Help Us Transform Uganda SPCA Haven Animal Shelter

Since last I reported:

• The USPCA has rescued so many animals-I only have space to give you an overview of a handful of them.
• Several cats and dogs have been adopted-but nowhere near pre-covid-19 levels, sadly. (You know what that means-The Haven shelter is getting busier and more crowded all the time.)
• We also have some exciting news: An AKI volunteer created a beautiful video to help us raise awareness of the USPCA's plight and to help fundraise for a new Haven (go to the 2nd video on the page).
• On the same page, you can also listen to Alex (Haven shelter manager) as he tells me how the USPCA has managed during the pandemic (1st video on that page).
• Lastly, there's a bit of movement on the land front: With travel restricted during the pandemic, the search slowed. For a few months, it had totally halted. But now the USPCA board is more motivated than ever to find a reasonably priced piece of land (we recently heard of a 3 1/2 acre plot near the airport in Entebbe selling for $4 million - yes, that's US dollars-that is definitely unreasnable for the USPCA!).

Now onto a few of the recent rescues:

In August, the USPCA rescued 2 dogs from a Roko Construction site (see picture). The hawkers (street sellers) around the construction site "don't like the dogs and were demanding they be removed from there." For the dogs' safety, the USPCA decided to take the dogs to The Haven. 

Also in August, Police, a really sweet dog (see picture), was surrendered to The Haven by his owner, who said that he he lost his job due to covid-19 and could no longer afford to keep him. The owner didn't want to dump Police on the street and was kind enough to bring him to The Haven.

On September 11, a USPCA supporter (Alice) found a little puppy wandering all by himself and brought him to The Haven (see picture), where he is undergoing mange treatment.

On September 9, The Haven added 7 more puppies to their menagerie when Elise found them in a box left in front of her gate. She already has 8 dogs, so brought the pups to The Haven. 

And some of the recent adoptions:

For three Haven dogs, September 12 was their lucky day: Sox, Lucky/Maggot, and Ziggy were adopted to one home (see picture). 

September 7 was another three-dog day! Max, Simba, and Happy were adopted to be resident dogs at the Human Development Center. Thank you to Myra who helped with introductions and gave a lesson on how to behave around dogs. You can see from the picture that the dogs will  be getting --and giving--a lot of love!

August 17 was another multi-dog adoption day. Simba, Police, Nala, and Penny (see picture) were adopted by Moses (not pictured). Moses has a very big compound-and look at all that nice grass to roll around in. Moses adopted 2 dogs from the USPCA several years ago-he's a great dog father!

I'm very sorry to our kitty friends! We'll work on getting some good cat stories for our next update!

Thank you so much to all of you, we're so grateful to have your support during these very difficult times. We hope that you are staying safe and healthy.

Links:

• Uganda SPCA's page on the AKI website
• AKI's videos-including USPCA videos
• AKI's home page

Animal-Kind International is helping Uganda Society for the Protection & Care of Animals address the new challenges they are facing. We've sent covid-19 relief funding to cover salaries, dog and cat food, and other priority needs.

When the country went into lock down, the USPCA hadn't yet been issued a special pass allowing them to move around the city. Haven Manager Alex coordinated with government and on April 13, the USPCA received the required pass that covers the Kampala metropolitan area and allows USPCA staff to continue to rescue animals-in-need! 

The Haven has remained open throughout the crisis, but working hours were reduced to 9 AM to 3 PM to allow staff to safely walk to work and back home (public transport has been discontinued). The USPCA's community programs (spay/neuter and education) and in-school Humane Ed are on hold.

Most worryingly, many expats had to leave the country (their employers required them to leave, often with little notice), and some left their pets behind, relinquished to The Haven. Also, with the departure of expats, the USPCA has lost volunteers and donors. The mistaken belief that cats and dogs can transmit covid-19 to humans has also resulted in some animals being abandoned.

The USPCA Haven is already at their limit of cats and dogs that the facility can hold. With movement curtailed, adoptions have decreased.

