Without your donation it is more difficult to protect the dogs of the Philippines..............

IWCT SEPTEMBER 2006 NEWSLETTER

Dear Friend

BECAUSE OF YOUR GENEROSITY OUR RESCUED DOGS ARE ALIVE AND WELL

THE GRAND OPENING OF OUR VERY OWN DOG RESCUE/REHABILITATION CENTRE WAS ON TUESDAY 11 TH JULY 2006. THE HEAVENS SHONE UPON US, IT WAS A BLISTERING HOT DAY WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE LOW TO MID FORTIES AND THE NEXT DAY BROUGHT A TROPICAL STORM!

NO LONGER WILL WE BE TAKING DOGS THAT WE HAVE CONFISCATED FROM THE ILLEGAL DOG TRADERS TO THE CITY POUNDS, WHERE THEY ARE ALWAYS PUT DOWN WITHIN 7-10 DAYS, THAT IS NOW FIRMLY IN THE PAST. OUR RULE IS THAT DOGS WILL ONLY EVER BE PUT DOWN WHEN FOR HEALTH REASONS THEIR CONDITION IS SUCH THAT RECOVERY IS DEEMED BY OUR VETERINARIAN TO BE IMPOSSIBLE.

The opening day that we had been planning for so long went off without any hitches; it was well attended by the Philippine media, heads and representatives of the central and local government and in particular, the Honourable Wencelito T Andanar, Undersecretary for Peace and Order and for Local Government and the Department of Interior. This Central Government Agency is in charge of law enforcement throughout the Philippines. The Honourable Wencelito T Andanar, in his address to the media reiterated his commitment to working with other Government agencies and with us (AKF) to bring about the demise of the illegal dog meat trade for human consumption.

Whichever way you look at it, this has to be a GIANT STEP FORWARD.

Also present at the opening were officials form The Department of Agriculture, The Meat Inspection Board, The Wildlife and Natural Resources Department, the local Mayor and the local Priest; who walked all around the site blessing the place and all the animals. I made sure that he blessed the two sick dogs that we had in our veterinary clinic. One of the dogs “Adon” (his photo is in the top left hand corner of the dogs available for sponsor) had a very bad case of mange and a great wound over his nose caused by the dog trader tying his mouth shut. Winston our vet worked his magic on Adon, who has now made a complete recovery, sadly the other dog is still in the sick bay.

Also ‘ “ Abby ' ” received a special blessing being the first to arrive at our centre when she was just about six weeks old, given in to us by her owner who no longer wanted her. I know it's wrong but Abby is my little favourite, I suppose it's because I was there when she was given in and I fussed over her, fed her and walked her. Now she goes bonkers every time she sees me. Many of you ask me how do I do this job… I don't know; but now you can see that I am only human, who could not love Abby.

Incidentally Jasmine is now going by the name of Abby. As you know Jasmine was the first to arrive so for the sake of our records she has been given the number 001 and the name Abby. Those of you who sponsored her will shortly be receiving a much more recent photograph along with a certificate reflecting the change of her name.

Jass our second arrival at the centre has been re-homed by John Hughes, a long-term supporter of IWCT. Those of you sponsoring Jasmine, please feel free to choose another dog from our sponsor sheet to replace her and we will send you a photograph and a new certificate. .

REGARDLESS OF WHAT OTHER ORGANISATIONS MAY SAY PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT IWCT/AKF ARE THE ONLY ORGANISATION S WORKING IN THE PHILIPPINES COMBATING THE ILLEGAL DOG TRADE, THAT HAVE A RESCUE CENTRE WHERE THE DOGS ARE TAKEN TO AND WILL LIVE OUT THE REST OF THEIR NATURAL LIFE.

And now, back to the opening of the centre. Also present was my friend of some thirty years Mr John Hawkridge. John is a practicing veterinarian and has looked after all my animals in that time, he is also a staunch animal welfare supporter and Chairman of the IWCT Trustees. John was specifically there to lend a hand in setting up our veterinary clinic and to give support and guidance in new practice and techniques to Winston. My thanks go to John for sharing his knowledge off caring for animals with the centres staff. I know we have benefited greatly from it.

We are still looking for vets and veterinary nurses from the UK or other skilled persons in animal care to take a working holiday in the Philippines. The deal is IWCT w ill ould pay 50% of the air ticket, although we do suggest that you try for sponsorship. If you are in the vet business possibly a pharmaceutical company would be willing to assist you and also may be willing to donate drugs, we need so much. Remember our centre has the capability of housing 1000 dogs, right now we only have around 60 to care for. Once you have arrived in the Philippines, we will take care of you, we will provide the first night 's accommodation in Manila and next day transportation to our rescue centre in Tarlac, 80 miles north of Manila. Once there you will be provided with European standard accommodation and all meals during your stay with us. Interested?? Then please contact me personally to discuss the details. We really do need all the professional help that we can get to nurse any sick dogs and keep those in good health, healthy.

To sum up the rescue centre, everybody present at the opening ceremony was very impressed by it, which is good as we have all put a lot of very hard work and effort into getting it right for both dogs and humans. Of course, you have all put a lot of money towards this centre, and from day one I have been very conscious that I was spending your money. The dogs love it, it truly is a joy to see the wagging tails and I am quite sure they know that they have just been released from hell and now?…. Is this heaven?

All the pens where they are kept are approximately 25 feet by 90 feet, with a constant supply of fresh water. Feeding times are 8am and 5pm and all the pens have raised shade and sheltered areas.

