Just wanted to offer a very big thanks for all of your support, make a couple of requests, and offer a couple of points of clarification.

We are rapidly expanding and have several new programs coming online this year. We need help.

On the docket for this year:
1. Missing pet program. We need a volunteer(s) to get spaces on all available public notice boards and websites so that when someone’s pet goes missing we can act swiftly to find it.
2. Friday Market. Our recent success with the bear shows that if a problem is properly documented and evidence gathered, existing laws can be used confiscate an animal. Public awareness can also be used to influence the police. We have ideas based upon knowledge and experience. We need volunteers, especially Kuwaiti volunteers. All are welcome.
3. Investigation and documentation of farm animal conditions. This is a religious as well as a human health issue, besides being an animal welfare issue effecting millions of animals per year. We especially need Kuwaiti volunteers for this issue, but again, all are welcome.
4. Marine conservation. Kuwait’s marine ecosystem is being depleted beyond repair. Fish catches have dropped 80% in the last five years. The rate of pollution and the introduction of 300million gallons of super-salty heated water per day into the ocean are taking their toll. We are trying to curb these trends by operating a dive and cleanup team, promoting awareness, and lobbying the government to protect the marine ecosystem.
5. Animal friends is hiring. The position of shelter manager is opening at the end of July and we have been considering applicants for the past week.
6. MENAW. Animal Friends is hosting the next Middle East Network for Animal Welfare conference in March. We are currently fund raising and planning. We could use some help organizing the conference.
7. Sheltering. We always need donations and volunteers to run our shelter. Our cost averages 5,000kd per month. We currently have 55 dogs, 60 cats, two donkeys (one is pregnant), three baboons, two tortoises, six rabbits, a ferret, four turtles, five hamsters, and two chipmunks.
8. Fundraising. Our fund raising committee is always busy. This group meets in the city and runs events in the city. It’s an attractive option for many who find the drive to our Wafra shelter a little too distracting. At the same time, this is one of our most important initiatives.
9. Education. We are looking for people of every nationality who are willing to go into grade schools to run simple classes on humane education. An AFL volunteer will accompany you with a live animal for the presentations.
10. Wildlife. As you’ve seen with our recent bear investigation, we are trying to address the issue of wildlife smuggling. To do this, we need investigators as well as volunteers to help plan and develop our unique sanctuary concept.

Finally, just to clarify a few things. We always try to accept rescued animals somewhere in the city. Where that is not possible, we ask the rescuer to drive to Wafra. We apologize for the inconvenience, but it is unavoidable. If you wish to abandon your animal, you will be required to drive the animal to Wafra. As for street rescues, we have very few volunteers who are able to safely perform street rescues of wild dogs. If the animal is a stray pet animal, we can send one of our volunteers if they are available. Roaming dogs in Kuwait are potentially dangerous and difficult to catch. Catching them often leaves no options for the animal as they cannot be pets or humanely housed in a shelter. We appreciate all reports of stray animals. However, we prioritize in the following order:
1. Animals which are actively being beaten, burned, buried, poisoned, shot, are being run over, or are otherwise actively in pain.
2. Animals which are not wild but are lost or abandoned pets.
3. Animals which are living in cages or are tied, chained, or otherwise have their mobility limited without adequate shade, water, food, and human affection.
4. Animals which are living in medians or near major roads and are otherwise at high risk of being hit or poisoned.
5. Litters of puppies or kittens
6. wild packs of stray dogs
7. We do not rescue or accept streets cats who are reasonably healthy.

We get roughly 100 calls per week related to animals that deserve to be rescued. We have created the list above to help us filter the phone calls and determine which animals need to be rescued first. If you called and we were not able to assist you and your situation, we genuinely apologize. If you called, and we failed to address your situation or adequately explain why we cannot help your situation, it was a genuine mistake. We try to answer the phone every time (during normal hours) and call back any missed calls. We can’t do everything, but we’re confident we do as much as we can.

Thanks for your support. K’S PATH is having some email trouble, so please email info@animalfriendskuwait.org to inquire about anything related to animals. Ayeshah and I are out of the country relaxing until the end of July. Animal Friends still functions quite well with us gone, so please don’t hesitate to call or write. 6700-1622.

Thanks.

John

One of the kittens I fostered was rescued by a Kuwaiti man, who doesn’t even LIKE cats, but couldn’t stand to watch some kids using it for a football!!! (The kitten was probably less than 6 weeks old at the time!) Another was about to be “exterminated” out at the army base. I had a mother and 2 newborn kittens for awhile. The kittens were later adopted out, but after 6 months, were returned to the shelter. The woman was pregnant, and her Dr. told her to get rid of the cats as they were dangerous to a pregnant woman?!?! She believed the Dr. and returned the cats, that she’d had for 6 months!!! How do you fight that kind of attitude?

I helped another AFL volunteer (Amelia) rescue a number of stray dogs. She ALWAYS drove around with dog food, water, a spare collar and leash, and blankets in her vehicle, JUST for that purpose!

When I went back to Canada after my first year in Kuwait, I took 3 dogs back with me. At the airport I was greeted by no less than 10 airport officials, at various places, as “The wonderful lady with the rescue dogs from Kuwait.” Believe me, I was NOT the wonderful one. All I did was take them on as extra baggage.

The wonderful ladies were Karen and Amelia at AFL, and the woman (whose name I forget, sorry) who picked them up when we arrived in Vancouver. And I have to mention Steph and Bruce, who are the “cat” people that kept me supplied with cats and kittens, all in need of a home and some unconditional love. They are ALL wonderful people!

They have done, and continue to do, an AMAZING job, for tireless hours, in an often unthankful society, with a lot of sweat, a lot of love, and not a lot of money. Anybody still IN Kuwait, please check them out. They are a small organization with a big heart, and honestly, can use all the help they can get, be it in volunteer hours, donations of money, dog/cat food, blankets, towels. They are worth your effort, believe me!!!

Anita

~Karen of AFL~

It is not the government’s job and oil revenue has nothing to do with it

People have to develop compassion and a conscious awareness

Keep it up Ayesha, John, Steph, Karen, Raju, and all the rest of the crew!

-Abeer

http://animalfriendskuwait.org/articledetails.asp?fid=1651065631

“Whichever dogs have been in the shelter the longest are sent as accompanied baggage on flights headed to various cities in the U.S. When they arrive, most dogs are adopted within the first week, because Kuwait dogs are so wonderful.”