Friends of GAWT

News Update

May 2011

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Bites . . . .

Bite: A great big Thank You to 8-year-old John Barros from Palm Crest Homes, Colva, who dug deep into his pocket money and gave us a Rs/100 donation

Bite: Thompson Fly’s Cabin Crew member Lisa Enderby-Shaw contacted us through our Facebook site, to arrange to meet us to give us a donation of a large amount of dog food, animal beds, toys and blankets, together with a cash donation, for which we, and indeed the dogs, cats and assorted wildlife staying with us, are very grateful indeed. Many thanks, Lisa. We love to receive donations of this kind, as we get through an enormous amount of towels, blankets, food, toys etc. All donations, new or second-hand are welcome.

Bite: How about getting a few friends together to fundraise for us by running the Adidas Women’s 5K Challenge in Hyde Park, London, on Sunday 11th September 2011, (see womenschallenge.co.uk)? It’s a great day out, and we can supply you with Goa Animal Welfare Trust sponsorship forms, caps and t-shirts. If interested, please contact friendsofgawt@gawt.org.

Hello friends of GAWT

Sadly this will be my last newsletter as the editor and Linda as the designer. We have both been involved with GAWT for over 10 years and will continue to do so but in other ways. Someone new will be taking over the reins.

There is always something going on at our Dog Shelters or on the beaches, never sure where to start. Read on to find out more . . .

Clodagh

Editor

Email: friendsofgawt@gawt.org

We are on Facebook!

Our site was hacked or cloned, but we have finally got a new one up and running. However, we need your help.

If you are on Facebook, please go to our new site: Goa Animal Welfare Trust (GAWT), (the GAWT is important or you end up on our old site) and ‘like’ or ‘friend’ us or add a comment.

If you are not on Facebook, you can access us by searching facebook.com/goa animal welfare trust (gawt), and, on arrival, ‘like’ something or add a comment on what you see there.

We update the site several times a week, and more often if there is a lot of excitement at our Curchorem centre.

Thanks to Fredelinda Telfer, a Facebook Friend, for alerting us to a change in security on Facebook .

It appears that FB has automatically set sites on the non-secure setting. She posts …

‘While on FB, look at your URL address (the very top box on your screen). If you see “http:” instead of “https:” then you DO NOT have a secure session and you can be hacked. Go to Account-Account Settings-Account Security and click ‘Change’. Check the box (secure browsing), click Save.”

The Joy of Bumbags!

Our team of volunteers at the anti-rabies camps find bumbags indispensible for holding small change, biros and the occasional treat for passing strays.

Last autumn we had a bit of a crisis as our existing ones were rapidly descending into a pretty grim state. Volunteer Penny Stephens decided to do something and very quickly organised Facebook and Sagazone to the rescue.

An appeal to friends and relations produced nine lovely new bumbags that not only zip closed, but stay fastened!

Cheers all round when Penny brought them to Goa recently when she worked at the camps.

“Today we rescued 7 pups on the beach, in the searing heat, with Raju and a dog catcher; gosh, they have a difficult job!! 

We also managed to catch, with a baited cage, a very poorly black bitch, with a tumour the size of a coconut, in an awful state!

She is at the shelter now, and they are giving her a course of chemo, I’m praying she'll be ok.”

Beccy Dyball from the UK, who cycled through Rajasthan to raise funds for us in 2010, took time out from her holidays this year to go out with our vans picking up strays from the beaches and surrounding areas.

*** We urgently need funds, and your support ***

Our mobile clinic is on the move.

Our mobile clinic now brings an Out-Patient Clinic three afternoons a week to three villages, Cavalossim, Chandor and Chinchinim.

As well as our small shop supplying deworming tablets, shampoos and soap, collars, treats, skin treatments etc. we can deal with a huge variety of problems, including nail-cutting, health checks, skin complaints, deworming, maggot wounds anti-rabies vaccinations and combined vaccinations. People can also book to have their animals sterilized at our Animal Welfare Centre at Curchorem.

Tipsy who was adopted from our anti-rabies camp at Sarzora, developed a slight cough and was brought in for a checkup. She was seen by our vet and was soon on her way home with antibiotics and cough medicine.

When we do the clinics and anti-rabies camps we get many requests from owners about having their pets sterilised, one of their concerns being how to get to our Animal Welfare Centre at Curchorem. So, every so often, we hold a whole day dedicated to sterilisations, publicise it widely and take telephone bookings.