One dog did that escape d and outside of the centre, stay ed ing out over night but , was barking outside the gate to come back inside the very next morning. For some reason he has taken a shine to our guard, and does not like being in a pen. He follows the guard everywhere. When the guard opens the gate to let someone in or out he goes outside but always makes sure to get back in before the gate is closed. So now the guard has a guard dog!

I am sure you will agree with me that this is very good news as frankly I can tell you the centre is beyond my wildest dreams. We now have dogs living happily where as previously they would have been dead, we have saved their lives. The bad news is all this comes at a price, right now the centre with only 60 dogs in it, is costing £800 per month to operate and the centre has the capacity to house 1000 dogs. Admittedly the ratio cost of keeping each dog will go down as numbers increase, but once we pass the 200/250 figure, the cost will significantly increase. At present Pedigree Chum are donating some food to us, will this increase as the numbers go up? We will need to employ more staff and I have serious doubts if our one vet will be able to cope. In addition the most expensive thing we are finding is the cost of veterinary requirements i.e. drugs and anaesthetics.

Clearly these are things that we cannot cut back on, it's a nightmare, and simply put , it's money we do not have coming in. My hope now is that as many of our loyal supporters as is possible will , in addition to their usual generous donation, take up a sponsorship of a dog in our care. The good thing about sponsoring a dog is it can be done for your children, a relative or a friend as a gift on a special occasion. Also please show the list of dogs to your work mates or better still get it pinned up on a notice board. Any way in which you can help will be truly appreciated, please don't be shy, if you want more another or a supply of the dog sponsor forms just ask us , we will be very happy to send them to you.

Back to good news ; , we have now conducted with the Philippine Government all five of the scheduled meetings around various dog eating regions in the Philippines. All these meetings were well attended by the local Mayors; chiefs of Police and local law enforcement officers and commitments have now been made to enforce the animal welfare law. Rest assured over the coming months we will be keeping a very careful watch, making sure that the regulations are being put into effect. Now the Philippine Government want to have these meetings extended to another three regions and I have recently authorised the expenditure to cover these three extra meetings. Again this truly is stretching both our small work force and our finances to the extreme limits. The problem is we just cannot afford to let this kind of opportunity slip by us, we have to do everything we can to save as many dogs as possible.

The last meeting to have taken place was in Baguio, 150 miles north of Manila. Baguio is the absolute epicentre of the dog eating trade. It is also the state capital of Benget where the local council passed the resolution requesting to be made exempt ion from the national animal welfare law in order that they would be allowed to eat dogs. As I said in ou r t last newsletter they lost, we won. Baguio was always going to be the hot seat for these meetings and they did not disappoint us, around 150 showed up for the meeting and not surprisingly we came in for a lot of abuse, plus all the normal threats, clearly there are those that would like to cause us harm. However, all of this nonsense was to no avail as we were not there to argue the pros and cons of eating dogs, that argument had already been settled months ago by the Philippine Central Government. The point of the meeting was to inform to the local officials, the Mayor and the police that the law is now to be enforced. Believe me, Baguio will be kept under very close surveillance.

Breaking this next piece of news to you is not going to be easy. They say save the best till last, believe me this is not the best it's the worst. Just tell me, why are some humans so evil towards animals? In July this year one of our investigators was on the Island of Negress checking out a suspected dog trader, when he happened to hear of a zoo type place where crocodiles were being fed with live food. Greg our investigator thought he should check it out, and to his horror her found out that they are being fed on live puppies, cats and chickens. In fact he witnessed a live cat being thrown into the jaws of a crocodile, the cat escaped injured but was soon caught again and eaten (photos of this spectacle are enclosed in the BLACK CAUTION LEAFLET please be warned, these pictures are upsetting).

It is as I am sure you are only too well aware very difficult for us to turn our backs on such acts of gross cruelty, but as a registered charity we are bound to act within the strict laws of the Charity Commissioners. IWCT solicits funds from you on the understanding that all funds raised will be solely used to bring about the demise of the illegal dog traders in the Philippines, and as many of you have demonstrated to care for the dogs we confiscate from the dog traders, this is what we do.

I am now asking for your permission to use some of these funds in an effort to save puppies and cats being thrown alive into the jaws of hungry crocodiles. If you are agreeable please just tick the box on the donor form when returning the form to us with your contribution.

Incidentally, in the last newsletter, the baby crocodiles that I told you about in the restaurant windows have all been removed. The owner of these restaurants is now under the investigation of the Government Department of Natural Resources and Wildlife. The facts so far are the owner has a licence to keep crocodiles but not to exhibit them. It is now up to the Wildlife Department to decide whether to prosecute or not. I believe this will depend on what facilities he has for housing these reptiles.

And finally, I really am truly sorry for always asking for your financial help, but what else can I do, I simply cannot bear to see or know that these animals will suffer if we don't help them; I have seen this all too many times.

To Now I see how happy the dogs are within hours of arriving at our centre, I just have to ask for your help. They cannot talk, they cannot say thank you, but their wagging tails and friendly licks speak louder than any words ever could.

On their behalf let me say THANK YOU.

Yours sincerely

Ps. I have just heard from the P hilippines that directly related to our Government meetings the Filipino police have instigated and conducted a raid against the dog traders confiscating 60 dogs. Sadly 24 were had already died. All the live dogs are now at our centre.

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