Kingston Community Animal Welfare has been an AKI partner organization since 2007, when AKI started. Below are just some of the dogs and cats that KCAW's Deborah has helped, between January and April 2016, thanks to your donations to AKI.
Deborah travels along routes to work in the morning and home in the evening that take her by many of Kingston's street dogs and cats and many poor neighborhoods, where she helps families provide food and vet care for their pets. She (and any willing volunteers) spends her Saturdays checking on and feeding hundreds of dogs and cats. AKI donors provide the funds for dog and cat food, meds, and vet care, including spay/neuter---thanks to you, Deborah knows that she will always be able to help Kingston's dogs and cats in need.
In Deborah's words:
This group in Havendale is a new addition to my Saturday list. Most are spayed, but I still have 1 or 2 left to do. I couldn't catch them before those pups were born. Will definitely make sure no more pups though!
On my way to work [early April] I saw these 2 little ones searching desperately for food. Had to stop and feed them. It was heartbreaking to see them foraging in the scorching sun. I'll keep feeding them and will get them fixed.
I was driving home yesterday [April 8] and spotted this girl so hungry she was dangerously close to being hit by speeding cars. I turned around and put down some food for her and got her off the busy main road on to a quieter road [picture below].
And as I fed the little girl scrounging for food along the busy roadway, not 50 yards away, here comes another little girl rummaging through a dump to see what she could find. She looked at me with the saddest eyes I just had to stop [picture below].
I'll be checking on both of these girls on my drives to and from work.
I feed these girls and boys [picture below] twice during the week, and every other Saturday. They are spayed! There were 5 of them, I managed to find homes for 2. They simply were not getting enough food from the garage owner! He only wants them to guard his garage. I am really trying to find homes for others. Once , when I was leaving one of them jumped into the back of the car as if to say please take me. :( I was sad the whole of that day!
Went to collect this nice brown dog [picture above] from Bubba this
morning [early April]. She is pregnant and was kicked hard in the belly by
a disgruntled man whose path she unfortunately crossed. She is in pain
and unable to walk. Think she might be aborting so I took her to the vet.
I arranged to get her spayed today if necessary. If not, she'll be spayed
after the pups. ****UPDATE**** I collected Brownie this morning and took her back home, she suffered heavy internal bleeding and lost all her pups but the vet said she was a fighter. She survived, and is successfully spayed! Yaaay Brownie!
This is an area very close to my office downtown. Bubba has 4 dogs, 2 sweet
black ones, a white fluffy one and the little brown girl. He needs help.
The dogs are covered in ticks and their nails are horribly long till they can't walk
properly. I trimmed the nails for him today on all his doggies. They were
so well behaved! Put flea powder on them too.
Two rescued pups (from a squatter's house) meeting their new owner, Jennifer. She got 2 from me many years ago who are old now. She takes really good care of her dogs. They were spayed last week and returned to her.
I rescued this little fellow 2-3 weeks ago (mid-January). He lives in a filthy garage with lots of improperly disposed batteries
and chemicals. Four other dogs live there too, but are not owned by anyone.
The men there told me they survive on scraps from their lunch. I feed them
3 times a week now, and they look better already. Wish I could feed them
every day : (
When I went one morning on the way to work to feed them, the little brown
one who is usually first in line to eat didn't come. The others did, then I
saw him turn the corner bumping into everything and advancing only to the
sound of my voice. I knew he was blind and his eyes had a strange purple colour.
Apparently he drinks water from the same area where they store old batteries.
I made them cover it up with zinc sheets.
He is a bit on the wild side and blind or not he has sharp teeth so I got the
men to put him into a cage. I took him for medical attention and he received
several injections and a well needed bath when I got home after calming him
down. He fought at first but finally figured out I was different from the men in the garage. The news was good, the blindness is temporary but it will take a few
weeks to resolve.
I got him a home with a lady on my road who has one dog and wanted
another. She said her dog was lonely so that worked out great, plus she is close
by so I can check on him regularly. He has an appointment to be snipped next
month.
I spotted this big brown doberman on the road side in the bush next to
this house a week ago. I had no idea he lived there. He is emaciated and
scared. I thought he was a runaway that was lost or stray. Full breed dogs
are not your typical stray in Jamaica. I left food for him and he ate it,
plus the plate!!
The next day I left food again and even though I didn't see him, the food was
always gone. People walking past that open land area said they saw him eating
so I was very happy to hear that! [picture below]
The next day, to my shock and horror I drove past slowly looking for him....
and there he was, inside the yard, staring at me! I launched my usual private
eye investigations and asked the neighbors. The dog lives there and
that's all they know. So I stop and feed them-there are 2- everyday as I
never see the owners. They are so hungry I almost lost a hand putting
down the food.
Then, one evening I stopped to feed them and a lady pulls up in a
big fancy SUV. She asked why I was feeding her dogs and I said so they won't die!
She was immediately unfriendly and hostile but I wasn't intimidated and I sure as hell wasn't backing down! She needed to tell me why those poor dogs looked
like that.
She said she feeds them every day, said to leave her dogs alone and drove
inside. Needless to say I continue to feed them every chance I get when no cars are parked in the garage. I made a report to authorities.
In Jamaica it is a shared belief that the hungrier the dog, the more aggressive they are so guard the yard better. Of course it's utter rubbish.
You can't do all this on your own. Deborah/KCAW has eyes and ears all over Kingston, people who live in poor neighborhoods, who alert her when a dog or cat is in need, especially if anyone's been injured and needs help. This is Karlene, one of Deborah's helpers in downtown Kingston.
CAN YOU IMAGINE, ALL THIS --AND MORE--IN JUST A FEW MONTHS! DEBORAH-KCAW REALLY NEEDS OUR HELP AND WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!