Posted on August 26, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Whilst we were just adding the info and video link about ‘Twinnsie’ to ‘About Us’ https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-us/ today, when we have been sent the following message from the same team member !
As you can read below, it is great to see that at least some authorities have faith in the belief that sterilisation in street animals is the way forward to reducing their numbers – what a pity that the Serbian government is so very short sighted !
Here is the message sent to us today from Twinnsie:
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Dear Mark,
Hi there, it is your sponsor dog Twinnsie here. I may have told you before how nervous I am and how I can never go on walks? Well, something amazing has happened! There was this long-term volunteer here at Soi Dog recently that really gained my trust and helped me feel much more confident. Before I knew it she was taking me on daily walks around the lake! It is so exciting to be able to get out and about, even though I still get nervous to walk past other people and I continue to shy away from many things whilst on the lead. If you find it hard to believe that it is actually me in the picture, it is because I have also had a haircut! Of course, I am still very shy and nervous and very few volunteers are able to approach me. They say I am still a long way away from being a well socialised pet, but I am in the best of places to learn trust. I am so grateful to you for being my sponsor and for your continued confidence in me. It means a lot!
That is enough from me for now. Let me instead tell you some of the stuff that is going on at the shelter.
So far, 2015 has already been a life changing year for countless animals here. The Adoptions Team has been working very hard to not only find forever homes for an increasing number of dogs rescued from the dog meat trade, but also for many of the longer term residents at our shelter here in Phuket. No less than 17 sponsor dogs have been adopted this year! Many of these have already completed their required quarantine periods and left for their forever homes somewhere in the world. We are glad to hear reports that all the ones that have already left, are happily settling into their new loving homes where care is being put into meeting all their individual personalities and needs. This is a testimony to the efforts of the adoptions team to match each dog with the right adopter!
Some of the adopted sponsor dogs will still require ongoing medical care for chronic conditions and some will need a lot of tender loving care to really blossom and overcome their shyness. Some others are quite advanced in years already, but we are so glad to hear that even so, these dogs have been given a chance to live out their lives in loving families of their own!
So it is great to know that the adoptions are going well and that many people decide to take a Soi dog into their lives. It is also great that our new dog hospital here at the shelter is coming along according to plan and that we can look forward to having really high standard veterinary facilities within the near future. There is still some fundraising going on for equipment and such, but the building is almost there. They say they hope to be able to open the doors to the patients within October.
In addition, you may be glad to know that Soi Dog has now started running mobile sterilization clinics outside of Phuket, in the province of Phang Nga. In order to humanely reduce the street dog populations and reduce their suffering from diseases, you need to target one area at a time until at least 70-80% of the animals there have been sterilised and vaccinated. With over 80,000 animals neutered on Phuket, this target has now been achieved. Phuket has also been declared the first rabies free province in Thailand, thanks to the Soi Dog vaccination program.
While the mobile clinic is now helping dogs outside the island, on Phuket extra effort is being put into sterilising more of the stray cat population too. Our shelter vets are now dedicating an increasing number of days to sterilising more cats on the island.
There are also plans to initiate large scale sterilisation and vaccination programs in Bangkok (which is home to almost one million stray dogs) before the end of this year.
So you can hear that everyone has been very busy as usual!
Thank you so much for being a part of all this and thank you for caring particularly about me! I am very lucky to have you sponsoring me.
Woofs and licks,
Twinnsie
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Twinnsie before the haircut:
Filed under: Animals Requiring Adoption or Homes - Worldwide, CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, SHELTER - Information, The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 24, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
We need something with a good ending !
Pola the Pig Rescued After 8 Years of Living Hell
Pola the freedom-fighting pig was rescued from a horrible living situation in Colombia not once, but twice. Hers is a tragic tale but ends well, and the woman responsible for saving Pola is an inspirational example of just how much good one person can accomplish with enough hard work and sheer determination.
When I first learned about Pola’s horrible plight, I knew only bits and pieces; that she had lived in Colombia for eight years in hellish conditions, literally getting her tail eaten off by dogs, before being rescued and brought to an animal sanctuary to live out the rest of her life in peace.
What I didn’t know at the time was that Pola had actually been rescued before, and the woman who rescued her the second (and final) time, Juliana Castaneda Turner, is a Colombian activist who fights and wins for animals in her homeland, a country not known for its ethical treatment of animals.
I reached out to Juliana in Colombia to get Pola’s full story. When she wrote back, she was apologetic about her English skills; “I risk to write to you in my funny english.” Then she proceeded to explain (paraphrased below) how Pola ended up as the newest member of Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary, the only farm animal sanctuary in Colombia:
Pola was “rescued” 8 years ago from a truck full of baby pigs. The woman who rescued her fell in love with her because she has freckles. This woman has a dog shelter in Colombia, but even though her intentions were good, she had more than 300 dogs living in poor conditions.
Basically, it was not a safe, healthy place for a pig to live. Juliana explained how the government in Colombia doesn’t do anything to help animals there, so those who try to help animals are pretty much on their own in terms of funding their efforts to help animals.
The woman who was swayed by Pola’s freckles ended up losing the space where she kept all of the animals, so when Pola was 4-years-old, she was moved to another dog shelter, which sounded no better than the first place. It had 180 dogs living in — you guessed it — terrible conditions, and there was no fence to protect Pola from the massive quantity of dogs; that’s where her nightmare started, according to Juliana.
For the last 8 years, Pola was living in utter filth, amongst 180 uncaged hungry dogs who constantly harassed her and sometimes tried to tear pieces of flesh from her body. Sadly, they did eat her tail off and parts of her vulva! Pola had no clean soil or grass to play on, but lived amongst garbage and dog feces and was only being fed cheap dog food (that contained pork!). But she never gave up hope that one day she would be rescued from this hell and be loved.
