Typically, we send AKI funds to our partner organizations three times a year. Our requirements are only that our partners use AKI money for animal rescue, protection, and welfare and that they report to us about how they used our donors' funds (our partners also discuss with us beforehand about their plans for using AKI money). We're one of the few funding organizations that doesn't tie our support to a specific project. This is so important for the USPCA (and our other partners) because without AKI donors, they wouldn't have the money to operate (many organizations have money for specific projects, but no money for general operations!) --for example, they wouldn't have the money for rent, staff salaries, transport to rescue cats and dogs, and other priority needs. In our ongoing commitment to our donors to let you know just how your donations to AKI are used, below is information about how the USPCA used your donations during the last few months of 2017 (The AKI Blog post of October 20 was about how USPCA used AKI donor funds during the 1st half of 2017.)
USPCA used AKI donations (disbursement 2 of 2017) for:
1) USPCA Haven staff salaries in October
2) USPCA Haven rent for October
3) Transport to rescue animals for 2 months (October and November)
4) Haven electricity for 1 month (October)
5) Firewood to cook cat and dog food for 2 months
6) Airtime for Haven staff phones for 2 months
7) Medicine: Canvac-R 1 doz, Maxitral eyedrops, Drontal, Ascaten P, Chlorpromazine, Ketamine, "cocktail" for shelter dogs-76, HipraDog-PV
8) Cat litter
9) New uniforms for Haven staff: 4 overcoats, 5 overalls, 7 pair gumboots + printing of USPCA logo on uniforms
10) A supplement to Haven manager, Alex's salary (July-November)
Also, your donations have fed:
30 Haven dogs for the months of October and November
The Haven's puppies and kittens for the months of October and November
But let's get to what's really important: What does this really mean for the animals?
Here are some of the cats and dogs that the Uganda SPCA rescued and found homes for during the last months of 2017:
Many people had noticed this girl hanging around the Nakatasa shopping center, usually without food and water, and no shelter. When she developed a bad skin condition, the USPCA got more calls about her and set off to rescue her. Pictured below, the evening she arrived at The Haven shelter on September 12, Alex is getting her comfortable at her new home (until she gets a permanent family), The Haven.
On September 13, Pippa rescued Bob. He had an owner who didn't care about him and didn't take care of him. Pippa asked the owner if she could have the puppy, and lucky for Bob, the owner handed the pup over to Pippa. The 1st picture below is of Bob when he arrived at The Haven.
Below, after 2 months at The Haven, Bob is 5 months old, and fully recovered from mange and his sad early life.
On October 4, this kitty was found stuck in a drainage ditch during a rain and needed to be rescued (this is the 2nd drenched, muddy kitty in 2 months, the 1st was on August 11, see October 20 AKI Blog post). At The Haven, the kitty got a bath, a warm place to recover, and is happy and healthy now.
On October 5, after receiving a call from Margaret in Mukono District about a puppy that had fallen into a pit latrine (1st picture below), Alex headed over there. It took 2 1/2 hours to get the puppy free. During this time, Margaret told Alex that the puppy had been stuck in the pit latrine for 6 weeks! The family had been throwing food down for him every day! After a good bath (2nd picture below), Alex took the puppy back to The Haven. Margaret had named the pup Vodka, and it didn't take long for Vodka to win the hearts of Luke and Alice, who adopted him (3rd picture below).
In mid-October, The Haven team saw some kids pulling this little guy along by a rope. When the team stopped to check the pup, they found him full of ticks and fleas. After talking to the boys, they gave the pup up and he was brought to The Haven for treatment and recovery.
At The Haven, he was named Phone and by early December, Phone was a perfectly healthy puppy (picture below).
And then, on December 9, Phone was adopted! Alex wrote to us: Maarten Hermus, all the way from the Netherlands, to adopt from our shelter. Good luck with Phone."
Hannah and Steve found these poor little puppies, alone, hungry, no water available, and all of them had mange. At The Haven, they were treated and all recovered.
On October 21, Alex received a call from Cristelle and Michael about a cat stuck in razor wire and crying for help-2 pictures below (Almost 1 year ago, Alex rescued another cat from razor wire, so he knew he was not in for an easy time!). With a lot of patience, Alex extricated the kitty and took her to the USPCA clinic for treatment.
On October 30, The Haven team responded to a phone call about a dog stuck in a sack! They found the dog tied up inside the sack and unable to escape (can you imagine?!). The team brought her to The Haven to recover and she's now doing really well and certainly needs a loving home after having such a horrible experience (2nd picture is from January 2018, a full recovery and now a happy, well-adjusted dog!).
On November 9, Alex was on his way to Nsambya to inspect the home of a newly adopted pup, when he spotted the tiniest kitten trying to cross Luthuli Avenue-Bugolobi, somehow managing to avoid the 8 tires of a lorry. Alex pulled over and bravely rushed into traffic to scoop up this tiny thing, who was then fostered by a USPCA volunteer.
Moby was rescued on October 25, brought to The Haven by Zaid Ali, when he found the dog with an injured leg, a bad wound, and having a very difficult time walking. Under the USPCA's care, Moby recovered the use of his leg, although he still limps a bit (photo below from November 11).
On November 14, when Alex could barely move because of the flu, a dry cough and headache, he received a call from Diana about a tiny kitten stuck on top of a wall--for 3 days--at a restaurant in Muyenga. The wall was so high, a ladder was needed to get the kitty down. It was already dark when Alex reached there and got the kitty down. The picture below is of the kitty at The Haven (it was too dark to get a picture of the rescue).
Sam brought this kitty to The Haven on December 7, saying that he wanted the kitty to be in a safe place. Good job, Sam!
The Haven team rescued these puppies in early December--they were in bad shape-mainly due to mange, but they were in the good hands of The Haven staff and they fully recovered.
On the morning of October 12, the USPCA received a surprise-they were called about a baby owl that needed to be rescued. The owl had fallen from his nest overnight and got stuck on wire, then got itself loose, but fell down onto a roof. The Uganda SPCA rescued their 1st owl! He brought the bird to the USPCA vet, who determined the owl had no injuries, and Alex then brought him back to his nest.
Your donations meant that Haven staff were able to get nice new uniforms in November. Alex wrote on behalf of the staff: "A very huge THANK YOU from the USPCA staffs to AKI, we are grateful to receive the money donated by AKI for buying uniforms. Now we are pretty and happy and everyone looks clean at the USPCA. Thank you so much once again."
And now for some of the happy endings-adoptions:
Zigu was rescued on October 26 and brought to The Haven. On December 22, Zigu was adopted!
On December 23, Xaplanteri Anastasia adopted Java.
Lucy was rescued on September 16 from the street, living without access to food, water, shelter. On October 14, Maggie adopted this beauty.
On October 14, Brian adopted 2 USPCA dogs!
On October 28, Pretty went to her permanent home!
Mrs. Rosette Natumanya adopted Rex in early November. Rex was left behind when his former owner left Uganda and left Rex behind!
Cherie adopted this beauty on November 9.
Lucky (her story was in the AKI Blog post, October 20-see 2nd picture below after she was rescued), one of USPCA's dogs with only 1 eye, was adopted by Bridget.
On December 26, Uganda SPCA Chairman, Bart Kakooza, adopted a kitty and puppy from The Haven!
The Uganda SPCA needs your donations to rescue and rehabilitate Uganda's unwanted, abused cats and dogs. Also, we're raising money so that the USPCA can purchase a larger plot of land for the USPCA shelter to comfortably house needy cats and dogs and to be a model for other shelters in Africa and a training facility for animal rescuers. Please donate here, https://www.animal-kind.org/aki-donate