, wanting either to play, eat or get up to nonsense.
The uproar, or snakes
have a right to receive help as well...
During our days of work in Las
Terrenas a dog owner told me about a man who "bathed" his snakes (Boa
Hispaniola, beautiful, rainbow-colored constrictor) in the sewage... Since
snakes have no business in either sewages or the hands of people, I paid a
visit to this man. When I asked what the man was planning to do with the snakes
and he told me, that he was going to sell them, I had heard enough and pointed
out the Species Protraction Act for native, wild animals to him. When it became
clear to him that he could forget about making any financial profits, his mood
swiftly became aggressive. None the less, my priority was saving the poor
snakes’ lives so I gathered them out of the sewage – no, I don't have a problem
with this! - and brought them into our clinic. A "Gringa" that
touches snakes is naturally a sensation and therefore I was not only followed
by the angry man, but also by an outraged mob. In the clinic the situation
nearly escalated and the police approached. Now you could think that the police
know the laws – far from it – here you can call yourself lucky if the police
men you are dealing with know how to read and write...
Since snake-man had started to
attack me with an iron bar in the mean time, Buschi took over and accompanied
the police and the man to the "fiscal" (some kind of a governmental
conciliatory lawyer). I am pleased to report that at least he knew the laws,
and therefore it was agreed upon that the police, Buschi and snake-man drive
into the mountains together to set the snakes free. When all participants were
back at the clinic to get the snakes, the police got scared – scared of the
snakes that were meant to travel in their car and scared of the outraged mob
that was still in the clinic. This could have gone on for hours on end, but
since we were „incidentally“ busy fixing some animals, Buschi went for the
"simple" solution and paid the man 65,-US$ (which is about a weeks
earnings...) and now we are officially the owners of the snakes.
In the evening Nina and I set the
snakes free on our property.
Chihuahua, Bologneses,
Chow Chow, Rottweilers, Doberman & Co., or the blessings and
curses of purebred dogs...
To start off with, I am not an
"opponent" of purebreds, but unfortunately the preference for them in
this country brings a lot of misery and agony into these animals’ world.
Very quickly, during our first
few days of work in Sanchez we noticed how bad this could get. Two pregnant
Chihuahuas were brought to us, both were in a very bad condition and our
experience made us very suspicious. While operating the first dog we discovered
that the puppy was dead and had been stuck in the birth canal for several days
– it was far too big for this little dog to bear, she had had no chance of
giving birth naturally. The operation went well and we decided to take the poor
dog in because her condition was more than critical. We did everything we could
for her, but she died the next day...
The case of the second dog was
even more dramatic. Her puppy was also far too big for her birth canal and she
had tried for a long time in vain to press it out of her small pelvis. In the
end her uterus gave in, it tore and the dead puppy slipped into the abdominal
cavity. At the time of the operation the puppy had obviously already been there
for a couple of days, because upon opening the abdominal cavity, a large amount
of green of decay-smelling liquid came out. Even Nina, who has seen many
terrible things, what with performing about 3,000 fixings per year, had to hold
her breath. This dog didn't have any chance of surviving so we put her to sleep
during the anesthesia. The thought of the unbelievable pain this little soul
must have gone through and that in the end we couldn't help her leaves us all
very shocked and sad.
In Las Terrenas a pregnant and
"overdue" Chi was also brought to us, even for her breed she was
especially tiny, and her puppy was far too big. Her owner brought her in just
in the nick of time; Nina was able to save her life, which was close to a
miracle...
The problem with Chihuahuas is,
that the males they mate with are far too big. Even if the owners think, that
they can "control" their female dogs during their period of heat
these little dogs still manage to get through any nook or cranny, they run off
in the ecstasy of hormones and don’t care who they mate with. This often ends
painfully and fatally for the dog and her puppies.
And then there are the cute
"frizzy-dogs", like Bologneses, Malteses and so on – they need
regular grooming under all circumstances, but none of the owners regards this
as important. Then, all of a sudden they are not that cute anymore, but have
become dirty, matted and stinky bunches of tangled fur that end up on the
street. After the operations we spent hours grooming their fur to get all the
knots out...
Chow-chow puppies look like
little teddy bears and are readily bought as a "cuddly-toy-substitute".
But when they get older, they don't only have the before mentioned fur
problems, but also the fact, that the chow-chow character is a more
"difficult" one causes problems. Chow-chows are usually fixated on
one person only, you have to "earn" their trust, a chow-chow is
absolutely stubborn and is said to be unbribable. Since dogs over here are
still kept "in passing", a chow-chow usually isn't the right choice.
Indicatively, none of the chow-chow owners were able to hold their dogs still during
treatment and often these dogs end up in the street...
Rottweiler and Dobermans are
usually given the wrong sort of diet here– as a result they are either far too
fat or far too thin – in addition they are often kept falsely (on a chain, in a
tiny kennel etc). Since the genotype is limited on an island, there are hardly
any dogs of this breed that do not suffer of a hip joint dysplasia.
Additionally all of these breeds
are not meant for the humid-hot climate that prevails here. Eye-, skin-, heart-
and other health problems are bound to occur and the owners are often not
capable (financially) to help their animals.
I do see an advantage in these
breeds though; they have opened the hearts of the humans for their fellow
species. I know many Dominicans, who owned a pure breed as their "first
dog" - it sadly died too soon – and then they went for a
"Viralata" (in English a "tinturner", the local term for
crossbreeds from the street).
We tried to fix as many of the
above mentioned pure breeds as possible to avoid further anguish and misery.
Nevertheless, we have dedicated ourselves to stray dogs and the dogs of the
poor population, and those who can afford to spend 100,- to 500,- US$
(converted) on a purebreed, should be able to pay for a local vet...
Results, or we are
already planning our next campaign...
I am so incredibly proud of
you!!! You didn't only finance our February-campaign completely with your
generosity; on top of that a couple of additional donations came in, so that we
are planning to hold two further campaigns this year. Our next target is La
Yagua – situated on the north coast between Rio San Juan and Gaspar Hernandez –
where we originally wanted to go with Nina. But due to the logistics (e. g.
set-up and dismantling of the operation tent), the journey there and back
always takes a lot of time, so we concentrated on Sanchez and Las Terrenas this
time. But the animals of La Yagua have been near and dear to our hearts for
years now and though we have operated there a couple of times already, there is
still so much to do. We are planning two days of work at the end of March with
Romy, our Dominican vet.
Since Nina is just as
"crazy" as we are, we want to go to work in Sanchez and Las Terrenas
again and perhaps even in Santo Domingo in November. Maybe we will even get
support from a German couple (both vets) who would like to spend one week of
their holidays with fixings.
All donors, who have not yet been
added to the Donation Calender, will be able to see "their" animals
on our homepage by the end of March.
It was my 45th
birthday in February (my "present" were 22 fixed animals in Sanchez)
and I actually had thought about taking it easier (also for health reasons)...
but what the heck – as long as I can get my tired old bones out of bed in the
morning I will devote my life to the animals. Buschi – two years younger than
me – will only receive permission to start complaining in a couple of years,
that's the way it is when you are married... ;-)
Again I have met so many special
animals, was allowed to take part in their destiny, was often very touched and
surprised about how open and trusting they were towards us, despite their bad
experiences with humans.
I thank you with all my heart for
your everlasting help, your faithfulness to the Dominican animals and I hope,
that you can see, not only based on the Donation Calendar, that every donated
cent was appointed directly to the wellbeing of the animals.
With all my love,
Miriam
PS: Nina wants to say a special thank
you to the doorman of CONDOR – he was a real gentleman and helped Nina not only
with the 240 lb of luggage, but also accompanied her to the airport :-))
When love makes us (even) stronger...
Dear Friends and Donors,
somehow the days and weeks have drifted away – and now it’s already the 1st of December – high time to give you an update on our activities.
We spent September taking intensive care of some extremely difficult cases; Salomon, Blanca and further hurt terrapins, then the sad message of bereavement in my closest family reached me. Two days later I was sitting in a plane to Germany; not only to give emotional support in Berlin, but also to sort everything out on-site.
Buschi (my husband) stayed behind alone in Las Terrenas with all the animals (and the associated problems...) – thank God Puschel (see NL 14) had been taken in by our friend Nicole, who looks after the old stinker lovingly and has given him a permanent home in his old age. Thanks to Puschel’s sponsors his (medical) supply is ensured.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Mäuschen (in place of all animals) and me (still with a bandaged head) – by the way, over here the beautiful red-blossoming Poinsettias (Christmas stars) get tall as trees...
Our separation lasted for four
weeks, four weeks during which Buschi among other things fought for Isabella’s
life (see report here and Sponsorships), sadly, he lost the fight...
Isabella died, because of the
repeated thoughtlessness of people using herbicides. What makes me angriest
about this is that these poisons were banned and forbidden a long time ago in
Europe and the USA. So why do the manufacturers still sell them to Third-World-Countries
where they are available to every child??? Are the people, the animals and the
nature here third-class and therefore dispensable, doesn’t it matter if they
perish due to poisons??? Can you expect people who can neither read nor write
to handle toxins responsibly???
Isabella’s painful death was so unnecessary and
we grieve for this caring, sweet dog.
Poor Isabelle – her life was already difficult enough at the start, we would have wished so much for her to have a long and happy life in her new family... This photo was taken back then, when she and her daughters Chivi and Duchesa were picked up for their neutering.
Unfortunately there were two new cases of distemper as well that where so serious, that we couldn't save the animal’s lives. Life can be so cruel sometimes...
When I returned to Las Terrenas after four sad and hard weeks in Berlin, another blow of fate struck. I had probably brought a “souvenir” with me from a check-up in a German hospital: Staphylococcus aureus – a typical hospital germ. Since my immune system wasn't that strong at the time, I promptly fell ill.
