As I write this I am bursting with pride and joy. Margie McCann, an activist with Great New England Dog Rescue, sent out an email about the work of Amazon c.a.r.e.s. and the response has been heartwarming & overwhelming. Complete strangers have answered the call & sent collars, leashes & toys for our shelter animals. Some people have purchased brand new items. Others have donated high quality gently used items. Both types of gifts are amazing to me. I appreciate the people that spend hard-earned money purchasing things that we would consider "luxury items." For those that send gently used items, I am joyful that these items are getting a second life. When my beloved Gretchen passed on in July, 2004 I brought many of her toys & collars to Peru, and it gave me pleasure to pass them on & feel as if a part of her lived on with their new owners. Finally, we have received numerous donations from manufacturers. We have also received some phenomenal quality toys, which we REALLY needed. These will remain with our shelter dogs, who need as much mental stimulation that we can provide.
These items were sent to my mother's address in Tennessee, & she has sent me small amounts at a time through people I know traveling to Iquitos. I congratulate my Mom for finally learning how to scan in some of the pages that accompany these donations, & I apologize for the lag time between the time the donation was mailed and my acknowledgment. Sadly, a few donations arrived with little identifying information, making a formal "thank you" difficult. Yesterday a friend arrived in town with another delivery from Mom. It contained a significant donation of collars & leads from Tracy McCarthy of Lupine Pet. They specialize in high quality collars & leashes that are guaranteed even when chewed.
High quality items such as these are not available in Peru, not even in the Capital city of Lima. Even if I were to find these products, I do not the people of Iquitos would purchase them. My highest paid employee, my Chief Veterinarian, makes less than $500 a month. Basic needs for one's family come before pet supplies. Finally, enough people have experienced theft of collars from around their pet's neck that they are reluctant to make an investment in a nice quality collar &/or leash.
We give a free collar & leash with each adoption. We believe it is important for people to take responsibility for exercising their dog, having an id tag on their dog (which we also give to the adopter), & maintaining control of their dog. Unfortunately, in an environment with very open-air living conditions (for ventilation purposes), dogs can pretty much come & go as they please. Generations of families share their homes, & the older generation is generally seated outside of their home chatting with neighbors & partaking of fresh air throughout the day, with the door wide open. Nobody has air conditioning, after all.
Last night I fitted four of my shelter dogs with new collars. I felt like I was giving my angels the Emporer's New Clothes. Because these items are donations, on principal, and at the request of at least one donor, I will not sell these items in the pet shop we operate in conjunction without low-cost Veterinary clinic. The free collar & leash we provide with each adoption is not poor quality, but it is, admittedly, the cheapest we can buy. After all, it is a "give-a-way" item. Now that we will be fitting animals with beautiful collars & leashes, & even giving families the opportunity to select a style they like, perhaps this will also impart a grander feeling of "ownership" and responsibility.
We have fought cultural prejudices against mixed-breed dogs. Sadly, many people perceive dogs "de raza" to be smarter, cleaner, & more deserving of special attention than mixed-race animals. Yet we have shown that our rescue dogs, once treated for mange & free of parasites, are beautiful, smart, affectionate animals. With our obedience training & the work we do to socialize these dogs, we can demonstrate that they make great pets. Finally, we work to educate the adopters about what to expect & how to respond to their animal's needs.
I believe that when one of our shelter dogs is seated in the doorway of a his family's home, adorned with his beautiful collar, the family will feel just a tiny bit more pride. Hopefully they'll be inspired to take their beautiful, coordinating leash, & walk their dog & show him off to their neighbors. And if they take pride in the collar, maybe they'll be more careful about letting their animal roam free.
In this materially poor community, a fine collar is a special thing. It will be a status symbol. It states 'this animal is special, this animal is loved, this animal has a family that cares for him.'
Of course, all of this is conjecture on my part. We are embarking on an experiment, of sorts. I can say that in terms of the four dogs I fitted with new collars last night . . . I felt pride. And I imagined they felt pride too. Who doesn't like to have the latest fashions?
