Image Credit: Cris Mamprim

When homeless man César walked into the Hospital Regional Alto Vale in Brazil to seek medical treatment at 3 AM on a Sunday, his friends came along to show their support.

Only these were no ordinary buddies — they were his loyal canine companions, who anxiously gathered at the door of the clinic.

César was seeking help for an ongoing medical problem and hospital staff were amazed at the manners and good health of the dogs patiently waiting for their guardian.

Worker Cris Mamprin took snaps of the beautiful pups, marveling at their dedication and condition.

“They are all well taken care of and chubby,” said Mamprin. “Seeing them like that, waiting at the door, only shows how much they are cared for and loved.”

While César received treatment, the staff allowed the dogs in to keep him company, offering food to both them and their caring guardian, who confessed that he often goes without food to make sure the dogs can eat.

Touched by this close-knit family living on the streets, Mamprin shared the snaps on social media, where they quickly went viral.

“He has the best companions with him,” she said. “I do not know what his life is like, or why he’s on the street, but I admire the respect and love he has for his little animals.”

In America, an estimated 5-10 percent of homeless people have pets.

Although they are often criticized for keeping an animal when they can’t afford to support themselves, those who work with them reveal that many homeless people take better care of their animals than they do themselves.

Just like any companion animal at home, these “homeless companions” provide a sense of connection, family, and security to those who desperately need it.

“The need for companionship is just as important as the need for food or shelter,” says author Danielle Wolfe. “Taking care of others reinforces our purpose for living.

We are more than pleased to have a monthly standing order with Harmony; so that so many strays in need the world over can be cared for a little more.

Please join up or give them a donation if you can – thanks – WAV.

Harmony Fund Website – https://harmonyfund.org/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/HarmonyFundAnimalRescue/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/harmonyfund?lang=en

With their knees pressed against the snowy ground, our rescue volunteers are pouring bag after bag of kibble and coaxing hundreds of frightened dogs and cats to have something to eat as they begin another winter day.

The animals we feed congregate in landfills, cemeteries, factory complexes, empty fields and at the forests’ edge. Our street feeding programs are not the most heralded part of our work, but they are absolutely critical in supporting the comfort and survival of animals awaiting rescue.

There is always a steady flow of animals welcomed into the rescue program, but we can only take more of them in when others are adopted out.

During the “waiting period” we give homeless animals the simplest form of human kindness. We bring them food to make sure they are not searching for their next meal, which often results in days with nothing palatable to eat. When we offer them meals, the animals have far less exposure to the wind and snow. They can eat and then hunker down in their hiding places. It truly makes a huge difference. And in the near future, we hope to expand community spay/neuter operations to sterilize higher numbers of homeless animals.

Your ongoing donations are the only reason we will be able to buy more food at the end of the month to begin this mission all over again in January. We are more thankful than words could ever say.

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Bosnian native Naida Kaltak is a 365-day-a-year hero who leaves very early each morning, often before the sun is up, so that she can bring meals to animals before she goes to work.

“The weather is terrible with temperatures below freezing,” said volunteer Nancy Wilkinson who helps us translate conversations with Naida. “Thankfully the kennels are insulated, but it is the poor strays we worry so much about. The strays especially need food these days to help keep warm and to make sure that, if nothing else, they have full tummies. Naida has to travel on foot to many locations, and even for her at home, the water is frozen. Life is not easy at the best of times, but in these conditions…”

“There are two mums and seven pups that are at the garbage dump,” Nancy explained. “Naida has been feeding them but she knows the pups, at least, will not survive the winter. She can’t possibly take them all in unless she has funds to cover their costs.”

“Naida is drowning in debt and now there are injured puppies,” Nancy continued. “She doesn’t take every dog she sees but some just can’t be left. The first dog has two broken legs after being hit by a car and couldn’t move. The second boy was also hit by a car and if she hadn’t taken him, his injuries would have become infected and he surely would have lost his life after suffering a great deal. The third tiny boy was hiding by the rubbish bins in the middle of Sarajevo and sadly many people saw him and just walked by. He has a broken scapula. The fourth is a little girl, again no one stepped up, she has a broken femur.”

We would like to send Naida a donation next week to get more dogs to safety, to cover some of the big veterinary expenses for the animals struck by cars and to help her continue her daily rounds at the edge of the forest where many homeless dogs are living.
Click Here to Donate to Naida’s Rescues

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It has been a very good year for the dogs at Sasha’s free-running dog sanctuary in Serbia. As winter begins to dust the ground with snow, the dogs are in their best possible condition as nourishing food is flowing. But even more exciting is the news that adoptions are picking up and we hope to find homes for 150 dogs over the next twelve months.

“For the first time, five shelter dogs went to Sweden,” Sasha said earlier this week. “Starting in January, our rescue partner there has agreed to adopt 10 of our dogs each month. And in December alone, 19 dogs were adopted to homes in Belgium. I am so happy that a large number of dogs will find their warm homes now and in 2019.”