What started off as a little pimple on the back of my head, grew into a huge carbuncle – don't ask about the pain... – finally I had to undergo surgery in a hospital in Santo Domingo. After 10 days and 4 surgeries (with general anaesthetics) I was allowed to go home again. Because Buschi is medically experienced, he took over nursing me and caring for my wound. This was two weeks ago and I still have a large hole in my head and associated pains. It will take a long time until I have completely healed, but I see things positively (because it could have been more worse), I now try to live even healthier (e.g. by quitting smoking after 32 years!!!), Buschi’s love and the animal’s love give me strength, I am full of drive and already occupied with planning the next spay/neuter campaign... ;-)
Salomon and I – being ill is a drag...
The hole in my head behind a gauze pad – those who want to see the „scary“ details,
It is planned to take place in Las Terrenas, La Yagua and Sanchez for two weeks in February/March 2012 Vet Nina and an assistant will be there. We still have the terrible pictures from Sanchez in our heads (see NL 14) and even if we only make it to approx. 100 castrations (a fraction of the female dogs and cats that have to undergo surgery), it will still be a start – a start that saves lives...
To give you a better insight into
what a difference your donations are making, web master Christian and I will
take special trouble and put pictures of the castrated and treated animals in
our online donation calendar after every working day.
Further information here: Donation Calendar
On the sponsorship page there are
also still some (also newly introduced) dogs that are in desperate need of
permanent financial support. For only 10,-€/14,- US$ per month you can offer
them a better life.
Further information to be found here: Sponsorships
I can hardly believe that the year is coming to an end – with all the work we have been doing the time feels much shorter to me. When I look back on the past 12 months, I see
- many healthy, happy and fixed animals
- people (no matter of what nationality) that showed courage and committed themselves to a good cause
- that we are very much closer to our goal to offer the Dominican animals a good and species-appropriate life in their natural surroundings
- and I see very much love on all sides...
Of course there were negative experiences as well
- when we couldn't save the life of some animals, despite our effort
- when yet another animal was abandoned, abused, poisoned or run over
- when nobody stepped in to prevent sorrow and misery
- when eyes closed upon this world and voices fell silent forever...
I thank all of you with all my heart for keeping faith with us this year and for supporting us so wonderfully. I wish you a peaceful festive season with your loved ones and your animals and a good start into the New Year.
Whole-heartedly
Yours Miriam
We thank you for your concern with our cause and wish you Happy Holidays!
When love moves us to tears ...
Our dear friends, hard-working helpers and generous donors,
there
are times when it’s so easy to help and then there are times when you find
yourself at your limits, confronted with resistances and above all so much
misery, that it is hard to bear... And another thing has to be taken into
account – we are not getting any younger and need longer to recharge our
“batteries”. On top of that, after every castration campaign some of our
patients “stick” with us, so that in the meantime our pack of dogs has run up
to a total of 16. Therefore please excuse my long silence.
As usual I would first of all like to announce the numbers and facts of the castration campaign in May/June 2011:
- 216 castrated animals (in 12 workdays) – of those 133 were female dogs, 32 male dogs, 40 cats, 11 tom-cats – of course, as usual, all animals were treated against parasites as well
- 14 other operations such as amputations, umbilical hermia, bladder-operations, eye-removals and the likes
- 68 further consultations/medical treatments
- 5 abandoned animals were adopted by new owners
- 78 kg of medical material was used – many thanks to all the generous donors/supporters B. Braun Vet Care GmbH,Martin-Luther-Krankenhaus/Paul Gerhardt Diakonie, Vétoquinol GmbH, cell pharm GmbH, Albrecht GmbH, Wahl GmbH, Bayer Health Care AnimalHealth Dom.Rep., WAHL Agrar-Fachmarkt, Wilhelm Voigt Apotheke Berlin-Köpenick and Tierarztpraxis Maurice Bob
- 798 kilometres were driven
- 4 additional cars were in action along with fantastic helpers picking up patients and dropping them off again
- 39 washing machine loads of towels, op-shirts etc were washed
- 10 days of tropical, torrential constant rain, meaning that we had water up to our knees and had to take care that the dog crates didn't turn into boats and drift off ...
- 12 delicious luncheons prepared with much love by our hard-working helpers
- 5 days of selling from our flea-market stall with the proceeds going to the benefit of the animals (thanks for all your great donated items!)
- 1 nicked photo camera – that is to say mine – so that the choice of photos is a bit poor this time...
Our castration campaign was ill-fated this time, even though we had
ensured the financing beforehand (thanks to you). Yet again our first problem
was getting the medicines and materials through customs. Our lawyer and the
Vice-President of the Asoc. Amigos de Lucky was technically supposed to have
arranged the permissions weeks before – TECHNICALLY... So again some of the
medicines got held up in customs, thank God this problem was solved within a couple
of days with the help of kind people: Cecilia, Leo, Mary and taxi driver
Ferrer.
The
next problem was the distemper epidemic that was spreading in the country...
some of the infected dogs survived the distemper-virus, but we had to put some
to sleep which wasn't an easy task for our vet Nina (Schöllhorn from Tierärztepool) and us. After all we want to save lives with our work, but sometimes –
when there is no chance of survival – there is only one way left to „help“
suffering animals. This way their pain won't last and they won’t infect further
dogs. We grieve for each and every one of those little souls – maybe there is a
better life waiting for you now...
Often Nina and I would just think: „Sometimes it’s like a war...“ - those who know the circumstances here might be able understand.
We had thought that after the numerous castrations we have already
performed in Las Terrenas (about 900) there couldn’t be many uncastrated
females “left” – but far from it, from day one of the castration campaign we
had our hands full... Because Nina had come all on her own this time, Buschi
unceremoniously became her medical assistant and was therefore responsible for
laying vein catheters, giving narcoses, injecting medicines etc. (Nina wanted
to woo him away for more operations abroad straight away – but no way, he’s
staying here..), I was a “stand in”, i.e. I took care of all kinds of things
such as receiving patients, after-care, general organisation etc., I was the
contact person for the voluntary workers and mostly took over informing the
owners about what was going on with their animals. Due to the trust the
Dominicans have in our work by now, a lot has changed for the better for the
animals.
Our workdays started very early and often only came to an end at night;
sometimes 18 strenuous hours lay behind us, when we finally fell into bed
exhausted.
And
then there was the weather... there were only two conditions – either it was
boiling hot or torrential rain was pouring down on us, e.g. we were always wet,
be it due to sweat or due to the rain. In Las Terrenas we were able to work on
a little estate with a tiny hut (the op-room for Nina), but at our outdoor
missions we were dependent on our op-tent, which wasn't all that funny what
with all the rain.
After spending five days in Las Terrenas we went to the poor and small seaport town of Sanchez. On Arrival, we only found a couple of male dogs waiting for castration – which is nice and fine – but much more important after all are the females. I nipped down to the harbour and straight away made a find. Several stray female dogs and cats were romping around; some of them were in an absolutely horrifying state. It was astounding, that the people there didn't have the slightest idea how to tell male and female cats apart. So I showed them a pair of cats and explained: bolas (little balls) equals male, no bolas equals female – one owner who had brought her cat, held it up and proudly said “no bolas”. Unfortunately the alleged cat was a bilateral cryptorchid, meaning both its testicles had lowered and lay in the groin area. But we castrated him anyway.
Work in Sanchez took us to an emotional low, because we were only able
to castrate a fraction of the local animals.
In
Sanchez alone there would be enough work for three or four vets and that for
weeks on end...
Coson was next on our agenda. Funnily enough, we worked in a church there – which was a one-off...
Then we went to Barbacoa for two days and to Aqua Sabrosa for one day, our team was wistfully awaited everywhere...
Our last day of work was in La Yagua - kids4dogs, the school company of the special-needs school Sulzbach/Murr, paid the
costs for all of the castrated animals. A big thank you to all of you!
(Click here to see the extra report about La Yagua.)
By the way we also had work to do on our days “off”. Mainly we performed time consuming operations like leg-amputations or dental operations.
One day on our way to the clinic a heavily pregnant dog nearly ran into our car – of course we “bagged” her right away and castrated her as well.
We also had a female dog with Sticker-tumours (Canine transmissible
venereal tumour – a contagious tumour on the outer sexual organs that is
unfortunately widely spread over here), which we were able to treat with
repeated chemotherapy.
Additionally we had to look after a couple of dogs with strong nose
bleeds – suspected ehrlichiosis...
Then there was a horse with a big wound on its leg, we treated that as
well.
What
are days off work for after all...
What I have always feared is now coming true... gradually we are facing an overpopulation of cats, as well. A couple of years ago cats were still classified as “food”, in other words they were eaten. Nowadays they are kept as pets, with the result that unwanted offspring are abandoned. We are working on not letting the population escalate.
I probably won’t have to tell you again, just how essential and effective our castration- and educational work is. Most important is that we continue this work regularly – therefore we are planning another campaign with our vet Nina for the end of this year. And still, think of all those animals in Sanchez... maybe we – or you – can find generous donors, who would take over the costs of a campaign there. That would be fantastic!
I get more and more e-mails from pleased tourists from all over the
world, who notice the difference between Las Terrenas and other Dominican
locations, e. g.: “I was in Las Terrenas and was very pleased to see happy, healthy dogs
thanks to the work you do. Keep doing what you're doing.”
Wouldn't
it be a dream come true, if one day all the animals in the Dominican Republic
would be that well?
Thank you to all of our donors, helpers and supporters – our work wouldn't be possible without you – stay true to us and the animals, so that we can go on working together as successfully as we are doing now.
Now I would like to introduce you to some individual cases. Of course every animal is near and dear to us, but some animals or incidents stick in your mind...
Sending their love from Las Terrenas
Miriam
& Buschi
Peppy and Leon – two poor guys
This castration campaign Nina and I had hoped to castrate some of the
poor, thin, scarred and mangy stray dogs from the street to give them the chance
to become healthy and strong. Right at the beginning of the campaign our little
helpers Pat and Jörg brought us a male dog (Peppy), who had given up on life.
He was in a pitiful state and more dead than alive.