Our adoption procedures have progressed since we first began in July 2004. There is a learning curve, of course. Pets are personality tested & adopters are interviewed & briefed on what their ongoing responsibilities will be. Some prospective adopters end up not adopting, but those who do adopt have a magnificent success rate. Of course, we follow up & provide as much assistance as we can. We also obedience train our shelter dogs, making them better pets once adopted.
As part of our learning curve we have learned to better qualify potential adopters. There is a nominal adoption fee. We try to target the middle class of Iquitos. We have had sad experiences in adopting to people from the poorer areas of town. In one horrifying incident, a medical student adopted a dog, Apolo, to use for surgical practice. We received an anonymous phone call about her true motives the day after the adoption, & did everything possible to obtain the animal while the adopter fabricated stories about the dog's whereabouts & made false promises about returning the animal to us. She had signed an adoption contract, but the contract did not have a photo of the dog. One day a family member dropped off a stray at our office claiming it was Apolo, and our lawyer said there was not much else we could do.
The majority of our shelter dogs would be euthanized in a traditional US shelter. They would be considered unadoptable. These pets have lived on the streets & suffered abuse. Most require extensive rehabilitation. Our shelter is no-kill. Time & love & patience help these animals become wonderful pets, eventually. Some cases are much harder than others, but as long as the pet is not dangerous or suffering, I would never consider euthanasia (to date we have only euthanized two animals, both of whom were suffering from illness or injuries). One of the traditional tests given in personality testing in US shelters has to do with the removal of food & the reaction of the animal. One of my first rescues that is now one of my pets still eats in a crouched position over her bowl. I would not suggest removing food from any of our shelter dogs once they begin their meal. It would provoke an angry reaction. In the US this would make the pet "unadoptable." We have to adjust our expectations here.
Accordingly, we focus an incredible amount of time on VERY BASIC education about pets. In this very hot, tropical climate we have to constantly remind people to provide a constant supply of water for their pets. Since Iquitos is surrounded by water, there are few cars here, so the issue of leaving pets in a heated car is not a "hot topic". Pedigree has been a generous donor to us, and their food is the premium pet food of Iquitos. I have witness crippled puppies that were able to walk within a week of being fed a diet of Pedigree Puppy. It is very hard to convince people to purchase & feed their animals special food. Most animals are fed table scraps or diets of little more than rice (a huge staple of the Peruvian diet). The basic needs of pets are not well known. Most pets don't receive basic vaccinations. Incredibly, even the people that purchase a pedigreed dog (for sometimes as much as $100!) will not pay $4 for a basic vaccine.
In a short time, we have witnessed a cultural shift in Iquitos. Friends that work with other charity projects here admit to me they are amazed, as they can visibly see a difference. and they didn't expect to see a difference, especially so quickly.
We have helped pet owners feel more responsibility & pride. We have been vocal about cruelty against animals (on more than one occasion my older, portly neighbor has followed me down the street, seeking to protect me, as I chased down a stranger for throwing a rock at one of my dogs)! Although the law is not enforced, we have made sure that people know that there IS a law in Peru, punishable with jail time, for cruelty against animals.
I am happy to announce that I recently received a grant administered through Humane Society International. The $2000 is the single largest donation (aside from my own money) ever granted to Amazon c.a.r.e.s. It specifically is for humane education. It is the first grant I have ever applied for, so I am very excited. Sadly, most US based foundations do not donate to international charities. For more on this topic read my
Yahoo! 360 blog entry about the
importance of giving internationally.
I also want to say thank you to the people who donate small amounts and feel a need to apologize for the amount. This is something I wrote to one such donor:
"Our work is saving lives every day, and money is very tight, especially now, as we reach the end of the year.
In this developing economy, any donation goes a long way. I remember the days when the bigger charities scoffed at "small donations," claiming the paperwork cost more than the donation. Small, grassroots charities such as Amazon c.a.r.e.s. can not afford this attitude (and thank goodness I am not such a snob in any event!). In this age of paypal and email, the costs associated with any donations are minimal. In truth, sometimes the smaller donations mean the most, as I know they are heartfelt.
A donation, to me, is more than money. It is encouragement to continue. This has no dollar amount."
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