“Every year, the number of dogs has increased, since the situation around the adoptions was far worse than it is now,” Sasha continues. “But our teammates at the Dog Happiness organization in Belgium promote new adoptions and collect resources for additional feeding, hay, wood, equipment for workers, parasite tablets, ampoules against fleas, new dog houses and so forth. Without that help I do not want to imagine what the overall situation would be. They sacrifice their annual vacations and all their free time to help dogs, they give me great support, strength and will to solve all problems related to shelter. And the main pillar that keeps entire shelter up is, of course, the Harmony Fund. You have unconditionally helped the last 5 years and I am very happy to work together with you to create the best possible conditions for the dogs. I am convinced that life does not happen randomly. We were brought together for a purpose.”

As the year draws to a close, we want to offer all of you our very deepest thanks. Together we have made a difference of hundreds of Serbian dogs and will continue to do so for many years to come. Your donations are helping us to be sure the dogs have ample food, shelter, veterinary care and protection-from-cruelty. They play with balls, they explore the grounds and they even enjoy some home cooked meals. All of this is made possible through your kindness.

100 Dogs Saved from Dog Meat Smugglers in Nanjing, China

Image Credit: Ping An A Fu

Police intercepted a vehicle packed full of dogs destined to be slaughtered for the dog meat trade in Nanjing, China last week.

Heading from the Henan province in central China to Hangzhou, the vehicle was detained because the driver did not have the documentation required for transporting the dogs and could not prove where they had come from.

The police called upon Nanjing’s largest animal rescue center, Ping An A Fu (meaning Peace and Luck), to assist with rescuing the dogs. On arrival, staff from the organization discovered 108 medium to large dogs stuffed into only nine tiny wire cages.

The malnourished, hungry and stressed animals were taken to safety at Ping An A Fu’s center in the Pukou district to be quarantined. There, they received comfortable beds made of hay, water, food, and medical care.

Although all the rescued dogs survived that first night, some died later due to other medical problems.

“Most of the dogs are healthy now although some still need continued medical attention,” said Lu, a volunteer for Ping An A Fu. “Deaths were simply unavoidable as the conditions of some of the dogs when we received them were just too dire.”

Staff at the rescue center report that most of the dogs are friendly and comfortable around people, indicating that they may be beloved family pets that were swiped off the street for the horrific dog meat trade — a common occurrence throughout China.

“If it is not for the police who enforced laws strictly and saved the dogs from meat dealers, these 108 dogs would have been meat dishes,” the organization posted on Facebook.

Although animal advocates estimate that the popularity of eating dog meat throughout Asia is decreasing, around 20 percent of China’s population continues to consume it, believing it to be good for their health. Their consumption accounts for half the dogs slaughtered in Asia every year.

Thanks to the Nanjing police and the amazing team at Ping An A Fu — who currently care for more than 10,000 animals — these lucky pooches will be heading for a much better life.

Sanction the hotel and those responsible for the death of a stray dog

Addressed to: State Attorney General’s Office and 1 more

Petition Link – https://www.sosvox.org/en/petition/sanction-the-hotel-and-those-responsible-for-the-death-of-a-stray-dog.html?utm_source=highlight&utm_medium=title&utm_campaign=campaign-p151218

Created by Mercedes Benitez
Monterrey, Mexico

Petition wording:

A puppy that was in poor health on a beach in Acapulco in front of the Krystal hotel was thrown into the sea by its employees because, according to the authorities of the place, was giving bad image with the guests. A woman went to ask for help for the dog but it seems that the only thing they could think of was to remove it from the beach to the street so that it would not “bother” the hotel customers anymore.

A guest picked up the animal and tried to protect it from the rain on the side of the hotel, outside it, but were threatened by hotel staff to remove the animal there. It is a shame what this hotel has done with this animal and with the people who tried to save his life.

The next day some tourists who were walking along the beach had taken the dog out of the sea after hotel workers threw it to drown. This made these damned bastards with the dog. It never crossed their minds to save him, not even make a fucking call to pick up the dog, no, it was easier to kill him by throwing him into the sea. The animal was taken to the veterinarian but they had to put him to sleep because he was sick with distemper.

I want not only the hotel to be sanctioned for negligence and animal abuse, I also want employees to be identified so that they can be fired and legal action taken.

I want both the hotel and its employees to pay for what they did to this puppy, because those who give a bad image to Acapulco are these employees and this hotel, not the puppy that has not hurt anyone.

SIGN AND SHARE THIS PETITION

Our past Christmas Meals campaigns have been a huge success thanks to donors like you.

Now, we’re less than 3 weeks away from Christmas Day and we’re reaching out again to see if you would be so generous to donate warm and hearty meals to homeless dogs this 25^th of December.

They are still just $1 each meal.

The meals will be delivered to the stray dogs in our community on Christmas Day by ROLDA staff and volunteers. This year, we estimate the number of strays in this area to be between 18,500 to 19,000 based on the number of rescues we have made so far in 2018, which is great news considering that their population was believed to be over 20,000 just a few years back.

Read more and donate to but Christmas meals for stray dogs – just $1 each

https://rolda.org/christmas-2018/?ref=home