Spring news - A lot achieved
28.04.2023
Dear animal and dog lovers
We have arrived in the South-West Balkans in the 9th year of working for stray dogs. Years in which we vaccinated and castrated over 12,000 dogs, initiated countless programs of a fundamental nature, such as the ordinance for transit stations for street dogs and the registration of dog owners, and organized continuing education for small veterinarians.
So far this year, we have signed two contracts (Vushtrri/Drenas) to continue neutering as long as so many dogs are still being disposed of on the street. In a further two regions, we are working without a contract for the time being. Due to extremely scarce donations, we are unable to help as much as we had intended!
In Montenegro, we had to stop working at the beginning of February. After three years, contrary to contractual agreements, employees of the city administration took our treated dogs off the street and locked them up in the state animal shelter. They have threatened to poison street dogs by neighborhood - and have already started doing so. Niksic is cleaning up the city and no one, not even the previous partners Family Vet, are fighting back. However, to support political and educational work, we are in contact with the KORINA association in Niksic, whose “field worker” we will support this year - possibly also initiate a continuing education and castration project in Pljevlja with the local vet and his colleagues from South Bosnia.
Instead of Niksic, we promised the Serbian-speaking community of Northern Mitrovica to castrate 100 of their dogs. After 30 dogs had been treated, several were poisoned and eight dogs survived thanks to our intervention. As much as we would have loved to help the local animal protection association “SAPA Udruženje za zaštitu životinja” there, this experiment must be declared a failure.
yours Helen Wormser
President of the Foundation
OPENING OF THE THIRD SMALL ANIMAL CLINIC IN THE KOSOVO STATE CENTER ON MARCH 31, 2023 - CITY PET in DRENAS
DVM Shaban Mehmeti opened the third small animal clinic in Kosovo with us and politician Haki Abazi, thanks in particular to donations from the ASMI NARDO Foundation, StrayCoco Foundation and the investment of the entire veterinary family. With this third and last small animal clinic in Kosovo, we can motivate the rural population in the poorest region of the country to have their pets treated instead of disposing of them on the street. The contract with the mayor for the treatment of 500 street dogs has been signed!
VETERINARY TRAINING IN OUR SMALL ANIMAL CLINIC IN GJAKOVA
In the very first small animal clinic built by us in Kosovo, in Gjakova, there are continuing education courses for small veterinarians. In this seminar at the beginning of March, veterinarians from HASVET Clinic Ankara will teach about small animal surgery. A month earlier, the KSAVA, a Swiss model association of small veterinarians initiated by us, organized a two-day course on the various skin diseases of street dogs in particular. We are pleased that, on the one hand, interest in the profession of small veterinarian is increasing, and on the other hand, their qualifications are constantly improving. As a reminder, when we started helping street dogs in 2015, there were almost exclusively large veterinarians in rural regions without any interest in dogs.
FLOODS IN MITROVICA HOSPITAL AND SANCTUARY
After days of rain in February, our sanctuary in Mitrovica and the clinic itself were under water. As an emergency, we had to bring some dogs to the sanctuary in Vushtrri, others to the SAPA association enclosure in North Mitrovica. These remained there until the water level dropped and all rooms could be cleaned. We would be extremely grateful for additional donations to repair the clinic and pay our helpers.
CNVR SIGNED CONTRACT WITH VUSHTRRI REGION
The mayor of the Vushtrri region, Ferit Idrizi, was once again happy that we are once again supporting them this year in the treatment and castration of 400 street dogs - support that is only possible thanks to a well-known contribution from the STUMME BRÜDER Foundation, Liechtenstein.
SCHOOL VISITS GJAKOVA MARCH 2023
In March alone, our partner vet Eriola Bejdoni visited 24 school classes over 7 days in the city itself. The primary school is located on Nënë Tereza Street.
OUR TEAM OF VETERINARIANS IN KOSOVO THANKS YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!
Some donors have been supporting us since the first years of our activity in Kosovo. Here you can see the veterinarians in the four regions of operation who make a living from working with street dogs, whose employees work thanks to you - and without exception all have a heart for dogs in particular and treat them as we expect.
DONATIONS NEEDED
As mentioned at the beginning, we were barely able to accumulate reserves in the previous year 2022, which is why our operations this year had to be reduced from the start. We need substantially more funding, including for school visits, to provide information about dog-friendly pet care and the needs of street dogs.
THAT'S WHY WE'RE ASKING OUR FRIENDS TO SHARE THIS QUARTERLY LETTER WITH FRIENDS. HELP US TO BECOME BETTER KNOWN.
Donate for animals and Europe's poorhouse: help Kosovo.
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