AKI in South Sudan

AKI in South Sudan: Spay/Neuter Campaign Team

Since 2006, AKI has supported Humane Education in South Sudan. It all started with a gasoline soaked puppy, that we rescued from a group of boys. That incident spurred a conversation between AKI Founder & Director, Karen, who was working in South Sudan at the time and two Americans, who had been living there for about 3 years, working for aid organizations.

The two Americans decided to start a Humane Education Program for South Sudan. AKI sent HE material, we gave advice and moral support, and they spent their spare time raising awareness about animal care and welfare and working to change negative attitudes towards animals and stop cruel behavior. They talked to community, school, and church groups about treating animals kindly.

Just before they left South Sudan, they "passed the baton" to two other American aid workers.

Now we have an opportunity to do much more in South Sudan!

Starting in 2016, we began receiving more complaints than ever before about animal cruelty in South Sudan. So we (AKI) started an email group mainly consisting of international and South Sudanese aid workers, who had contacted us about the animal welfare situation there, to discuss a way forward. The email group became the South Sudan Spay/Neuter Campaign Team. And we began planning the FIRST EVER SPAY/NEUTER CAMPAIGN for South Sudan.

Then, in late 2023, the local team members decided to form the 1st locally-based animal welfare organization, the South Sudan Society for the Protection & Care of Animals! With help from the wider team, the local organization will now lead the effort to organize the spay/neuter campaign.

The s/n campaign will:

Work with a Kenya SPCA vet and vet tech to train local vets, vet techs, and community animal health workers in high volume, field-based spay/neuter;
Train volunteers in humane capture of cats and dogs;
Train volunteers to organize and operate a s/n clinic (PR, admin, record-keeping);
Work closely with relevant ministries and local government to ensure widespread support for this clinic and for future clinics;
Develop a group of well-trained vets, vet techs, and support staff who will run future clinics;
Obtain supplies and equipment for this and future clinics;
Raise awareness of s/n benefits, animal health care, and kindness to animals; and
Provide free s/n and rabies vaccines to as many cats and dogs (owned and free-roaming animals) as possible over a two-week period. We estimate we'll be able to sterilize about 500 cats and dogs during the campaign.

It's a HUGE effort, but if we don't start now, there will only be more suffering for South Sudan's animals. Pictures below show some of the cats and dogs living on the streets in Juba and the South Sudan s/n campaign team members (last 3 pictures).