When I first started AnimalCare way back in May 2009, we decided to think of a tagline and all I could think of was “Working together for the animals”. At that time, being totally and completely naive and always putting everyone in the best light, I thought that should be easy – working together with other humans for the sake of the animals.
Well, there’s been ups and downs for the last 13 years – that’s putting it mildly!
It is not THAT easy working with humans.
But to be fair, there has been many rewarding experiences where people rise to the occasion and offer unexpected assistance. Thank you very much for these.
On the other hand, there has also been many hair-pulling experiences, in particularly, organisations that do not keep to deadlines or keep their word (we work very fast and deadlines are always met so when others do not do their part, it is very frustrating), individuals who do not take the initiative and expect us to do everything for them and the worst of all would be the humans who cheat us and make use of animals to make money for themselves (these humans are blacklisted for life; those who cheat can never be trusted). But never mind about them. Let’s focus on the positives.
Now, our recent attempt to help Ms Woon with her neutering project in Kota Bharu has truly been a very rewarding experience and it has given me confidence that “working together with the animals” might just be possible when we meet with the right people.
It all started with a comment on the a blogpost by Ms Woon to ask how to go about neutering 50 dogs located in three Thai temples in Kota Bharu where she already had the funds. I thought she was going to do it herself and needed guidance so I requested help from our very, very dedicated Balakong dog-CNRMer, Ms Tong, to help with advice. Ms Tong immediately got into action, contacted Ms Woon and got a very clear picture of the whole situation for us.
As it turned out, Ms Woon is an elderly person who is unable to do the rescue herself, but she sympathises with the dogs, has the heart to help them and is willing to provide the funds for it. Kudos to her! According to Ms Woon, there is a feeder, but this feeder isn’t interested in neutering. So Ms Woon was hoping we could get a team of people from KL to go up to Kota Bharu to do the catching and neutering.
After having understood the situation, I contact PAWS (an organisation we have worked with very closely for more than a decade and has never ignored us before) to ask if they would be able to help. Now, PAWS does not have catchers and given the logistics, it would be difficult.
Yes, it is not easy to catch animals unless you are a skilled rescuer/catcher. Usually, we recommend that the feeders catch them because the animals are familiar with and trust their feeders.
Since Ms Woon is providing the funds, that is one big burden lifted. All we needed was to find people who are able to help transport the dogs to and from a vet clinic in Kota Bharu but this is provided the feeder is willing to help catch the dogs. So next, I contacted Mr Lim, a former neutering aid applicant and dog-rescuer form Kota Bharu, also an elderly man now.
Mr Lim is currently medically unwell and no longer does CNRM work in Kota Bharu. He has moved to another town. But kind Mr Lim was willing to help us contact a rescuer from Kota Bharu, Ms Amy, to enlist her help. Ms Amy agreed.
So now, we have got Ms Woon in contact with Ms Amy and the two will meet up real soon to discuss the logistics.
So, it’s been all in a day’s work, literally, but thanks to Ms Tong and Mr Lim, we managed to “work together for the animals” and this will definitely go down as one very rewarding experience for us!
We hope that in future, there will be more of such positive experiences in working together for the animals. Even if you so much as forward our posts for help, you are already helping in a big way. All it takes is a click of a few buttons on your phone or your computer, and you might already be saving lives!
To all who have helped us in the past and present, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
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