This is the story of Suzy.
Her story tells the us about the struggle for dogs in Peru.
Suzy's start to life
Suzy was born on a garbage dump near a rural village in Cusco, Peru. Feral dogs in Peru often end up at garbage dumps so that they have access to food. Unfortunately, the dogs can become a problem for people living in villages near the dogs and to people working on the dumps. The dogs create packs and can become aggressive to protect their resources. They also venture away from the dump to hunt livestock. Dogs living on garbage dumps have short and unpleasant lives. They suffer from disease, starvation, fights and are often culled by people living nearby or from those working on the dumps.
Suzy and her sibling's rescue
While the PAWS vet team were working in a village on a healthcare day, we were told by the local villagers that there were a number of pups born near the village from the feral garbage dump dogs. We decided that the best action was to take the pups to spare them the life on the garbage dump. After a check by our veterinary team, all the pups were found to be healthy. Some of the male dogs were adopted into families in the village that day. Male dogs are preferred to females in the villages as female dogs produce pups which is seen as a problem for the owners. After promising that we would return regularly to check on the pups and to neuter and spay them once they were old enough, we managed to adopt most of the pups into the village.
That afternoon we were scheduled to visit another village for a health campaign on their dogs. On arrival, the villagers asked us about the rescued pups we had with us. Maybe they wanted to adopt! But no, they also had a litter of new pups on their garbage dump! Within 30 minutes they had collected the pups and bought them to us to take away. We now had 8 pups with us to take back and put up for adoption. All the shelters were full, so we needed to adopt them quickly and safely.
Adoption of the pups
There are a number of rescue shelter in Cusco, but they are usually full of mostly older dogs. PAWS works with the shelters to provide veterinary care to the dogs as well as neutering and spaying the dogs making them more attractive for adoption out of the shelters. Puppies are always much easier to adopt but we have to be very careful about were the dogs go as we do not want them ending up abandoned, mistreated or in a shelter. After woking with some animal groups, we managed to adopt all the pups after a few weeks. It is always easier with the promise that our vet team will check on the pups and neuter and spay once they are old enough.
Veterinary checks
We kept in touch with the new owners of the pups and our veterinary team made regular visits to check on the pups. All were doing great in their new homes except one, this was Suzy. She was found to be too skinny on one of our visits, so we left some top quality food with the owner and talked about the importance of caring for Suzy and how to do this. On our next visit, Suzy looked better but that was probably due to the food that we left. Unfortunately, on a subsequent visit, Suzy was once again too skinny. We talked with the family and the neighbors to find out what was going on. It turned out that the family were not feeding Suzy and leaving her to find her own food. This was upsetting the villagers as Suzy was taking their chickens for food.
A decision had to be made and quickly. The family were obviously not caring correctly for Suzy and she was now in great danger of being poisoned by the neighbors for taking their livestock. Suzy was taken that day from the family and homed at PAWS's founder, Jim's house. Suzy needed time to recover and get healthy again before being adopted. It turned out that Suzy was such a wonderful dog that she ended up staying with Jim and his family!
What PAWS does to help dogs like Suzy
Thank you for your support!
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of our generous donors. Your unwavering support has been the cornerstone of PAWS' success, driving us forward and making our impactful work possible. Your kindness and dedication have enabled us to make a tangible difference in the lives of the animals we serve. Truly, it is not possible without your compassion and commitment. Thank you for making everything we do possible!
The PAWS animal Welfae Project
The PAWS project was created to reduce the suffering of roaming animals in Cusco city and surrounding villages, as well as address the underlying issues that contribute to their numbers. The Mobile Veterinary Clinic works in rural villages around Cusco where there is no access to veterinary care and there are high numbers of roaming dogs. These villages contribute to the roaming dog population in Cusco, as residents take puppies into the city to sell them, and they often abandon them there, if sales are unsuccessful. By taking veterinary care to villages where it is otherwise non-existent, we help reduce suffering from common diseases. Free neutering in the villages controls future dog and cat populations, in turn reducing the perceived need for culling or other inhumane population control methods. Additionally, education to change human behaviour towards animals will improve animal welfare and care in the long term.
It is rare to see old dogs in villages
By the end of last year, we had carried out regular visits to 32 communities and shelters. Our teams carried out nearly 3,000 health-checks for the animals registered with us. We also neutered 279 animals, around 66% of them female. Only 6% of the animals were neutered and most had never been vaccinated.
The age range of the animals was very telling. Of the newly animals registered in 2022:
0.8% were over 10 years old
3.4% were over 5 years old
15% were over 2 years of age
80% were under 2 years old.
This is due to the unhealthy lives of the dogs and cats as well as many dying young from accidents, poisoning and disease.
Helping Dog Rescue Shelters
We now regularly visit 7 rescue shelters to provide the animals with healthcare and neutering. This has proven to increase adoptions of their dogs. Few people in Cusco want a female dog as they do not want to deal with litters of pups, so it is much easier to adopt a spayed female. Similarly with male dogs, a neutered and healthy dog is preferable for people to adopt.
Along with the health of the animals, we have been working with the shelter owners to help them improve the facilities at the shelters and therefore improving the quality of life for the dogs. We have provided many mattresses for the dogs to sleep on. We get the mattresses donated from hotels and then prepare them for the shelters. We are also planning workshops for all the shelter owners to help them understand the needs of the animals in their care.
Without a doubt, last year of many challenges and achievements that could not have been achieved without you. You've already made a valuable difference in our community. Keep an eye out for future updates about how you've helped.