And that day eventually came. Amigos del Planeta, an organisation in Colombia that helps dogs, cats and some horses, was contacted by the shelter where Pola was living. Apparently Pola was no longer welcomed at the dog sanctuary because, as Juliana tells it, “they said the pig destroy everything there.”
Whatever it takes, Pola! Destroying everything was probably the best thing she could’ve done in that situation, because it convinced her detainers to get rid of her.
Amigos del Planeta doesn’t take pigs, so they turned to the only farm animal sanctuary in all of Colombia for help –Juliana’s Sanctuary, which agreed to take Pola in.
It took many tries and a lot of back and forth hassle and money spent before Juliana and her team were able to get Pola to her new home, but thanks to Juliana’s perseverance, Pola finally made it. She says:
When I found her I cried in pain. Her so-called “caretakers” told me that if I didn’t take her she would be killed. It took me 4 attempts to get her to our sanctuary, including hiring a truck for 4 consecutive days, as well as 13 men, and then building her a new enclosure and home on our farm.
Pola was rescued on July 20, Independence Day in Colombia, so they named Pola after Policarpa Salavarrieta, “La Pola,” a Colombian freedom fighter. To those at Juliana’s Sanctuary Pola will always be known affectionately as “the freedom fighting pig.”
Now she gets to eat fruit, her favorite, instead of dog food. She is able to bask in the sun and enjoys the occasional splash of water on her body. She is not in perfect health yet, but she is getting better, thanks to Juliana and the rest of the folks at their sanctuary.
See Pola for yourself: Watch this video for more about Pola the freedom-fighting pig:
Juliana became a vegetarian when she was just 6-years-old and vegan nine years ago when she started her sanctuary. As she tells it, “I dream (of) this since I am a little girl, at 12-years-old, I started to save money to buy the farm of my dreams.”
She’s had to contend with legal battles over land, frustratingly sluggish bureaucracy, and bribes and intimidation, which she says are common in Colombia. Now she’s grappling with the task of securing a new space for the sanctuary and its 66 farmed animals, cats and dogs to call home.
But that’s not stopping her from saving animals. She’s rescued another pig since Pola – a piglet actually—named Perla. She was discovered in the garbage with a broken leg.
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, SHELTER - Information, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 24, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Picture – CIWF.
Live Exports – Europe’s Youngest Victims.
CIWF statement –
We are appalled by the findings of our latest investigation into live animal exports from the EU, which we carried out in partnership with Animal Welfare Foundation and Tierschutzbund Zürich.
Our evidence shows that as long as this cruel trade in live animals is allowed to continue, young calves will suffer. Compassion’s patron, Peter Egan, will now tell you more in our latest investigation film:
Can you help make this a citizen movement that Europe’s policy makers simply cannot ignore? Please share our investigation and petition with your friends and family either by sharing the URL and message below:
4,000 kilometres is a long way for any animal to be sent just to be ‘fattened’ and slaughtered. But for an unweaned calf, just a few weeks old, this journey from Europe to Israel is one of immeasurable suffering.
Please join me and call on the European Commission to ban the trade in farm animals to countries outside the EU – once and for all.
The following link does include a petition to sign calling for a ban to live animal exports:
Please give your support to this very important issue of animal welfare – thank you. SAV.
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, GLOBAL PETITIONS - Anything Animal, Anywhere !, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 8, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Posted on August 8, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
by Sarah Von Alt – August 3, 2015
Today, a federal judge struck down Idaho’s controversial ag-gag law as unconstitutional.
The ag-gag law was enacted in direct response to a 2012 undercover investigation by MFA documenting horrific animal cruelty and neglect at Bettencourt Dairies, Idaho’s largest dairy factory farm.
That investigation, which documented workers viciously beating and shocking cows, violently twisting their tails, and even sexually abusing cows, led to charges of criminal animal cruelty against multiple Bettencourt Dairies workers, including a manager, and spurred significant animal welfare policy reforms by major food suppliers.
In 2014, pro-factory farming legislators and Idaho governor “Butch” Otter enacted an ag-gag law to ban filming inside factory farms and criminalize the brave whistleblowers who speak out against animal cruelty and other criminal activity occurring inside of Idaho’s agricultural facilities.
In response to a legal challenge brought by a coalition of animal protection, food safety, and civil liberties groups, Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the U.S. District Court for the district of Idaho held that the law violates the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
Based on today’s ruling, Idaho’s ag-gag law is no longer in effect.
You can watch MFA’s Idaho dairy investigation here:
Judge Winmill’s decision is the first step towards restoring transparency in U.S. food production, and we hope that dangerous ag-gag laws enacted in other states will be swiftly struck down as a result of today’s decision.
Idaho’s lawmakers should be ashamed of wasting precious time and valuable resources enacting unconstitutional laws that threaten animal welfare, food safety, workers’ rights, and the environment. We hope they will now focus their efforts on improving animal welfare and rewarding the brave whistleblowers who uncover criminal activity in Idaho’s agricultural operations.
This ruling should also be a wake-up call to the meat industry that attempts to keep consumers in the dark about where their food comes from will not be tolerated.
For more information, please visit NoAgGag.com.
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 4, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Thanks to Lisa for finding this out and getting the link – disturbing ! :
PIG MRSA SUPERBUG SPREADING TO HUMANS THROUGH PORK
Pigs, Antibiotics and Us:
This Guardian report exposes the shocking conditions of the UK’s intensive pig farms, and the horrifying risk they pose to your health.
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »
Posted on July 14, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 