Recently we took the Mobile Clinic to Dramapur where we carried out 11 operations, numerous vaccinations and other treatments on request. It was a really worthwhile day, and left volunteers and staff completely exhausted but happy.

Penny Stephens is a huge supporter of our work and a volunteer at our Anti-Rabies Camps every Sunday throughout her holidays in Goa. She has written a lovely evocative piece on life as a volunteer at the camps, which we have placed on the website.

“I have honestly never seen a dog so thin or so badly injured and still alive. When he was in the cage I fed him about five handfuls of biscuits. For the first two, he nearly had my hand off, but by the time we got halfway through the third, he seemed to realise I wasn't going to either hurt him or take the biscuits away, so he calmed down. We were told that the owner’s 7-year-old child had inflicted these serious injuries by beating the dog continuously. We took the dog back to the Shelter, treated him and gave him lots of TLC, but we couldn’t save him. ”

Volunteer Penny Stephens .

Waldo

When our SPCA officer Sunil was contacted about a dog found abandoned at Porvorim, he picked him up and brought him back to our Shelter. We named him Waldo, and advertised everywhere, but no-one came forward.

Then one of our Volunteers asked a friend, Denise de Mello, who had recently lost her beloved Bowser, if she would be interested in adopting him. Some days later Sunil visited Denise to make the introductions. We recently heard from Denise to tell us how she and Waldo were getting along.

“Yes, I've finally bitten the bullet and got myself a new man in my life.  His name is WALDO and he is a 15 month lab retriever.  This poor little darling was abandoned and I am going to try and make up for what he went through in the two or three weeks he was homeless.

Waldo is adorable, very playful, and has quickly learned most commands. Initially when I called him, he went scouting around looking for someone else!! He cannot get enough of being in my car. Exits through one door and comes around to the other door all geared for yet another drive. He seems confident now that he has found a ‘forever’ home and basks in lots of love.

I still miss Bowser but know he is smiling down on us both, safe in the comfort that he touched my life in ways only he knows “

We are the Home Dogs

One of the first things you notice when you visit our Shelter is the number of older dogs who are wandering around playing together, or snoozing under desks, tables and chairs.

These are our ‘home’ dogs – some of them just wandered in and stayed, some came in with bad injuries, recovered and refused to go home, and some just had no homes to go back to.

Getting an older dog adopted is almost impossible. Although we are not a ‘Shelter’ in the sense that we are not a long-term refuge, we have, over the years, allowed a small number of strays to stay on with us – in fact we have a little wall of plaques commemorating some of the first generation who lived, and died, with us.

We love them, and somehow find the resources to feed and keep them happy and healthy. So, we were very grateful indeed when three friends, Anne Pye-Brown, Elizabeth Atherton and Marilyn Duggan came to visit from the UK, met Sweetie, and decided to jointly sponsor her.

Then a couple of days later we were visited by another Friend, Greta Martin, and she adopted two home dogs, Asha and Radu. All three dogs have been with us for many years, often meeting and greeting visitors to the Shelter.

So if you visit us, you will surely meet them and their fellow ‘home’ friends, and they will give you a warm welcome.

Sponsoring a home dog is one of the many ways you can support our work.

Please go to www.gawt.org and click on Donations.

Every donation, big and small, helps us to continue to expand our vital work here in South Goa.

Another practical gift to make life a little easier

One of our fundraising projects is the 100+ Club, organised by Friends of Goa Animal Welfare Trust.

They have recently given us an Air Conditioner to be installed in our Operating Theatre at Curchorem. Since this is an interior room, it can get very hot in there indeed, particularly from April to July, and conventional fans don’t always meet the challenge. So this is a very welcome and practical gift.

Other small improvements, again courtesy of the 100+ Club, are in progress, with floors being tiled, and a dedicated Puppy House and outside run being given new flooring.

Thanks to everyone involved, and if you would like details of the 100+ club just go to www.gawt.org and click on donations. It’s an inexpensive way to support us, and there’s something in it for you too!

100+ Club Raffle Winners:February–April 2011 Winners

April	Michael Hennessey, Jenny Viegas and Joan Fincham
March	Susan Singh Rarewala, Candy Grocott, Eileen Nichol
February	Penny Stephens, Lillian Van Koch, Linda Mac

Click here to see a short video

Check out our website: www.gawt.org

Designer: Linda Cree (Volunteer)