Street dogs in Cusco, Peru are a common sight in the city's streets and plazas. These dogs, known as "perros callejeros" in Spanish, are often seen wandering the streets and begging for food.
While some may view these street dogs as a nuisance, they have actually been a part of Cusco's history for centuries. In fact, it is believed that the Inca people kept dogs as companions and used them for hunting and guarding.
Despite their long history in the city, street dogs in Cusco face many challenges. Many of these dogs are not spayed or neutered, leading to overpopulation and increased competition for food and shelter. This can also lead to aggression and fights among the dogs, putting both dogs and humans at risk.
In recent years, efforts have been made to address the issue of street dogs in Cusco. Local organizations, such as Paws have implemented spay and neuter programs to help control the population of street dogs. In addition, PAWS offers medical care for street dogs in need as well as dogs in shelters.
Overall, street dogs in Cusco are a reminder of the city's rich cultural history and the bond between humans and animals. While their presence on the streets may be challenging, it is important to recognize the efforts being made to address their needs and to find solutions that benefit both the dogs and the communities.
We have expanded our work to support more dog shelters by providing healthcare and neutering to their dogs and cats. Many shelters in Cusco are overpopulated and underfunded so our free services supporting the welfare of the rescued animals is vital. With this great need in shelters, we provide general veterinary health, deworming, vaccination scheme, vitamins and veterinary consultations.
In the shelters we have also had the support of our volunteers who have worked hard to keep the animals clean, healthy and, most importantly, restoring trust in the human being through games and lots of love. We have also been able to purchase a number of beds for the dogs so they can rest and sleep in comfort.
We have also been working in areas known for having a high level of birth and large populations of stray dogs and cats. This can be challenging as our work needs to be with the community leaders and people to educate them on caring for their animals and responsible ownership of dogs. We have been knocking door to door, handing out leaflets and talking about the importance of neutering animals to slow the population growth and limit the number of dogs suffering on the streets.
Without a doubt, it has been a year of many challenges and achievements that could not have been achieved without you. You've already made a valuable difference in our community. Keep an eye out for future updates about how you've helped.
PAWS: Understanding our Scope,
Hello everyone,
Our team of veterinary specialists have been hard at work, driving to villages, neutering, providing healthcare, and educating people on safe animal welfare practices. Our application to track our services is operating well, and gives us the exact scope of our services. With these data, we can not only Geolocate each animal and the help provided, but we have also had time to analyze our work. With these metrics, we know the quantitative scope of our different services, have now tracked these over the past few years, and can project the future growth of the programme.
Personally, I deal with the fundraising side. We have put all these useful insights into a fundraising package that will help foundations understand the past successes, scope, services, and exact growth of our work. These metrics will allow grantors to have a better understanding of just how successful we have been and aim to be in the future. Hopefully, this understanding will inspire more financial support, and in turn, we can better assist in providing high-quality care in the animal welfare space.
As always, if you have any questions or want to know anything more about the work we do, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Best,
Daniel
Director of Development, Globalteer
2022 First Quarter in Numbers
This cycle, we visited 7 new villages and 3 new dog shelters, as well as re-visiting 10 of the villages from last year. Only 26% of the health checks were for returning animals. More people seem to be willing to castrate male animals now, as 45% of the animals neutered this quarter were male. 30% of this quarter's health checks were carried out on cats, which is an increase on average of just over 21% in the last two quarters of 2021.
The Human Factor
One of the issues our team noticed this quarter is that quarterly visits are perhaps too frequent, as people feel they don’t have time to bring their animals every three months. Therefore, visits will be spaced out a little further from now on, and additional communities have been added to the schedule to fill in the gaps.
As we expanded our reach, we came across more villages where there are no dogs at all. This is a result of communities taking the dog population problem into their own hands, in the form of culling. We are helping these communities with their cats, to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen with the cat population! We are also teaching them about animal welfare and protection laws and show them that there are other, more humane ways to manage animal populations.
The good news is that we are starting to see many more communities gain awareness about better ways to live with animals and treat them better. An appreciation of animals and their needs helps us all to become better humans.
Working Together for Greater Impact
The problem of roaming animals in the Cusco region is a huge one, and our work tackles just part of it. The new year has seen new connections for PAWS, as we have started talking to and working with other animal welfare organisations around the city. This includes Asociasión de Animalistas Cusco (AAC), a group that supports animal shelters, runs neutering campaigns and helps rehome homeless animals. They have helped us find the dog trainer we are working with, as well as connecting us with three animal shelters that need our help.
Promoting Human Behaviour Change
One of the big changes for this quarter is the start of the new education programme. The dog training sessions take place every week in Quillahuata with a small group of owners and their dogs. They are led by a professional dog trainer, supported by our assistant vet and current intern. The aim is to help owners see what their dogs can do and learn about animal welfare issues, such as keeping their dogs on leads as they walk around the village. It’s mostly children who come to the sessions as they are usually in charge of animal care and have more free time. We’ve had three children coming consistently with their dogs, with others dipping in and out.
We have also been working with AAC and community leaders, to start creating signage for the villages, promoting awareness of animal welfare laws. We have also distributed poisoning treatment kits in the community of Quillahuata, where we have seen the highest incidence of poisoning.
The first quarter has been a great start to the programme and we're excited to see what the rest of the year will bring! Please join us on our journey through 2022, following our progress, sharing our project, and donating whatever you can!
Thank you for your support!
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