VSPCA November newsletter

[Guest guest]

Dear Animal friends, If we may squeeze in here in between the anti-elephant polo

campaign and the distressing news about dogs in China. If anyone would like to

view the below with the photos please do so online at: www.visakhaspca.org.

Thanks and good luck to everyone with their valuable work on behalf of animals

worldwide.

--

 

 

Some news about Visakha SPCA since we last wrote to you in September!

 

We have been petitioning the government for the additional three acres they

promised us. The land adjoins the shelter and is sorely needed to help house

our over 800 animals. We feel we are getting closer and hope to have good news

soon!

 

The end of October brought the Nagavala Chauthi festival where we vigilantly

monitored to see that the cobra was not abused. This year was our first

completely successful year where we did not find one incident of cobra abuse.

This was written about in The Hindu newspaper.

http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/27/stories/2006102706060200.htm

 

Many thanks to the Conservator of Forest, Mr. P.V.Padmanabham, and his staff for

their ready help in curbing this practice.

 

Visiting veterinarian: In October, Dr. Bosmat Gal returned with her helpful

husband Amiram Bar-Ilan. Dr. Gal had first visited after the tsunami and was

astounded at the positive changes she witnessed on this, her first return visit

.. Dr. Gal writes:

 

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I arrived after 1 year and nine months of

absence. After this latest disaster, the Indian government finally agreed to

fund the construction of the Goshala, and what I saw was a wonderful surprise.

Almost all the 650 bovines now have a concrete shelter, with a large corrugated

roof to protect them from the elements which includes a feeding and a water

supply area for all that protects from the elements.”

 

Dr. Gal brought badly needed vet supplies which, along with the cost of her

visit, were donated by the Animal Rescue League of Boston. We thankfully

received all of her wonderful expertise in training our shelter staff in the

best protocols.

 

We previously welcomed Dr. Shekar from Chennai who instructed all of our vets in

the cat spay techniques. Since cats as companion animals are relatively new to

India, these methods are not taught in the standard veterinary curriculum. Dr.

Shekar’s visit was very useful, and we are grateful to Dr. Chinny Krishna for

taking this step in sending him to us despite his crucial role at his own busy

and demanding Blue Cross of India shelter.

 

Despite all of our positive news, the situation remains that we will be soon be

out of operating funds! The sad truth is that if there is no disaster, very few

donations trickle in to help us with our crucial daily programs. Please

remember us, your hard-at-work animal shelter in Andhra Pradesh, and how far

your donation can go when a dog spay/neuter/vaccination costs only $10 USD and a

cat spay/neuter/vaccination just $8.

 

Since the last email report in September we have received donations from Syd

Baumel (and his editing expertise), Jean Bird, Amy Dharmini Casey, Sara D’Arce,

Franziskha Edwards, Judith Embry, Lek Hanshin, Judy Hungerford (and her

beautiful graphic design), Sharon St. Joan (and her encouragement and advice),

Renee Kehr, Bosky Ravindranath, Gina Sopwith, Andrew Wells, and the Mahwari

Community who donates feed for our cows.

 

Ms. Olive Walker has very generously come to our aid by funding the unglamorous

but necessary new water tank and electric transformer. This steady electricity

will help us get through the storms with fewer outages. Additionally, she has

funded a cow dispensary/surgery room which is under construction – finally our

larger animals can get the help they need away from the unsanitary elements! We

also thank the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights and Animal People

News for making this donation possible.

 

Derek Hogue of Amphibian Design formatted this newsletter and generously donates

his web services to us.

 

From all of us at: Visakha SPCA

www.visakhaspca.org or www.vspca.com