We
found another skinny specimen (Leon) running past opposite our clinic. Patricia
grasped a collar and a leash and brought him to us. Since we had 5 days at our
disposal in Las Terrenas, we dewormed the two of them to start with and then
fed them up on food and vitamin pills. Peppy found himself a dog crate, lay
down in it and more or less slept through the first 3 days. Leon found his
sleeping place in the ambulance – neither of them made a move to run off.
After they were castrated we were able to find a new and caring home for Leon with Brenda, a Dutch woman. Peppy stayed on the street for the time being, but still got fed regularly. But after two weeks he got very ill all of a sudden – we saw him staggering over the street as if he were drunk, he couldn't move one of his hind legs anymore, he had heavy convulsions in his face and was very apathetic. Since a clear diagnosis couldn't be made (after all those cases of distemper you get slightly hysterical), we brought him to our friend Nicole for monitoring. His condition didn't get any better so we eventually took him in at ours and treated him homoeopathically.
Today Peppy lives with our friend and tenant Pat on our estate – and finally he’s doing his name justice: he’s peppy and wild while he jumps through our entire garden :-))
Jamonita and Dulci – two of the cutest little things
Jamonita lives at the Carwash and she was shy, thin and mangy. Swiss tourists asked us to administer us to the little thing's needs, which of course we did (Thanks to family Füllemann for the generous donation!). After a couple of weeks of good food and medical treatment Jamonita turned into a cuddly and life-loving beauty, the only thing missing was her castration. When we brought her back to the Carwash after the castration, the people there took her on board – she is now a communal dog at the carwash and everyone loves and feeds her.
Dulci wasn't that lucky. She was abandoned during the castration campaign
in Las Terrenas. Since there are (near to) no miserable street-creatures around,
a dog like that attracts everyone’s attention: only skin and bones, no fur,
covered with wounds, infected with the papolloma-virus (Canine Papillomatose)
and yet open-minded and tender in nature.
Dulci
as well as Peppy and Leon stayed at our clinic – her favourite sleeping place
was the tiny bathroom on the grounds. Unfortunately the first foster home
wasn't very good for her, her condition hardly got any better – but a couple of
days ago we were able to persuade Brenda (the owner of Leon) to take Dulci in
temporarily, because it will be hard to find her a new home as long as she is
covered with warts...
Salomon and Puschel – sick, old men in retirement
On the first day of the castration campaign the Dominicans brought the male dog Salomon (see report of 11th February 2010) from the river to our clinic. His state of health had worsened, he had a bleeding wound on his back – that just wouldn't heal – was exhausted and his skin was in a catastrophic condition. Since Salomon is very near and dear to me and the people were afraid that somebody would poison Salomon out of disgust, the decision was made: Salomon would come to us...
Salomon is not a dog, he's an alien! I know thousands of dogs, but not one of them is like him. Not only does he think our house is a self-service shop (he climbs onto the kitchen counter to nick food or opens the fridge to get to the groceries), he also looks at you omnisciently with his wise eyes and of course he understands every word you say to him.
Unfortunately his heavily bleeding wound developed to a large tumour. When his skin was no longer that dry and parchment-like, we decided upon an op. But the tumour is malignant and is already growing again; it has also spread to other spots. Our homeopathic vet is trying hard to save his life and we are giving him all our love. Up to now he's still in high spirits and is in no apparent pain; let’s hope it stays that way for a while longer...
Puschel, the old street chow chow (see Sponsorship)
suddenly had a gaping hole in his side! Since he had to be treated daily and
the street filth was disastrous for his wound, he, too found his way to us...
Because Puschel lives at a “Ferreteria” (a kind of building material shop)
and likes to lie on the gravel there, his deep wound was full of gravel – we
were able to remove the larger part, but some of it wandered down into his
abdomen and two new abscesses formed, when they popped open, all the gravel
came out.
Unfortunately we can’t teach an old dog new tricks - additionally Puschel is a typical chow chow – and has his mind set on eating our cats, ducks, chickens, geese and rabbits. Although he has been hit by a car several times in his life and his legs are crooked and bent so that he hardly moves in the streets – here he hunts at full speed! Therefore the poor fellow has to be kept on a long leash at our place. Unfortunately we couldn't find anybody up to now to look after Puschel for his last days...
Sol and her puppies – sometimes there’s nothing left to do but cry
In Aqua Sabrosa the people are very poor; therefore it is understandable that the dogs are thin. But what we had to witness there deeply shocked Nina, Buschi and me. You cannot see it well on the picture, but she-dog Sol was absolutely emaciated, she was thinner than the thinnest stray dogs in Las Terrenas!!! And she had two puppies, of which the smaller one was very apathetic so that we didn't think he had a chance of survival. We castrated Sol despite her bad health condition because she surely wouldn't have been able to cope with another pregnancy. Additionally we gave them all the vitamins, electrolytes, strengthening agents and food that we could get so that they could recover.
When I went searching for her owner, I got really angry... I found her sitting idly and totally overweight (that's not to say FAT) and stuffing a grilled chicken into her throat with greasy fingers. I got very loud and said it would be better if she only ate ¼ of the chicken and gave ¾ to her dog, because she herself was really in need of a diet and her dog one step away from starving to death!!!
A friend of ours now sends a bag of dry dog food every week, but if Sol really gets some of it??? In any case we will try to find a new family for her. Her two puppies didn't make it...
Lucky and the bull – an encounter of the special kind
Lucky was one of 8 puppies of a stray dog that we brought up and found a home for. Lucky’s owner is a very nice Dominican from Barbacoa, who also helped us with the organisation of the castration campaign there. We castrated Lucky and when placing her ear tag, Buschi hit an artery and it wouldn't stop bleeding. We then applied a pressure bandage and asked his owner to inform us, if it didn't get better.
The next morning it started bleeding again, so Nina and I loaded Lucky into our car on our way to Aqua Sabrosa to treat him medically and to monitor him. There Lucky lay with his head bandage outside of our op-tent, not meaning any harm, when all of a sudden a bull came along, for one to get a closer look at the “turban-dog” and for another to assure itself that we were working hard. When Buschi peeked out of the op-tent, the bull hastily disappeared – probably fearing that we would castrate him, too ;-)
Orchidea – how love and understanding make a difference
In Sanchez the Dominican, Maria brought us her she-dog for castration.
Orchidea was very well groomed and well fed; nevertheless she had a
Sticker-tumour. Orchidea received her first dose of chemo-therapy on the day of
her castration, one week later Nina and I drove to Sanchez to undertake the
second chemo. Usually I help Nina place the vein catheter by holding the dog
and calming it, because most dogs are scared or better said who actually likes
being pricked with a needle? To insert the catheter neatly and in a way
assuring that it doesn't shift, you need a second caring staff member to hold
the dog. In the case of Orchidea I had no job to do... Maria treated her dog so
well, held her tight, spoke tenderly into her ear, that Nina finished the
treatment in a jiffy. One week later Orchidea got her third chemo from Buschi
and again everything went smoothly – thanks to Maria's help.
These
are moments that make us very happy!
Manuschka and the other kitty cats
As already mentioned, the cat population is increasing dramatically and more and more kittens are being abandoned. When we drove to La Yagua to operate there for two days – it was pouring with rain again – Buschi saw a cast out and drenched little thing on the way. Without hesitation he took the little one with him. On the second op-day we castrated her and our Haitian worker looked after her fondly and gave her the beautiful name Manuschka.
It surprises us again and again how trusting and relaxed most cats are around here – they run around between all the dogs, often the owners carry them to our clinic and they take injections patiently, some even purr in the process...
The children and dogs of La Yagua
At the castration campaign in La Yagua many children brought us their animals, often they were accompanied by friends, because so much action is interesting for all children and gives me the chance to show the children how to take loving care of their animals...
I was especially touched by the following story:
The
owner of a little female dog didn't have the time to wait during the operation,
which wasn't really a problem because I was going to bring the dog to her house
later on. Chiquita wasn't shy and so she waited patiently in her crate til it
was her turn. It was only after the op that she started to whimper pitifully,
she didn't know what had happened to her. To prevent Chiquita from making the
other dogs that were still waiting anxious, I took her out of her crate and
found myself a boy, who hadn't brought an animal himself and was therefore
“free” to look after the little one. He tenderly took Chiquita into his arms,
cradled her like a baby and sang a little song to her – after 10 minutes
Chiquita was calm and she fell asleep in his arms. At the sight of that tears
of affection and joy came to my eyes...
What became of Calypso
Many of you are surely wondering what became of the hawk Calypso, who I
introduced to you in the last newsletter.
Calypso flew further and further away from our estate, but returned a
couple of times every day to get his food. Then all of a sudden he disappeared
for two days – we hoped that he would now be able to cope on his own in natural
surroundings. On the third day we suddenly heard the screaming of two hawks,
then there was a thud on our patio –Calypso had crashed into the patio window,
he had been chased by another male (and big) hawk!!! I panicked, because it
didn't look good for the little one, he was in shock and we suspected that he
had a heavy concussion and a dislocated wing. We instantly called our
homeopathic vet who administered a remedy. The first day we desperately feared
for his life. He couldn't move, only sat on the floor in the hay in his cage
and didn't want to eat. On the second day his condition improved, he started to
take nourishment, got a bit more lively, but still wasn't able to hop onto the
branches in his cage.
After two more days he was strong enough for some first flying attempts.
Indeed, one of his wings was still a little lopsided, but he didn't want to
stay in his cage any longer.
Little by little his flying circles got larger and he slept outside in a
tree and enjoyed his freedom. One day I heard the screams of the other hawk
again, ran into the garden and - lo and behold - the big hawk had returned and
was chasing Calypso in wild flight manoeuvres between the trees. In panic my
little Calypso fled and perched on my head, his pursuer settled down in a tree
nearby and watched us with Argus-eyes. To see a wild hawk that close really is
a special experience.
