News Updates
August 2009: Our name change; police cadet training for a kinder world; and much more!
In this news update:
- Why the VSPCA Name Change?
- Police cadet training for a kinder world
- The Pet Shop boys
- More nabbing of the cat killers and cat ABC matching dollar for dollar fundraising effort!
- Catching dogs with nets training for Hyderabad dog catchers
- Humane Outreach to College
- VSPCA goes to Washington (almost)
- Our youngest activists
New name, same letters
Teachings against cruelty to animals go back thousands of years. Alas, humans are so slow to catch on! While stopping cruelty to animals will always be a focus for VSPCA, we are doing so much more: preventing cat and dog overpopulation, promoting species conservation, humane education - the list goes on. The Visakha Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals no longer captures our broad mandate. That's why we've changed our name to The Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals. We are, of course, still VSPCA and www.vspca.org.
Police Cadet Training
This amazing photo at right shows the rapt response of one of several groups of young, Andhra Pradesh police cadets (3000 in all) recently attending a humane education workshop by VSPCA. The workshops covered a wide range of subjects, from India's animal welfare laws to the need for aggressive dog and cat birth control and humane transport of animals. We were invited to give the workshops by the Police Superintendent, N. Sanjay of Anantapur. Many of the cadets had extremely thoughtful and empathetic questions. The workshops had a remarkable impact on them. They not only pledged to try their hardest to protect animals, many pledged to try and go veg!
Many of the cadets had thoughtful questions.
N. Sanjay writes: "I explained the importance of Care and protection of animals and opined that those who take care of animals would also be affectionate and sympathetic towards fellow human beings. The VSPCA members enlightened us about animal rights and need for care and protection of animals through Power Point presentations, visuals and lectures and received appreciation from one and all."
VSPCA hopes to train another 5000 to bring to a total of 8000 police cadets having their eyes opened to help animals.
Please see the full report here and photos here.
The Pet Shop Boys
Pradeep lecturing to the pet shop owners and dog breeders and trainers in the VSPCA office.
VSPCA held a required attendance meeting on July 19 for the pet shop owners, dog trainers and breeders in our city of Visakhapatnam. Twenty business owners in all came. It was news to them that we are going to enforce the laws regarding the sale of animals, crack down on illegal wildlife sales and enforce proper licensure. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but it a good start as many abuses are being perpetrated and the animals suffer greatly in illegal and cruel conditions. With the public's help, we are keeping a watchful eye on their shops and businesses.
More nabbing of the cat killers and cat ABC matching dollar fundraising effort!
If you ever wondered what cat nabbers who sell the cat meat for profit look like, here they are after VSPCA stopped them and a few more teams including children (we are not showing the graphic photos of the poor tortured cats) and told them to take up another profession. We even went so far to offer them employment at the shelter but they are nomads and left town instead. It is true that these people are very poor, but that is no excuse for criminal activities and we have encouraged them to reform. No one ever told them before what they do is illegal and wrong. Here they are in front of our ambulance which clearly gives the message that animals matter!
Ms. Olive Walker, has generously pledged a matching fund for cat spay/neuter and all your donations towards that for the rest of August will be matched by her dollar for dollar! It costs just $10 to fix each cat! VSPCA has one of the few safe cat spay/neuter programs within India. Neighborhood communities in Visakhapatnam will protect the cats against being snatched for meat in future if there are not too many cats and they are spay/neutered. This shows people that cats are valued community animals and not to be viewed as pests.
Catching dogs with nets training for Hyderabad dog catchers
These street dogs (left)were humanely caught after the training sessions and can be helped now. Municipal dog catchers with humane nets (right).
It is a sad fact that although Dog Animal Birth Control (ABC) programs are in effect in many places in India, many dog catchers still do not know how to use the net but use the catch pole which is less humane. In Hyderabad (state capital of Andhra Pradesh) from 26th of July to 1st of August, VSPCA and Blue Cross of Hyderabad jointly ran training sessions for over 50 municipal dog catchers.
Humane Outreach to College Students
Just last week VSPCA President Pradeep Nath, Secretary B. Mallika and volunteers Sivalakshmi and Suchitra conducted a humane education program for 86 students at Krishna College. The students were full of burning questions. A few even became VSPCA volunteers. We intend to present the same program at the local engineering college next.
Taking Action for Animals (USA) conference
Eileen at the Help Animals India/VSPCA booth at the Take Action for Animals conference.
Help Animals India/VSPCA was represented by Eileen Weintraub at the Humane Society of the United States' Taking Action for Animals conference near Washington DC (USA capital). Many of the conference-goers were interested in India's animal issues, especially those who have traveled to India and witnessed the suffering first-hand.
Our youngest activists
We have hope for the future when people like Samitha and her brother Sanchith take an interest in helping VSPCA and our animals. Samitha encouraged us to rescue yet another horse from the streets that we didn't think we had room for! Thanks to Samitha and Sanchith's family, we do. They're sponsoring the horse, Vanessa, and our recently rescued monkey, Anjali. Read their stories here.
Samitha and Sanchith - our youngest activists!
Our work continues: A new award for VSPCA's work was accepted by our advocate and advisor Bhagavan Das; and new sponsorship opportunities are available – please take a look!
SOS ambulance rescues, dog and cat animal birth control programs, puppy adoptions, treating sick animals, promoting alternative animal-friendly technologies (biogas, vermicompost, etc) continue to preoccupy us in and beyond our busy 1000-animal sanctuary. We are very grateful for all of our monthly subscribers and other donors for helping us pay the bills that keep VSPCA going – we need all of you more than ever! Please join our effort to make a real difference for the animals of Visakhapatnam and Andhra Pradesh.
Wishing you all well until next time,
Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals
Reported by Pradeep Nath, VSPCA Founder and President
Written by Eileen Weintraub, VSPCA Representative