Visakha SPCA: website redesign, sea turtles, cats, preventing dog killings

[Guest guest]

Dear friends, We have been anxious to let you know of all the myriad activities

of our no-kill/open admission sanctuary. Reconstruction with funds pledged for

that from the floods goes on and we will have a mostly rebuilt animal shelter

shortly--some structures still need to be funded to be replaced.

Please go to www.visakhaspca.org to see our redesigned web site donated by

Amphibian Design. Of note are the new pages: 1. ABC - animal birth control

2. " about us " and " contact us " with new photos.

 

Early January - present Mrs. Maneka Gandhi is taking up the issue of protecting

the dogs in Visakha of which almost all are already operated upon and also the

expanded Greater Visakha area where the ABC has to begin immediately with an

estimated 25000 dogs added by Government order. She has been a great source of

help to us. We spent much time preventing the round up and killing of stray

dogs, keeping a 24 hour vigil and filing compliants in court. In this Chinese

" year of the dog " many animal groups in different parts of the world are

working hard to stop these measures; but we were out nightly actually

physically preventing these illegal (in India) activities . The criminals used

unlicensed drugs to poison the easy targets -- sleeping dogs or dogs that were

friendly to all. VSPCA chased the dog killers who have been illegally hired by

the Municipality; in the middle of the night to nab them and hand them over to

police.

13 February: Pradeep Nath met with A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the President of India,

who was visiting our city and protested against the killing of street dogs

(another 30 dogs right before his visit!). (Letter to the President and photo

now up on our web site).

15 February: In court the Chief Justice asked the Municipality's lawyer -- " If

the population of human beings increases are you killing them and what authority

do you have to kill dogs against the Dog Rules " .

We hope to begin an active cat spay/neuter program for the increasing stray and

abandoned cats in our city(we performed 3635 operations for the dogs last year

alone even with the disasters) for if you will help us with your donations.

Because cats are not a rabies or aggression problem in India they are often

overlooked and we would like to turn more attention towards them before the

situation gets worse.

Mid-January to present: Four volunteers arrived from the west to help with the

sea turtle project and spend a few months. The sea turtles started coming in

and the volunteers were quickly put to work.

Right photo: one of the volunteer's rescue projects " Roo " , named for his

kangaroo ears-- a favorite new staff member:

Jack Lawrence; computer and network consultant/wildlife biology volunteer from

Syracuse, New York, USA writes: " As volunteers we are designing and a new

monkey enclosure and also an aviary large enough so that we can test parrots to

see if they're suitable for release. We're gathering information and making fact

sheets for the care of endangered star tortoises. The shelter is home to more

than 10 of these star tortoises, one of whom just laid eggs! We're patrolling

beaches to count dead turtles and turtle nests - which we then obscure to

protect the eggs from predation. We find many dead turtles, and suspect that

they are fishing mortalities. It seems that the local fishing fleet doesn't use

the TED (turtle excluder device), though the law requires it. We have met with

local fisherman for sea turtle awareness education. We're also organizing beach

cleanups with school children; preparing presentations on the Visakha SPCA and

Olive Ridley Sea Turtles for use in meetings (last week we presented to the

Rotary Club);

hosting officials at the shelter; and initiating a humane awareness campaign as

part of the President of India's upcoming visit to

Visakhapatnam. "

 

Visakha SPCA continues this unfunded sea turtle project for the past 10 years.

There is no one else monitoring and protecting the Olive Ridley on this

important stretch of the Andhra Pradesh coast of the Bay of Bengal. Photo right:

Volunteer Jolene J. Csakany, Wildlife Biologist of Scituate, MA USA examining

and documenting a dead Olive Ridley sea turtle on the beach and she adds:

" VSPCA is a great organization with a large scope of interconnected goals to

attain sustainability and teach others how to live compatibly with animals and

nature. It's wonderful that they are not just offering homes to unwanted

animals, but showing people how they can live in harmony with animals by

teaching the use of cow dung in making biogas and fertilizer, controlling the

dog and cat population with sterilization and showing Indian people they can be

good pets not as often thought of vermin, as well as working to have endangered

species like the sea turtle and their habitat protected. Also, teaching people

not to propagate cruelty by showing the dark side of what happens to baby

monkeys and parrots kept illegally and cruelly for the tourist trade. And to

teach local fisherpeople to feel linked to the turtle. Both share the threats

to their livelihoods of beach development and big trawlers killing everything.

Helping people feel connected to wildlife and the environment is the first step

that VSPCA does in making them care and empowering them to make a difference "

There are so many challenges and difficulties adjusting to a new culture and

helping an animal shelter which is struggling with so many tasks and rescuing so

many animals! Dedicated volunteer Asha Pillar of Ottawa, Canada writes: " I've

been dreaming of doing work like this since I was a little girl and so this is

the realization of my dreams and passion for sea turtles. "

(Right photo: freshly laid sea turtle eggs on the Visakha beach and left Olive

Ridley returning to the Bay of Bengal) who along with volunteer Alice Reynaud ,

Registered Nurse from Germany is working hard on all of the above activities as

well.

 

Weintraub and Mark D. Johnson came to visit and brought vitally needed

donated vet supplies from Dr. Bosmat Gal of Animal Rescue League of Boston; and

donated wildlife rescue supplies from Sharon St. Joan of Best Friends; and The

Squirrel Store. Highlights included a trip with Victor our Dr. Paw dog and

Swathi and Mallika Buddhiraju to the school for the deaf/dumb and

differently-abled children (for further info please see our Dr. Paw page on the

web site).

" I am pleased to report that my third visit to Visakha SPCA in the past three

years has proved to be the most inspirational of all. Even with a year of

disasters the relentless work of Pradeep Nath's vision for the best place for

animals in India continues to strongly take shape. And this has spread to the

surrounding areas as well; without the Visakha SPCA the forces of environmental

destruction and backward views of animal welfare would be winning. "

Weintraub, Seattle, Washington USA

 

Friends, the above is all the good news but the fact is that although we are

continuing with so much work to help the animals and promote humane awareness to

the area; our funds are depleted with no reserve. We will continue our good

care to our 700 animals some how (!) no matter what we assure you but we want to

continue all the projects we began last year in order to bring large gains for

the animals, the environment and humane awareness. We got to know many of you

because of our two disasters last year; please don't forget us now.

In infinite gratitude for sharing our work and vision please add your support

to: Visakha SPCA www.visakhaspca.org

26-15-200 Main Road

Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, 530001, India

Tel: 91-891-3096217, 2564759

email: Pradeep Nath, Founder and President vspcadeep