Every day Hurricane – that's the name I gave the big hawk – would come
back and fly his hazardous manoeuvres through our garden. Slowly it dawned on
me, that Hurricane wasn't chasing Calypso, but trying to teach him the tricks
of the trade. And then the next surprise came up: not only did Hurricane come
to our garden, he also brought a grown female and a little male along that was
of about the same age as Calypso. Now all four hawks flew around our garden
under big shouts and screams.
Call me crazy, but I had the impression, that they were Calypsos parents
and his brother, who wanted to return Calypso to the fold...
Since Calypso can admittedly fly very well again, but still can’t kill
his prey himself (on the contrary, he panics at the sight of a little living
rat...) I had strong reservations if he would ever be able to cope in natural
surroundings on his own again.
And then he vanished again for two days – my motherly heart was filled
with worries and distress – until he returned to his “feeding-branch”. There he
was, rejecting my offered food and with blood on his leg. But the blood wasn’t
from a wound – Calypso was absolutely fine – he must have killed some prey after
all!!! 10 minutes passed until the other three hawks landed nearby. One last
time Calypso let me hear his “Mummy-cooing” the sound he always made when he
wanted to cuddle up to me, then he soared up into the air, joined the other
three and together they glided away. That was his farewell.
Sometimes
we see him circling high above our garden or settling down on the big bamboo –
then he calls for me and flies away again. After all the terrible things that
have happened to him, he has succeeded to become one with nature again and to
feed himself – a wonderful success and still every now and again a tear rolls
down my cheek because I miss the little guy so badly...
Kati – the blind cat from Punta Cana
Again and again I receive desperate e-mails from tourists who are on
holidays in Punta Cana and are having problems with animals there. Please
understand that I cannot help everywhere, especially since Las Terrenas and
Punta Cana are about the same distance apart as Garmisch is from Flensburg...
In this emergency case we were able to find a solution anyway. Several
tourists told us about a cat from the hotel Catalonia Bavaro that had red, inflamed
eye sockets instead of eyes... After many phone calls I found our friend Liana
from La Romana (which is also far away...), who was ready to make the drive to
Bavaro and fetch the cat from the hotel. Unfortunately – and we experience this
over and over again – All-Inclusive-Hotels are unwilling to let people from
outside into the hotels, most of the time the security guards can get pretty
aggressive...
Liane didn't let that disturb her and went to search for the cat. Thank
God she was not very shy due to her blindness and since she was used to being
fed by tourists, she let herself be caught without problems. Liane saw other
cats with the same symptoms, but they were not to be captured...
Liane brought the cat to a couple of vets in La Romana, because I had
explained to her beforehand, that it was essential that the eyes be operated.
Now this isn't a frequent operation over here and therefore only one vet was
prepared to perform the op. Kati – that's the name Liane gave the cat – first
of all got some antibiotics (tablets as well as eye drops), to make the
inflammation go away, so that the eye lids could be stitched up afterwards.
Those who want to know where the illness comes from – again it's the
tiresome subject of the careless handling of pesticides, insecticides and other
toxic poisons that are happily sprayed around in these parts.
Next problem – Kati was pregnant and the vet unwilling to undertake a
castration under these conditions. Is it worse to perform an abortion or to let
the kittens end in the streets and die painfully there???
Liane
and I decided to put the castration prior to the eye-op and to let Kati be
castrated by another vet – silly, to expose the poor cat to a narcosis twice,
not to mention the double vet-expenses, but unfortunately the only way.
According to the statement of the (eye)vet, there were four weeks left till birth. One hour before Liane wanted to leave for the castration, Kati had her kittens – one was stillborn, the other 4 only lived for 2 minutes, because of the harm caused by the toxins these cats didn't stand a chance to survive. Maybe it was “good” in this case, because how should the blind Kati have been able to look after her babies and who would have looked after 5 cats afterwards???
A couple of days ago her eyes were operated, the castration will follow soon. Initially Liane was looking for a family to look after this nice cat – because the option of taking her back to the poisoned hotel was simply not an option! - but Kati swept Liane clear off her feet and is now allowed to stay with her.
Edith – shock, sadness and rage
And now something, that not necessarily has so much to do with animals,
but shocked us very much and maybe explains my long silence a little...
Our Swiss friend Edith helped us very much during our castration
campaign in Las Terrenas. She was a huge animal lover and had 6 cats and 4 dogs
herself. Unfortunately her male dog was infected with distemper and there was
no saving him, so that Nina had to put the poor guy to sleep. Also one of
Edith's tom-cats was feeling very bad; he had urinary tract constipation and
couldn't empty his bladder anymore. For three days Edith brought him to us in
the clinic and on all three days Nina removed the constipation – but since it
always returned, there was no hope left for him. Experiences like this
naturally bind us animal owners even closer, you suffer together.
Before we went to La Yagua, we met up with all the helpers for a little
amicable drink, as well as to talk about the – not always nice – experiences
during work and to digest them. Edith talked to Nina for a long time and was
already looking forward to being able to help actively at the next campaign.
One week later she was found dead in her house, her murderer hat
tortured her for hours on end.
Until
today we haven’t really got this out of our systems, we are trying to help
Edith’s animals as well as we can and hope that Edith is now some place, were
she can be together with her beloved animals.
How much love can one heart hold?
Dear friends of the Dominican animals,
I sometimes wonder how much more love my heart can hold – there is always room for a new fate, another poor creature, a stray dog who looks at me with big eyes... In more than seven years about 3,500 animals have passed through my hands, some stayed for a while, others I only treated or fed once. But all these animals have one thing in common – they filled my heart with love, affected my thoughts and feelings. And I know I will set my heart on every further animal that comes into my life. Like on
Eulalia, the hispaniola barn owl (Tyto glaucops)
Christmas Eve – a working day for us, at our stall and information desk – became the day of the owl. We saw a poacher carrying a barn owl that he was trying to sell. The poor creature’s legs were tied together (the rope had already caused deep wounds!) and the totally underfed and shy nocturnal animal was in panic in the broad daylight and confronted with the crowd. There was turmoil and it more or less came to blows, but in the end we managed to retrieve the owl from the poacher and Buschi quickly brought it home. In the meantime I tried to explain to the resentful crowd why wild animals are so important for the ecological system and don't belong in the hands of humans. Apart from that, hunting wild animals was prohibited in March 2009 („Any activity leading to death, harassment, mutilation or capture of wild animals will be punished“). When the crowd had left, an old man – surely about 90 years of age – came up to me, put his arms around me, squeezed me and said: „I thank you for your respect toward nature, unfortunately the others have lost all respect.“
We treated Eulalia – we fed her raw chicken liver at night, which she devoured greedily and we gave her homoeopathic medicine, since she was already showing signs of abnormal behaviour and to quicken the recovery.
She put on weight just fine, began to defend herself and attacked us as well as the food (a good sign!). She started flying from branch to branch in her aviary. After three weeks she was strong enough to be released, after a short rest in a palm tree she soared into the evening sky – fair well, Eulalia, we wish you always pleasant flights and good hunting!
Frodo the Miniature-Pinscher-Chihuahua-Puppy
In the last week of January I got a call from a German tourist. Her daughter had fallen in love with a puppy she had bought and now wanted to take back with her to Germany. It wouldn’t have been possible to fly the dog out with the existing papers/vaccinations, especially since he hadn't reached minimum age. But we found another way, which involved taking the dog to France and having it leave for Germany via Paris ten days later. Since Frodo's state of health wasn't at its best either, he spent the interim with us. As tiny as the little guy was, he had character for ten big ones... His favourite playmate was our Great-Dane-Mix Onyx.
For his voyage to cold France and respectively Germany, I made him a coat out of an old sock. His owner told me later, that Frodo rather wears this sock that the chihuahua coat that they especially bought for him. ;-)
Frodo swept me off my feet – when we go to Germany next time, we will certainly visit him.
Emma, the Antillean Slider (Trachemys stejnegri – belongs to the family of marsh turtles)
And again we had to retrieve a local wild animal from some poachers. Buschi found Emma in the street, where she was hanging on a wire that had been pierced through her shell, upside down on a branch in the blazing sun she was being offered for sale. Apart from the hole, her shell was wounded at the side and she was bleeding heavily.
We treated Emma with homoeopathic medicine, which didn't only stop the bleeding quickly, but also supported the healing of the shell. To eliminate the risk of infection, we kept Emma for a couple of days for observation. Our household is adapted to many kinds of animals (we have dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, ducks, geese and chickens), but exotics such as barn owls and turtles do present us with new challenges... We put Emma into our wooden bath tub (which we hardly use anymore due to lack of time), where she could dive into water on the one side, but also had the possibility to stay dry on a stone we had put in for her on the other. There was one question left: what to feed her??? We offered her different kinds of meat, which she liked, and to provide some variety we went to an adjacent cow trough where we caught her some tadpoles. Since we hadn't changed the water in the bathtub for some time, the algae provided the vegetarian diet.
We actually wanted to take a little rest in January. We had planned to spend three weeks in our farm further north, we had to postpone and shorten that stay due to tending to Eulalia. So not only did we pack ten of our twelve dogs and our two cats into the car, but we also took Emma to the farm with us. There she was able to fatten herself up on tadpoles for two more days from a former horse trough, before we released her in the swampy part of our plot, where she could decide for herself where she wanted to go, e.g. further down to the river. You can even set your heart on a relatively unsocial animal...
Calypso the American castrel (Falco sparverius)
Another nest robbery, another poacher earning his money by being cruel to animals and another new experience for us... we had already successfully raised and released two barn owls, but a little hawk is something very special. Calypsos biggest problem was the way the poacher had „trimmed“ his wings – the lower part of his right wing had been cut off transversely along with the quills!!! As soon as Calypso had fattened up a little I began to flight-train him. Despite his mutilation he had to learn to fly with it. On his first try he just plopped down onto the grass, after that he tried to work his wings and on the third day he got upwind, soared over our fence and disappeared into the jungle.
Since then Buschi has had to retrieve Calypso out of different trees in the vicinity – sometimes we had to saw off branches – because flying into a tree is one thing, getting down quite another one... After one week Calypso showed us, what a flying talent he had become and from that moment we left him his freedom.