With stay-at-home orders in place and borders closed to people traveling for work and pleasure, businesses have suffered. The USPCA lost their most valued in-country donor, a hotel. And a cafe that sent fish to The Haven every day to feed the cats suspended their donations. 

On May 20, new guidelines were issued that somewhat relax the covid-19 safeguards:

• Everyone will be required to use the right quality of masks all the time while in public.
• Public transport - to be relaxed on 4 June 2020.
• Private cars to be allowed to move on 26 May 2020.
• Borders remain closed.

Even with all of the challenges and bad news, we've seen some heartening rescues, adoptions, and offers for help:

• David rescued a puppy on April 22 in Lubowa. She was in pain with a wound that had gotten infested with maggots. He brought her to The Haven because he just couldn't deal with the wound and knew that the USPCA could help her. A few weeks later, David returned to The Haven to adopt her. Her name is Yuuki (see 2 pictures).
• On May 11, Yvonne visited The Haven and adopted two kitties (see picture).
• On April 14, with USPCA services sigificantly curtailed and realizing they could be facing a major crisis, a call went out asking for people to visit and consider adopting or fostering a pet. Six animals were adopted on that one day! (see pictures)

This crisis has made it even more critical for the USPCA to be prepared for the future with a larger shelter, owned-not rented-where the USPCA can guarantee every pet in need the care they deserve-and where they'll never have to worry about being full to the brim or being kicked off the premises.

AKI AND USPCA THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Links:

• Uganda SPCA's page on the AKI website
• AKI Blog post-USPCA

Usually December is a slow month at the Uganda Society for the Protection & Care of Animals, with so many people leaving the country on holiday, so many heading to the village to be with family. But we're happy to report that even though slow, 29 lucky cats and dogs were adopted during December (See pictures of 4 rehomed USPCA alumni).

I was in Uganda for a few weeks in December (on US Agency for International Development work) and spent my weekends at The Haven. As always when I visit there, I am overwhelmed by the wonderful cats and dogs that The Haven cares for, the number of rescues-every day, day in and day out, the dedication and hard work of the staff. And as with each of my visits, the number of dogs (more so than cats) at the shelter grew since my last visit. The Haven is bursting at the seams! 

I met with USPCA Haven staff and some of the board members and volunteers. We came up with one way to alleviate some of the pressure on the staff: enlist volunteers to do post-adoption home visits. We decided to put out a request for volunteers, organize them according to where they live in Kampala (Entebbe too), train them, give them the post-adoption home visit form, and let them go!

Post-adoption home visits are usually fun to do--although some times you get a bad surprise when you visit an adoptive home, most USPCA adopters take good care of their pets. 

Already, our post-adoption volunteer force has been busy. Check out the picture of the dog on the trampoline, one of the homes visited by a newly trained volunteer. This was obviously one of the good surprises, a well-cared for, healthy, happy dog! Another volunteer visited 2 USPCA alumni living together at the same home and found them to be happy and healthy too (see picture). 

While this takes a burden off of Haven Manager and Assistant Manager, Alex and Jackie, it doesn't relieve the burden of over-crowding. While I was in Kampala, we discussed ways to finance land purchase and people to approach who might help us find land. In the short time I had in Kampala, we weren't able to find any suitable, reasonably priced plots to visit. 

We know there's no other way-we need to find a larger plot-so we will keep at this by raising money, talking to everyone we know about the great need, imploring landowners to sell to the USPCA (or partially donate) on good terms that we can afford.

We are so grateful that you are a part of this effort!

Links:

• Uganda SPCA's page on the AKI website
• AKI's home page

Many people think of animal welfare organizations as primarily serving animals. While that's why most of us get involved in animal welfare-to help animals--once we're involved, it becomes apparent that we're providing a community service, and along with the animals, we serve their caretakers and the wider community.

IMAGINE.... a larger shelter, one that would better accomodate visitors, school groups, community members.

IMAGINE....how many more animals would be helped, how many more Ugandan animal welfare advocates would be groomed to take on future challenges. 

