While we're working on getting all the documents that we need to obtain approval from Uganda's National Environmental Management Authority so the USPCA can continue with construction at the new shelter and move all the cats and dogs over, we're happy that at least some shelter dogs can enjoy the spacious new location:
NEMA's regulations allow for up to 50 dogs to be on the property without further environmental requirements.
Meanwhile, the USPCA is working hard to get more cats and dogs adopted to loving homes:
As always, over the last few months, far more dogs and cats were taken into the shelter than went to new homes. Donors to Animal-Kind International cover the costs of running the USPCA shelter, including rent, staff salaries, transport costs to rescue cats and dogs, pet food, and vet care. But we don't raise enough money to cover all costs, and the USPCA doesn't raise enough on their own to fill the gap, so the shelter always runs on a budget deficit. Even so, they never turn down a cat or dog in need.
Here are some recent rescues, only a small sample of the cats and dogs that the USPCA staff have rescued over the past few months.
In just one week in August, the USPCA was informed of two different cases of dogs left behind in yards when their people moved away. These dogs were left with nothing, no food, no water, no way out! Thankfully the USPCA was contacted and they were rescued.
All 5 dogs were taken to The Haven.
Can you imagine someone did this to this poor dog? He was rescued in July from Mtungo Hill, where he was found with his mouth and both legs tied up. He was brought to the USPCA shelter, where Jacki removed the ties and he was allowed to rest, drink, and eat.
The following day, the team managed to get the wire off this poor dog's neck, which actually required him to be anesthetized. We won't show the before pictures, they are too gruesome. Here he is, recovering from some very difficult days, but now safe:
One afternoon in late July, Alex was on a boda boda on his way to help a community dog who lives around the Bahai temple, when just past Nakawa traffic lights along Jinja road towards Lugogo (as many of you know, a busy area), he found this poor boy, helpless on the road. Alex has seen a lot and has rescued easily over 1000 cats and dogs, but he told us, "My tears came out like running water. By good luck we managed to rescue him and take him with us to the shelter."
This guy arrived by boda boda to surrender his cats to the USPCA because he can't take care of them anymore.
In early July, the USPCA rescued these tiny kitties from an office car park on Gaba road. This is a busy area, and would have been so dangerous for the kittens to remain there. They were brought to the USPCA shelter, where Mary took over their care.
In early July, the USPCA rescued 10 cats, abandoned by their owner at Abigail House on Kulambiro road, more animals left behind with nothing, having to fend for themselves.
On August 28, both the USPCA and AKI received a message from Astrid in Masaka. She had found two abandoned puppies on the side of the road screaming. Only about 7 weeks old, she couldn't just pass by and leave them, so she took them home, fed them, de-wormed them, and gave them the security they had been screaming for.
She wrote to us, "They are so so so cute and they are so loving with great personalities, quite opposite ones actually, which I found a bit funny. I named them after great stories, written by Astrid Lindgren, and the characters behind their names fit their personalities quite well, so I hope they get to keep those names, Pippi and Karlson." (Do you know those characters from the children's books?)
But Astrid wasn't able to keep them, so she brought them from Masaka to Kampala, to The Haven. It wasn't easy to turn these two cuties over to the shelter. She told us, "They are scared because everything is new for them and they need a little time to get comfortable. But they have good and kind small hearts."
We need more caring people like Astrid, Jacki, Alex, Mary, and the rest of the USPCA staff, the USPCA volunteers, and our donors! (and fewer people who would tie up a dog's snout and legs, and place a tight wire around his neck!)