Now freedom is a nice thing – but a 5-star-restaurant is even nicer ;-)
Calypso still comes flying to me every day for food, he has grown, his landings are precise and as a proud bird of prey he knows how to use his claws, but still the closeness to his „mum“ is comforting. We are very proud of his progress. One day he will cut the cord completely, find himself a pretty female and hopefully ensure the continued existence of these majestic birds. He will always have a special place in my heart.
We have helped many other patients over the past four months; we ran another castration campaign and found new homes for a couple of dogs. Most of the time we were able to help and the animals recovered, sadly we lost three dogs to distemper and our loved gander Dagobert died of a virus. We had deep concerns about our patient Blanca (she fought with a very deep and maggot-infested wound), but she made it. Foster dog Onyx – he will be castrated in May – is in a love frenzy with our foster dog Spotty (also not castrated...), who will be staying with us until her departure for Germany in two months (dog no. 13!!!). Our permanent resident Mäuschen’s health is an up and down – but she is very buoyant and in spite of her handicap she runs (!!!) after the horses at our finca...
By the way, Mäuschen and Onyx would be very happy about new sponsors!
Meanwhile lots of very nice animal friends from Germany, Switzerland and Austria have come over to visit us. Not only did they bring lots of great medicine, they also brought donations such as collars etc. and showed a lot of interest in our work. Thanks to all of you!
Plans for the next big castration campaign have been keeping us busy for weeks now. Thanks to the generosity of some companies and donors and after the great reaction to our charity appeal last week, we only need another 1,694,-€ to go through with the campaign. I know that there is lots of room for love in your hearts – love for the Dominican animals in need – with your contributions this love will go directly to the dogs, cats, birds, tortoises…
I thank everyone involved that we can carry on with this wonderful work; all of you have a place in my heart.
Thank you.
Yours, Miriam
A Year of hope comes to an end ...
Dear animal friends, sponsors, generous donators and hard-working
helpers,
as the year draws to an end we would like to draw a balance – a
balance that we, as such a tiny organisation, can be proud of. We certainly
don't have to hide behind any of the big organisations…far from it!
Castrations
During the last 12 months (including the last 11
working days in December) we were able to castrate 740 animals altogether:
- 550 female dogs
- 80 male dogs
- 86 cats
- 20 tom-cats
- 4 male rabbits
- 337 abortions during the castration
Other operations and medical treatments
- 81
other operations
- 1264
other medical treatments
Pet adoptions
- 31 homeless animals have found a caring family to look after them
Food
- ca. 1,3 tons of food have been fed to the stray dogs/animals in need
Incomes/Expenses 2010 (to make it more transparent, I converted incomes US$ or RD$-Peso into Euro)
- 8.875,29 €/11.770,12
US$ donations
- 1.000,- €/1.326,- US$
prize money from TASSO (Golden Paw 2010)
- 15.616,94 €/20.711,92
US$ expenses for castrations, medicine, op-materials
- 1.248,- €/1.655,- US$
for food
Unfortunately a deficit of deficit of 6.989,65 €/9.270,80 US$ remains for 2010 as well as the deficit of the year before of ca. 9.550,- €/12.664,- US$ for e.g. the purchase of our mobile animal hospital, shipping of donation containers etc., which we paid out of our own pocket... We won't give up hope that some more donation money will come in in 2011 :-))
We should not forget that behind all of these dry numbers there is always an individual fate. Every animal, that passes our hands, gets treated as an individual – we share its pain and happiness, give it our love and affection, we fear about its recovery and mourn, when we cannot save it. 2010 was a very demanding year for us both physically and emotionally...
At this point I would especially like to thank my husband Buschi – without his help, patience and commitment I would not have been able to cope. It is first and foremost due to him that our marriage is still working – he is my pillar of strength. And a great thanks to our great veterinarians, our voluntary helpers on site, our tireless supporters who helped with such things as our homepage and translations, the generous donators (not only those who helped with money, but those who gave donations in kind) and all the nice people, who believed in our cause and supported us mentally – yes, without you all we would never have been able to accomplish this success. I thank you from the bottom of my heart and hope I will be able to count on you again next year.
An annual balance should not end without a foresight
into the next year. Fortunately I can forward you the happy message, that we are
planning the next big castration campaign for March 2011, in
collaboration with Tieraerztepool and our Dominican veterinarians Angel and
Romy (Angel's medical assistant, who already helped us with the last two
monthly campaigns and will have finished his studies in March).
Our goal is to castrate 270 more animals in
about 11 working days.
During the campaign we will be taking our mobile animal hospital to some
of the surroundings, very poor villages, and we will be operating directly on
the spot, tending to sick animals and providing some educational services.
Unfortunately our own funds are exhausted, so we will be needing your support in the form of:
- donations
- taking over or giving away sponsorships – soon we will be offering castration-sponsorhips (for a female dog 25,- €/34,- US$, for a cat 20,- €/27,- US$, for a male dog 15,- €/20,- US$, for a tom-cat 10,- €/14,- US$)
- organising a flea market in favour of this campaign or auctioning your things at ebay in the name of the Dominican animals
- winning a company (in which you are employed or with whom you are friends) as a sponsor for this campaign (donation receipt is possible)
- and much more
I will go into more detail, also about the pending campaign, in the New Year. Sponsorships (castration-sponsorships as well) can be taken over immediately or e.g. as a christmas present for your friends/family. Those who are interested: an email to info@amigos-de-lucky.org is enough.
I would like to finish off my review of the past year
with the following pictures – each month is documented with a picture that will
hopefully offer you a little insight into our work.
And before I forget, I have a little Christmas
present for you... Buschi and I have decided to keep Mäuschen (Mousie) for
good. Her brain damage is indeed getting better, but she will be a nursing case
for the rest of her life. She needs a lot of time, love, sympathy, care and
medical treatment – which we will give Mäuschen in your name.
I wish you peaceful holidays, time to spend with your loved ones and maybe some contemplative thoughts about how we can help the animals of this world. Thanks for your support.
Kind regards, yours
Miriam
January – Prieto (renamed by us as „Warzenschwein“ (warthog)) was brought into our clinic by children during our castration campaign. He had Canine Papillomatosis (Papilloma-Virus), a virus disease that is rather common over here – but none of us had ever seen it on such a scale! His whole oral cavity and his nasopharyngeal zone was so full of warts, that he hadn't been able to eat for days and suffered of shortage of breath. Moreover the warts had caused a severe inflammation. He was treated by us every second day. Without our help he would have died. Today he feels great, he is nice and tubby again and totally healthy.
February – The little female stray dog Humpi (see report hier) was tended to by us after an accident and we were able to find a caring family for her. She is happy and content with her mate Bonzo – maybe this luck will make her forget the anguish of the first months of her life in the streets...
March – All our animals come from the street, like Lucky and Findus. Findus – back then just a hand full, totally starved and on the brink of getting driven over by a car – found in our dogs loving partners to cuddle up to and to play with. How well the different animal species get along together here, astonishes us again and again.
This tolerance and love as well as mutual trust, should be an example to us – we can learn so much from animals...
.
April – In April the female dog Isabella and her puppies were found in an abandoned hotel (see report hier). Back then little Chivi had an uncertain future. Was her young life to come to an end in the streets, unloved and – as so many of her fellows in misery – always pregnant? We were able to find a home for Chivi, she was castrated, medically treated and regularly gets food from us because her owners are very poor.
May – stray dog Ivo (see report here) was castrated and medically treated by us in December 2009. The hard life in the streets had scared him and as sources of food he only had waste at his disposal. When I met Ivo on the street in May, he looked great and was very happy. I followed him and was able to observe how he got his food at different places, e.g. at a Colmado (little supermarket) from the Dominicans. The understanding of the population towards animals has improved, not only because of our work, but also because the dogs are in a much better health condition. The Dominicans are not disgusted by them anymore or afraid of infectious illnesses.
June – Together with veterinarian Angle we decided to undertake a small castration campaign. We can only prevent unwanted offspring (that mostly ends up on the streets) if we operate regularly. We have no access to many animals that belong to Dominicans because they live somewhere in the nested huddle of houses of Las Terrenas. But because most people cannot afford a castration for their animals our help is so important.
July – River dog Mäuschen (Mousie) (see report here and here) came to us. At the beginning, her chances of surviving were not very good, but when the worst was over, she slowly started to learn to walk again. Today she is wandering around our whole (mountain!)plot! (though still a bit shakily). She showed us how strong her will to live is and she showed us that you can enjoy life with a handicap.
August – Despite our inexhaustible castration and educational work we still find a puppy on the street from time to time. This little starving creature was running through Las Terrenas in a daze and nearly got under the wheels of a car. Naturally we took her in as a foster dog. Only after three days the owners got in touch with us – the little one had been able to escape under a fence and probably hadn’t been able to find her way home again. It's a good thing that this story had a happy ending.
September – When stray dog „Katastrophe“ (see report here) came to us, we were more than shocked about his terrible condition. After four days of tireless fighting – which also meant that my husband and I had to take turns to look after the poor guy around the clock – he fell asleep peacefully in our arms, forever...
Even today we still fight back tears,
when we think of him, we would have dearly loved to give him a new life.
We succeeded in doing that with Negrita – when we
found her in September she as well was only flesh and bones and she had severe
mange. She was treated by us, provided with good food and finally castrated.
Today she is a beautiful, healthy dog. When she was still ill, her owner
wouldn’t touch her – for fear of infection. Now she is a full family member,
cuddles included...
October – Fortunately we were able to help stray dog Onyx, who had already come to us in September (see report here) to get healthy again. We dedicated ourselves wholeheartedly to his care and the result speaks for itself... He is still with us, because we couldn't find a suitable family for him yet. And again I discovered a small uncastrated female stray dog. We gave her food and she began to trust us so that we were able to castrate her at the beginning of December.