IMAGINE.....the community resource that The Haven could be.

It's not difficult to imagine because already the USPCA gives so much to the community. For example:

In September, several boys who live near The Haven brought their puppies to the shelter for vaccinations, de-worming, and flea/tick treatment (see pictures). Every week, children visit The Haven to get help for their pets. (Haven Manager Alex always asks them to bring the mama dogs to be spayed, and usually they do).

As always, The Haven is full to the brim. In September 55 new animals arrived at the shelter. These included several mother dogs with litters of puppies, orphaned puppies and kittens, as well as juvenile and adult dogs and cats. The vast majority of the animals arriving at the shelter are under 1 year of age. The number of new arrivals was thankfully lower than previous months as the shelter is very full- August saw 69 new arrivals, 99 in July and 93 in June-the number of adoptions never exceeds the number of new arrivals. By the end of September, The Haven was home to 254 animals, up from 231 in August (see pictures of some of these lovely cats and dogs). Of course, if these animals weren't at The Haven, they would be roaming the streets endangering people and certainly the cats' and dogs' lives would be at risk-versus being safe, well-fed, and well-loved at The Haven. 

As usual, The Haven welcomed many visiting groups, mainly school groups, but also community groups. This is yet another community resource that the USPCA provides (see pictures). One of the most important community services is free community spay/neuter clinics, which the USPCA holds, approximately once a month, funds allowing.

The overwhelming number of dogs at the shelter means that if they don't have a way to deplete their energy and places to hide and feel comfortable, fights will break out. Wooden boxes are placed in each dog kennel so that shy dogs can get away from the crowds, dogs can have extra play space, and everyone can have a bit of quiet time when needed. The USPCA can use AKI's funds for their prioirty needs (except under this GlobalGiving project, for which donations are set aside to purchase land), and in October, the USPCA had 3 wooden boxes built (see picture) with a portion of the most recent AKI disbursement. While we always keep in mind that we are serving the human community, we never forget that our #1 service is to the animals, the unwanted, the battered, the hungry--the animals with no place else to turn but the USPCA. We're dedicated to making their lives happier, healthier, and more fulfilling. 

Thank you so much for your support of the USPCA. We won't give up until we raise enough funds so that the USPCA can grow to be the resource we know it can and should be.

Links:

• Uganda SPCA's page on the AKI website
• AKI's home page

This is how every moonth goes at the Uganda SPCA Haven. Lots of adoptions every month, for which we are eternally grateful, but more animals come in -every single month-than go to their 4ever homes. HOW LONG CAN THIS LAST? At some point, The Haven will be full. I hope when that time comes, we will be ready to purchase a plot of land and move to a spacious location.

In total, AKI has raised about US$16,000 and USPCA has raised, in-country, about US$9,000. That's about 1/4 of the way to where we need to be to buy a plot of land. Katia and I put a cost proposal together to approach some landowners who are friendly to the USPCA and we're hoping we can reach a deal--but 1st they have to decide to part with a piece of their land. I'll keep you posted!

For now, USPCA is taking care of 46 puppies, most of them ready to say goodbye to their friends at The Haven and go off to their 4ever homes, if only they could find one! (See pictures of 2 of the pups).

On the happy side, in July, 22 animals were adopted from The Haven. I'll post some of the pictures with their new families.

The USPCA has a new vet, Dr. Singh. The previous vet left The Haven to pursue her education. Dr. Singh has been very busy with communtiy spay/neuter work (see pictures). You can imagine though, I'm sure, no matter how many community dogs (and cats) are sterilized, in Kampala and Entebbe and in between, it will take years to reach equilibrium in population growth. And that's one of the main reasons we so desperately need that spacious piece of land -- the need for the USPCA's work is certainly not slowing down!!!! (see Dr. Singh spaying a cat in the picture below).

We are so grateful for your support. Please spread the word about USPCA's amazing work and our goal of raising money to purchase land to create a true HAVEN for Uganda's cats and dogs.

Links:

• Uganda SPCA's page on the AKI website