- Our strays are hungry too
With the prices of practically everything under the sun skyrocketing, the shortages of fuel, flour, milk, and so on, people collapsing in queues (and turning on each other), and, not to mention, our power cuts – to say times are tough is something of an understatement. And while we as humans find ourselves in a quagmire that is becoming difficult to tread, it can often be easy to forget to be kind to the animals around us.
Brunch caught up with Justice for Animals Treasurer Tashiya Captain amid her newest campaign for funds to save Kiri, a wounded stray dog, and to remind people that even in the harshest of times, we do still have the chance to be kind to the animals around us.
Justice for Animals, of which Captain is a Founder, is a small local organisation that advocates for sterilisation and vaccination campaigns to reduce stray cat and dog populations as a means of ending the long-term suffering of innocent animals born homeless without shelter, medical care, or food. To this end, Justice for Animals organises pop-up spay-and-neuter clinics that do their best to sterilise as many strays as possible in the area of their visit, and also encourages those who need support in getting their pets sterilised to come in.
The pop-up clinics work with locals in a certain area, with the Justice for Animals team linking with specific animal-loving locals who look out for and look after the strays in their area. Once an area has been defined and Justice for Animals is able to organise a pop-up clinic, the Justice for Animals group visits the area with the locals, watches strays, and takes them back to the clinic for sterilisation. Despite the pandemic and its logistical and geographical challenges, to date, Justice for Animals has spayed and neutered over 7,000 animals.
Kiri’s story
Though not part of their core activities, Justice For Animals, and Captain specifically, are currently running fundraising to help Kiri, a stray dog from Kirimandala Mawatha, Colombo 5, who was recently the victim of a hit-and-run. “Kiri is a homeless dog that we were feeding on our regular feeding rounds, and recently when we went on our feeding round, we saw she had been run over and was just lying on the road, gravely injured,” Captain explained. “For most animal welfarists, dogs getting run over is quite common, and it is also one of the expenses for us when it comes to saving dogs who have been run over.”
Noting that Justice For Animals doesn’t normally take on rescues because of their focus on spay-and-neuter programmes, Captain also said that there was no way they could just ignore Kiri’s plight, and so she was taken to the vet, where it was discovered that Kiri’s spine had been badly injured in the accident, and she will, even after care, be paralysed for the rest of her life.
Because of the intense nature of the accident and the amount of care and recuperation that will be required at the animal hospital, vet bills in cases like Kiri’s can often cost up to Rs. 300,000 or more, which is why Justice For Animals is holding concerted fundraising efforts for Kiri’s treatment.
Part of these efforts included a special series of exercise classes, Step Up For A Cause led by Captain, who is also an exercise instructor, with all proceeds going towards Kiri’s care. Kiri is also not the only rescue Justice For Animals has taken responsibility for, with three other rescues also in need of care, as well as Justice For Animals’ regular activities needing funding as well. The first series of Step Up For A Cause took place in March, albeit with limited success, and Captain hopes to host a second series in May for all types of fitness levels to help raise funds for Kiri.
“We have been looking at ways to self-fund Kiri’s care as donors are also struggling in times like this, and it’s not something Justice for Animals can handle because we need to run our other core programmes,” Captain said, adding: “Dogs breed every three to four months regardless of what is happening around them, so we need to keep our spay-and-neuter programmes because if we don’t control the population, it will never end – there will always be hungry and abandoned dogs.”
Part of a larger issue
Kiri’s case, while tragic, is just one of many; Sri Lanka’s stray animal population numbers around 1.5 million, so many of whom lose life and limbs to hit-and-run accidents. It is very rare for an accident to take place where the driver actually stops and helps the dog they have hit. “Passersby may take pictures sometimes and put it on Facebook and tag animal welfarists and established organisations, but very few people take the view that ‘they’ can be the person to help that dog in distress,” Captain explained, noting that even with established and reasonably well-funded animal charities, there are limits to what they have the power to do.
“If a dog has been helped, then people say ‘good job’ or ‘well done’, but they don’t want to actually contribute to helping that dog get better. Even the people who report the dog don’t call afterwards to check and see what happened, even if it is just to check if they had survived. People just don’t support animal welfare. I think that part of that is because they don’t understand what they can do to support it. It doesn’t have to be funding, they can join in once a month at least for feeding and donate their time.”
At the end of the day, Captain stressed that charities themselves are also struggling to survive and drive the causes that they have committed themselves to, especially in times like these when the economy is struggling. All animal welfarists and charities need all the support they can get.
That being said, we are all struggling, and even in the case of an unfortunate accident where a dog has been injured, severely or otherwise, Captain urged drivers not to just flee the scene. “It’s a tough question – what to do if you have hit a dog and can’t take responsibility – but at the very least let some people know, even if it is through tagging welfarists and charities on Facebook. If you are able to, take the dog to the vet and if you can’t bear the whole cost of going to the vet, see if there are friends or charities you can reach out to help you. Try and raise as much as you possibly can to help charities meet the costs. There needs to be much more public participation happening with animal welfare rather than simply calling in a charity.”
The importance of being kind
Captain also urged the public to be kind to animals, even in these most difficult of times, because as much as we are all struggling, these animals are struggling too. “At least once in a way, offer them some small meals or water, even a small yoghurt; at the very least, give them water. Lots of dogs have kidney issues because of lack of water; don’t chase them away if they’re sheltering nearby – they’re just looking for a safe space for a few hours,” Captain said, adding: “I know things are super expensive and it’s very difficult, but we need to look at it as not just helping animals but the community. Especially in rural areas, these animals are part of the community, and this is so even in the city.”
For more information on Justice for Animals and to learn more about Kiri and her care, please contact Justice For Animals via:
Facebook: Justice for Animals Sri Lanka
Email: justiceforanimals.lk@gmail.com