November – By chance I found a stray dog with 8 puppies under some stairs. We fed her regularly so that she would have enough milk to get her puppies through. Ever since I am trying to find families that are prepared to adopt babies – no easy task... Every Saturday we organise a stall and information stand, to get some donations into our (empty) cash box. I went through a tedious and time-consuming search at ebay for things for the stall and asked for the things to be shipped here. Additionally we put up a showcase, in order to display the stray dogs free for adoption in a better way.
December – The year shall end with the
following happy story: I was at my Swiss friends’ house to treat her tom-cat
and she told me that she and her friend were considering to adopt a dog, this
of course was music to my ears and I immediately thought of my 8 puppies.
Hardly had I stepped into my car, when a desperate call came in. Friends had
found a tiny puppy at the beach on this cold and rainy day. Despite intensive
searching we couldn't find any sign of its mother or siblings – so I had to
assume that the little one had been abandoned. And he was only two weeks old
and badly needed mother's milk. I thought about who would be able to take the
time to bottle-feed him and had the idea to ask my Swiss friend what she
thought about her idea of adoption becoming an instant reality, since I now had
an absolute emergency on my hands. So the little nameless baby became „Whisky“,
because my friend immediately agreed to take him in.
Since Whiskey has already decorated the tree, I only
have to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Tears of happiness, sadness and hope ...
Dear friends,
the last month has yet again been a roller coaster ride of emotions... The death of poor stray dog “Katastrophe” upset us all very much. Of course, we cannot rescue every animal and any animal welfare activist would advise you not to let things like that get to you, but still each and every loss of an animal is a real tragedy to me and breaks my heart every time :-((
Then we received the pleasant news that we were on the short-list for the Goldene Pfote (Golden Paw). We were on the edges of our seats with suspense during the whole voting phase. And animal-friend Winni was clicking his fingers sore day and night, to give us at least a small chance against those huge contestants, but after a couple of days the results were adjusted and multiple votes deleted. After the voting dead-line the jury voted us on place four and we were very disappointed – another hope destroyed. Just when I wanted to inform you by e-mail, we got a call from TASSO: place three had withdrawn its candidature; we had moved up and were now one of the winners at last. And again tears flew, but this time they were tears of joy and happiness!!! Since we couldn't attend the award ceremony in Pfullingen in person, I sent this short acknowledgement to TASSO.
One day later our monthly castration-campaign started. This time it took place in very „posh“ surroundings. We were allowed to work on the first floor of a private humane-clinic, because the boss of this clinic was so impressed by our work that he wanted to support it. And because the operations in our mobile animal-ambulance are pretty sweaty procedures regarding the local temperatures, we gladly accepted his generous offer. This kind of support is very special as Dominicans usually don't allow „dirty“ animals anywhere near such institutions...
This time we were able to castrate 10 female dogs and 4 cats (some of them pregnant) and to carry out diverse other medical treatments.
During the castration-campaign I spotted a stray female dog on the other side of the street. Of course we wanted to castrate her straight away. So I went over to her, lured her with some food and put her on the lead – All of this took its course without any problems. While examining her belly I saw that she had already been castrated...
Seeing how many dogs have already been castrated by us makes me very happy! The situation in Las Terrenas has improved so much for the animals, but the people profit by it as well – finally there is more cooperation between humans and animals!
To fill our collecting box, we now put up a little vending- and information stall every Saturday. We sell dog-food that we import from Germany in a container (a million thanks to Urs, who made this possible, to Sascha of BPS Beutler and special thanks to Xaver of Cayena Service), as well as animal accessories that we partly owe to generous donations or buy ourselves in Germany. Our French friend Tamalou attends to the stall and is actively supported by some Dominican kids.
What made me especially happy was the large interest in our sponsorships – for our permanent patient Mäuschen we have even had
three requests, she really is outstandingly cute :-))
Please keep an eye on our sponsorship page, it is
constantly updated with new emergencies. We don't have any minimum premiums for
the sponsors or donators, because for us even a donation of 5,- Euro / 7,- US$
/ 5,- £ is a large help.
And now to our newest patients:
You can read the story of Onyx here. Over the past three weeks he has gotten a lot better – he
will stay with us until he has recovered completely and we are already on the
look out for a caring home for him. Onyx is a great guard dog and a cuddly
giant baby at the same time.
Three days after Onyx arrived we got Dino – here you can read Dinos story. Dino will stay with us, because handicapped as he is he won't find anybody to take him in.
We were able to cure the paralysed puppy we took in last month after about two weeks and we returned him home to his owner all healed. He had probably eaten some sort of drug – yes, there are some of those over here as well unfortunately... – and the drugs triggered the paralysis. We detoxicated the midget and did some rehab-exercises with him.
And then, sadly, we lost another patient – Lila, the stray dog that had been struck by a motorbike and nursed by our friend Nicole. The day before she had been just fine, she was driving around with Nicole in her car (which she loved), had eaten well, had had her „bedtime sweet“, a serving of yoghurt (she loved that as well) and had fallen asleep. She didn't wake up again, it happened quickly and without any pain, certainly the best way for Lila.
We are all very sad and shocked because we had actually had large hopes that Lila would survive. Maybe she would never have been able to walk properly again, but she had still always communicated her will to live to us and wasn't really bothered at all about her handicap. Buschi wanted to make her a trolly and had already ordered tyres as you don’t get them here in Las Terrenas. Farewell, lovely Lila, you enriched our life.
We cannot always win – but we will always devote all our strength and love to the animals, because they deserve it.
In this spirit I send my love from Las Terrenas
Miriam
When hope bears fruit ...
Dear friends of the Dominican animals,
At last we are online! Hard-working Christian attended to our website and you can follow all our news and pictures on the internet. Now all we need are translators for Spanish, English and French who have time to translate our texts and then we can go international!!! Maybe you know someone who could help?
But not only Christian has been working hard, we have also been able to achieve some good results, for example during our monthly castration-campaign with Dr vet Angel De La Cruz from Sosua. The campaign took place on the 31st of July and the 4th of September. We castrated 20 female and 3 male dogs, 3 cats and one tom-cat and also carried out diverse other medical treatments in our mobile animal hospital. The great thing about it isn't only that because of it much animal-misery will be avoided in future, but that the Dominicans are showing more and more interest in their animals. All the dogs that were brought to us by their owners were in top-form: well fed, well-tended fur, partly equipped with flea-collars and vaccination certificates plus they all had names (for example Coffee and Wheat(beer)) and their owners treated them affectionately. Some even stayed for the whole process and touchingly looked after all of the dogs (not only their own) during the recovery phase. There was much stroking and comforting going on. To see, how at last our educational work is bearing fruits makes us particularly happy as this is still not the case in the rest of the country. As you can see, there is still a lot of work to be done...
During the castration-campaign at the end of July Tamalou brought us a stray dog with four puppies that were only a couple of days old. Unfortunately we had to put two of them to sleep, there was no rescue for them, because their tiny bodies had been completely eaten away by maggots. Heartbeat, temperature and breathing had nearly stopped. To ensure that the mother would be able to bring up her two remaining puppies in peace after the castration and have enough food to produce milk, Tamalou took her in. Two weeks afterwards I received a desperate call from Tamalou, she had found an orphaned baby-cat and urgently needed my help. In spite of the baby-bottles with breeding-milk, massages, warm-water-bottles and caring attention the kitten was grumpy and meowing miserably. When stray-dog Mia fed her puppies on Tamalous terrace, I chanced an experiment. We pacified and stroked Mia and I put the kitten on one of her teats, whereupon it started to suck greedily. After five minutes Mia decided that the little being was no danger to her puppies and let it carry on. One hour later, the puppies had already fallen asleep, the little furbull was still sucking on its surrogate mother and only when it was full up, did it fall into a happy and contented sleep. Breast milk and the warmth of a mother cannot be replaced by anything... All four are doing well and were just placed with caring families.
I told you about our paralysed patients Knoedel and Teddy in the last newsletter. Unfortunately we have four more difficult cases...
Mäuschen (Mousie) is one of the river-dogs we castrated in December 2009. During heavy rains in July, Mäuschen was swept away by the water of the swelling river, thrown against a stone and caught behind a bridge, where she couldn't move forwards or backwards and was close to drowning. She didn't only swallow a vast quantity of water, in addition to this all the floating litter drifted into her mouth, amongst other things a big piece of broken glass. Finally a dauntless Dominican saved her more dead than alive from her desperate situation and I was informed about it. Of course I took her with me straight away – she was in deep shock, her spine was heavily bruised, the piece of broken glass had caused severe inner injuries and due to the lack of oxygen she had suffered brain damage. Everybody who knows me knows, that as long as an animal shows a will to live and there is a chance of convalescence I will not give up. For two weeks we fought for Mäuschens life with the help of our homoeopathic veterinarian in Germany, luckily she threw up the broken piece of glass pretty quickly, so that the inner bleeding could at least be stopped.
Since then she has been recovering little by little and is at present learning to walk again. It will take time until she has completely recovered. If she will ever be able to return to the river is questionable, she is still petrified of water, understandably after what she has had to go through. So for the time being she will stay one of our “stationary longtime-patients”...
Stray dog Lila was castrated by us in May 2009. At the beginning of July 2010 she got struck by a motorbike, which was admittedly her fault. Our friend Nicole took Lila in and she was medically provided for by us. Lila too has paralysis of the hind legs. But what made the case more complicated was a big deep heavily bleeding hole, that suddenly formed itself from inside out at her hip. Every day we are fighting for Lilas life...
While I was writing this, a Dominican came to us with
his paralysed puppy – reason for the paralysis???
Still we will try to help it.
I had hardly admitted the little fellow, when a call reached me that a
stray dog who had been struck by a car a short time ago, had been sighted and
was hiding under some crates on the main road of Las Terrenas. Our friend Dan
was so nice to bring the dog to me, because I couldn't drive into the village
with all the patients around. I was expecting the worst, but what I eventually
got to see was one big catastrophe!!!
I thought for a long time about whether I should spare you this sight or not, but since we urgently need financial help for medicine, good food and possible operations for him, and for you to understand with what kind of hard fates we have to deal with every day, I am going to publish the pictures of him. Animal protection work isn't only about “happy” moments after all – it is tough and brings you – emotionally as well – to your absolute limits.
“Catastrophe” - that's what we called the poor guy – may be able to survive. It will take a long time and we might have to amputate his leg, but we won't give up hope and will do everything in our power to make him get well. Firstly we will have to fight the infection and nurse him back to health, because in his present terrible starving condition he naturally won’t stand a chance.
That's why I set up the project “sponsorship”. Here you will find animals, partly stray dogs, partly animals belonging to poor Dominicans, who don't have enough money for food, and some longtime-patients as well, whose supply we can only assure when the expenses for them are incured. More information here.
I would like to share another thing with you. In spite of all his bad experiences with human beings and inspite of all the pain he is having to go through Catastrophe still looks at me with hopeful eyes, he still wags his tail when he sees me and still puts his paw into my hand. Animals can forgive the worst experiences and keep their trust in a better world – we all can learn so much from them...
Thank you for your attention, your help and your dedication, please don't let the Dominican animals down, they need you.
With kind regards
Miriam
PS: Since the writing and the picture editing take time, some events change before they get published. Such as in the case of “Catastrophe”. The poor guy didn't make it, he died peacefully and without pain in our arms. Even though we lost the fight, we were still able to give him some love, warmth and security in the last hours of his life. We grieve very much for our sweet, lovely and couragous fellow.
New ways to new hope ...
Dear animal-friends,
you have had to wait a little longer for a new newsletter, but there are just too many patients who have to be looked after and so the administrative work has had to wait...
Ever since our big castration campaign, there have been a great many changes within the population. Whenever I drive through Las Terrenas and its surroundings, people stop me and ask me to have a look at their animals. Often it's just small things the animals need, such as deworming, remedies against dermal parasites or just some explanation about correct feeding. Unfortunately there are also difficult cases. Additionally there are still many female dogs we haven’t castrated yet.
In the same way I was called upon by some tourists who had found a dog with her seven puppies in an empty hotel at the beach – the dog-family was living there between litter and debris... Our friend Marina and I started to clean up, we gave them fresh water- and foodbowls, tended to all of the dogs with deworming and food. Marina lives near-by and was therefore able to feed their hungry mouths twice a day. And of course we started looking for suitable families to find a home for all of them. The four little male dogs were picked up quickly, so three little females and mother Isabella remained. I found families for them down in our village – very poor but animal-friendly people. To make sure all dogs get enough to eat, we bring them a sack of dry feed every week and at the same time monitor their health.
Unfortunately one of the little females vanished without a trace, but the rest of them are doing fine. Their castration was still pending; nearly nobody takes in a female dog that hasn’t been castrated. So we asked vetinarian Dr Angel July De La Cruz from Sosua for help and two weeks ago Isabella and two of her daughters were castrated.
Strangely enough we lately got a couple of patients in that had paralytic symptoms. A woman from our village asked me to take a look at her male dog, who had been paralysed for some days without any obvious reason, he couldn’t even lift his head. We took “Knoedel” with us and advised with our homoeopathic veterinarian in Germany about the possible reasons for the paralysis. Everything suggested a heavy metal poisoning. If you are wondering how that could have happened, well, over here they use pesticides which are long forbidden in Europe and the USA because of their toxic impact – here they go about with them as if they were sugar-water.
Knoedel got homoeopathic remedies and we did rehab-exercises with him all the time. After three days he was able to stand again (though a bit shakily), on day five he made his first careful attempts to walk and on day eight he was even able to lift a leg to pee ;-) After ten days we were able to bring him back to his family completely cured, on day twelve he felt strong enough to run all the way from the village up the hill to our place – since that day he comes over every night and we drive him home in the morning...
The next paralysed patient was “Teddybaer”, a German Shepherd-Rottweiler-mongrel, whose hind legs were completely paralysed. Since this had been the case for quite a while, he hardly had any musculature left there. He too got homoeopathic remedies and a special rehab- programm fitted to his needs. We were able to improve his general condition considerably, but the paralysis in his hind legs persisted. We also got slight paralytic symptoms in our backs, because Teddy is neither a small nor a light dog and the rehab-excercises demanded our whole sportive dedication...
Therefore we decided to make him a trolley, so that he could stay mobile and enjoy life. His owner (a dutchman), a german and an american friend made it with Buschi – at the end of this multinational co-work Teddy could proudly take possesion of his trolley and he instantly shot off with it...
In addition to the treatment of sick animals, castrations are still the most important part of our work. Thanks to a generous contributer we could, as already mentioned, accomplish another little castration-campaign with veterianrian Dr Angel July De La Cruz.
Not only Isabella and her daughters were castrated, but also four other female dogs (one of them much advanced in pregnacy!) and a male dog, who had already been on the waiting list.
And because there are still many uncastrated stray dogs in Las Terrenas and its surroundings and because the interest of the Dominicans in having their animals operated isn’t breaking off, we decided with Dr De La Cruz to start a little campaign with about ten female dogs once a month. For this our mobile animal clinic will be on the parking lot of the “Pet Shop” (Angel's shop for pet supplies here in Las Terrenas) every first Saturday of a month. This way we can also urge the people to buy adequate food or parasite remedies etc. right away.
Moreover I am hoping to find some help with consults and general provisions. Because in the long run I simply will not have the time or the physical constitution to save all of the animals single-handedly...
Of course such campaigns are only a drop in the bucket and we would like to start a bigger one at the end of the year with Thomas, Ines and Nina from the “Tieraerztepool”. But for that we need donations (we need them for the monthly campaigns, too of course...), because unfortunately we are short of money at present. Therefore we are appealing to you to help us – even small contributions can make a lot of difference over here and it would be a shame if we couldn't carry on with our work, now that the Dominicans are at last beginning to practice what we preach. Ending our work would mean a big setback for the well-being of all animals – please help us to avoid this happening, the animals need a lobby and nice people like you, who can make all this possible.
We thank you in the name of the Dominican animals
Miriam & Buschi
When hopes become deeds ...
Dear animal-friends, generous donors and hard-working helpers,
after six weeks of the castration-campaign and two weeks of follow-up work now at last my report. First the facts:
- 646 animals castrated (in 28 days) – of these 480 were
female dogs, 73 male dogs, 72 cats, 16 tom-cats, 4 rabbits – of course all of
these animals got treated against parasites as well
- 303 abortions
- 74 other operations such as amputations, umbilical hernias, eyeablations etc.
- 224 medical treatments such as leg-fractures, mange treatments, stomach problems etc.
- 17 animals could be given to new owners
- 23 medical smear heads were used for shaving – thanks to the company Wahl GmbH for their generous donation
- 112 washing machine loads with towels, OP-Shirts and so on
- 2.078 kilometres driven
- 1 toppled over power pole smashed our car
- 13 days of tropical, torrential continuous rain – which made looking for dogs and working decidedly more difficult and depressed us pretty much
- four accidents with personal injuries per week in Las Terrenas, caused by dogs (before the castration-campaign) – after the campaign: NO more accidents!!!!
- 21.121,66 € (about $ 29,500 or £ 18,800) total cost
- 6.114,73 € (about $ 8,550 or £ 5,500) received donations
Not many organisations are able to manage such a successful campaign – especially not as little associations as us – this is also the opinion of the veterinarians of „Tierärztepool“. And after all they have over 10 years of experience in this sector!!! For the long lasting successes that we achieved, the costs of the castrations are actually pretty low compared to the running costs for an asylum – and isn't it much better that the animals can live in freedom, as they do over here, instead of having to spend their lives behind bars?
So far the facts and bare figures – describing our daily work (most of the time 17-hour-days), and all the positive and sporadically negative experiences that come with it is a much more difficult (and very long) task... But please still take your time to read this report to the end.
During the last six years we have often felt we were fighting against windmills – how often did we try to tell the Dominicans how to keep their animals appropriately and caringly, and how often did we have the feeling that our advice bounced off them unheard...
But this campaign has shown us, just how much change has come about during these years. Not only have numerous Dominicans brought their animals to our clinic, but when I drive through Las Terrenas now, I am always asked when the next castrations are going to take place – or the people stop me to thank me and proudly show me their castrated she-dogs, who look so much better nowadays.
Suriel with Billy and his other dogs
Suriel is a relatively rich Dominican. Some years ago he asked me around, because his dogs (from German Shepherd to midget pinscher) were ill. When I saw his way of animal-keeping, I got hopping mad...All his dogs were kept in dirty wire-cages or tiny kennels, without water and they were in a most miserable state.
Hereupon I called my friendship with Suriel off and told him, if he didn't change this condition, he needn’t bother coming to me ever again about his animals. During our campaign Surial brought his German Shepherd Billy to the clinic. Billy had a difficult hernia and would have probably died a couple of days later without our operation. Since Billy was pretty old and his heart not in the best of conditions, the OP was a big risk. But Suriel wanted to take this risk for his dog at all costs and therefore Billy was operated (and also castrated) by Ines.
When we drove to Suriels house the next day, I could hardly believe my eyes – the kennels and cages had disapeared, all the dogs were running about freely and looked well tended for. Billy had a bed (with cushions!!!), were he could rest after his OP, Suriel treated his dogs affectionately, and there were water- and food bowls. This complete turnaround really touched my heart – since it showed, that all our dedication over the years hadn’t been in vain and that a change for the good of the animals is really taking place.
Humpi
Our French friend Tamalu was diligently out and about during our campaign bringing dogs to the clinic. One day she turned up with a little female stray dog, who got castrated and returned by Tamalu afterwards. Ten days later during heavy rainfalls, two Dominican Motoconcho-drivers (moped-taxis) came to the clinic – the little dog had been run over by a big Jeep and left lying on the street. One of the Motoconchos had witnessed it, torn his T-Shirt in two to make a provisional bandage, grabbed a collegue and brought the dog to our place. His words: „This little one has an eartag, so you already castrated her – please save her little life again!“ showed, that the population understands our work. And honestly, who actually tears his T-Shirt in half just to help a stray dog – that still brings tears to my eyes.
Humpi has been with us since then and we have found a new home for her where she will be able to go in a couple of days when she is better.
River-dog Salomon
You already know Salomon from my first newsletter. He had a very bad mange infection and was successfully treated by us. Unfortunately his skin worsened again while we were in Germany during the preparation-phase for the campaign and didn't have the time to look after him. Moreover he was often involved in bitings with other male dogs from the river. So he and another male dog got castrated and treated again against the mange. Somehow there is a deep affection between Salomon and me and now, and when I see him once a week for his treatment, we smooch as if there was no tomorrow...
His owners are now so proud of him, firstly because the „Gringa“ (that's me) loves their dog so much and secondly because his fur is so beautiful. This pride is the best assurance for a dog, because this way he wil be fed well and kept safe from abandonment or cruelty.
The dogs and cats from Agua Sabrosa
We visited the little village of Agua Sabrosa for one day with our ambulance and the op-tent. A friend had told us, that the Dominicans there would be very happy, if we would come over for castrations, because nobody there had the possibility to bring the animals to Las Terrenas. And indeed – many of them brought their dogs and cats to the arranged meeting point, as „leads“ they used everything from a rope to a mobile charging cable...
After initial chaos the people quickly understood that the more patiently they waited, the more animals we would be able to castrate that day. So Ines and Nina did piece-work at the surgery table and we were able to castrate 44 animals – the last stich was sewn by Nina by the light of an electric torch... We all liked that day especially, because the people were keen to work with us, they followed our instructions, cooked a delicious lunch for us and were very grateful...
Flaco I and Flaco II
Sometimes there are days when you totally dispair. Tamula brought us two male dogs, who had been kept on a chain by their owners – without food and water. A couple of days more and those poor creatures would have cruelly starved to death...
We reaccustomed them both to food by giving them little portions every hour. Feeding them was one thing, but how to take the responsibility of giving them back to their owners or abandoning them in the streets??? So we had to find a new and loving home for them, which we managed successfully. Both of them are now feeling great and there is no need to call them „flaco“ (thin) anymore :-))
The broken leg from the river
While collecting diverse river dogs, I was addressed by a woman, who asked me to take a look at her male dog. He had been run over six months previously and she had been to the local „veterinarian“ with him. After an operation, that had been nearly prohibitive for her (she had to pay the money off), she didn't think her dog was in a very good condition at all. This wasn't surprising, because instead of immobilising the uncomplicated fracture with a fixed bandage for some time, a nearly 5 inch long metal bar had been inserted and wire had been drilled through the bone, because that way the so-called veterinarian could earn the most money... Since the surgery had been performed so badly, the bone had inflamed, the bar was sticking out of the open leg, the fracture naturally wasn’t healing, and the poor dog was in a hell of pain.
After Ines had removed the metal bar, she still wasn't sure if the leg could be saved. Every second day we picked the patient up, brought him to the clinic to treat him medically and to change the bandage. Now, six weeks later, he is feeling great and is starting to put weight on to the leg that he hadn't used for such a long time and to walk on all fours.
Moreover he has become a good friend and the other day he played with Salomon on the riverbank...
Finchen
Thomas found a little female dog on the street, that didn't only have to be castrated, but also had a fractured leg and a totally displaced hip – both had been caused by an accident, that unfortunately had taken place some time ago. So all we could do for her was to immobilise her hind leg und hope, that the fracture would heal. Since we had to change her bandage every now and then, she stayed with us for the time being. And there she still is...she will probably never be able to walk properly again and stay „crooked“ - but we love the little monster anyway...
Every one of us could tell you so many stories, Buschi could tell you about the cancer-tumor-dog, Ines about the warthog-dog and the uterine-suppuratione-cat, Thomas about the umbilical hernia-blind-tom-cat and the Sticker-tumor-female-dog, Roman about the Rottweiler-siblings and the Steff-female-dog, Nina about the little starved Luna and the machete-blow-dog, Sigi about his experiences while counting dogs, Tamalu how she threatened people with the police, when they didn't want to let their female dogs be castrated, Katrin and Bob about Snoopy, who got showered with fuel, and the rebellious Yoda, Sabine about the fight of the poisoned Flacetita, Marina about Mascha, who didn't want to pee in the rain and so on...
All of us went beyond our personal limits during this time, shed tears, fought sometimes, made up again quickly, shared happiness when we were able to help and kept on being surprised again and again about how patient, nice, funny and intelligent all of the many animals we treated were. In the end we all agreed, that the campaign was more than successful – it effectively improved the lifes of so many animals and of many humans as well, we were able to save uncountable lives and fought with helpers of all nationalities for the good cause.
It made me, personally very happy, because when you put your own problems (or what you take for them) on hold and help others, you get so much back and that is such a wonderful feeling...
I thank everybody involved from the bottom of my heart – you made a dream come true, the dream of happy and healthy animals – and that a change can come about in the heads of the people here for the better.
We would like to go on working, because there is still much to do and still hundreds of little villages with animals, that need our help. But unfortunately we don't have the option, to invest 15,000 Euro (about $20,900 or £13,300) of our own money (which was actually meant to build a house) again. With your financial support we would be able to start another castration-campaign already this year with the veterinarians of “Tieraerztepool”. Our main sponsor Condor has already promised to carry on helping us out with cheap flights and the transport of the surgery materials.
I thank you all in the name of all Amigos de Lucky and
the Dominican animals
Yours Miriam
Hope on three legs ...
Dear friends, helpers and donators,
before the holidays I would like to briefly provide you with a short summary of what has been going on in the last few weeks…
On Monday, the 14th of December, Siggi and Roman landed in Santo Domingo - Siggi is a biologist, who would like to carry out a pilot study on the longtermsuccesses of castration-campaigns here in the Dominican Republic and Roman is Thomas and Ines’, the veterinarians of "Tieraerztepool", assistant. Because they were heading here from Santo Domingo, they brought Lolita - the three-legged female dog from the toll-station - with them in their taxi on their way to Las Terrenas. Since then she has been staying with us and waiting for Ines to castrate her. Meanwhile she is running about and playing as if she still had four legs :-))
On Tuesday, the 15th of December, we set up the tent (the ambulance is still being held up in customs....grrrrr) and equipped the rented rooms (which we already worked in in November). In the evening Thomas and Ines landed with their three own dogs and over 100 kg of material – here another cordial thanks goes to Condor, the animal-friendly airline, who sponsored this and made all of it possible!!! And naturally, as always in this country, things didn’t go according to plan…customs and the ministry of agriculture confiscated all of the material - double and triple grrrrrrrr...
So the next day Ines, Roman and I drove to the clinic - without op-materials - to register incoming patients and to reschedule them to a later date. Meanwhile Buschi and Thomas drove to the airport and entered into tough and arduous negotiations about the confiscated material. And they were lucky – so as not to lose face administration kept some of the stuff, but the two of them were able to get the biggest part back and take it directly to the clinic. That way we were able to castrate the first seven female dogs in the early afternoon of the same day after all - triple huurraaay!!!
We worked from Thursday through to Sunday after four and a half days we had the following results:
- 85 female dogs were castrated (six of them were pregnant with all together 45 foetuses)
- 8 female cats were castrated
- 4 male dogs were castrated
- 1 tom-cat was castrated
- other operations and treatments included: 1 amputation, 1 hernia, 7 umbilical hernias, 5 bites stitched, 1 dental treatment, ca. 150 dewormings, diverse treatments of Sticker-tumours (with chemo), dermal problems, dermal parasites, eye-injuries and other consultations
The population has embraced our campaign – many of them treat their pets kindly (at last!!!) and we show the others, how much nicer it is to treat pets well. And after preaching: feed your dogs! for six years now, I ever so often find myself having to say: put your dogs on a diet! ;-))
Even if Ines is regularly on the verge of a nervous breakdown when she has to castrate the chubbier female dogs (they are more difficult to operate, because the adipose tissue tears quickly and is very fragile), I see this as an affirmation of our work bearing fruits…
Ivo, a stray dog who often visits our clinic. He had a bloody injury on his ear, Thomas and I caught him and took care of him. While we were at it we castrated him as well. Now he is lying in "his" street again und fetches his food daily at our place :-)
And now to the hope on three legs:
As already mentioned Lolita is frolicking around on
our property. Since today was our day off, we went to the beach with all our
dogs and Lolita saw the sea for the very first time in her life. For five
minutes she was slightly sceptical, but
then she swam, dived for fishes, dug holes in the sand and ran around like a
mad dog - it was probably the best day of her life! If only all of you could
have been there to see this happiness with your own eyes.
Then a German who lives in Sanchez brought us his Belgium shepherd "Lilly", who had been run over by a lorry a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately one of her front legs was past remedy and had to be amputated. In addition to this misfortune one of her hind legs was seriously injured as well. But she is still young and has an enormous will to live - otherwise she wouldn't have survived the weeks after the accident. Proving her will to survive she went for a walk with me in the field for five minutes today. She wanted to run after our geese - a good incentive, to speed up rehab ;-)
Starting tomorrow we will be working in El Limon (the next biggest village, ca. 22 km away from Las Terrenas) for two days. We will most certainly reach our goal to castrate about 600 female (!!!) animals. A tough and strenuous bit of work, but it is already a fantastic sight driving through the streets and seeing all the female dogs with their yellow ear tags.
This boy’s family brought all of their female dogs - three altogether – along. He was so taken with our work that he wants to become a vet later. A great career aspiration and another piece of hope for the Dominican dogs and for us as well...
Many thanks to all of you for all the support and help. On behalf of the Amigos de Lucky I wish you lovely and peaceful holidays. Take time for your families, friends and pets – loving and caring relationships are so important, who gives happiness and love will get it back a hundred times.
In this spirit all my best wishes from Las Terrenas
Miriam