Dear friends and supporters:

Since 1996, VSPCA has sterilized and vaccinated over 70,000 street dogs in our area. With the recent outbreak of rabies, we set a target to vaccinate another 20,000 dogs in order to save both human and animal lives. We have recently reached 8000 of that 20,000 dog goal thanks to your kind donations, but we need your help in order to reach the remaining 12,000 street dogs.

We are also currently planning a program for female-only ABC (Animal Birth Control) which will quickly stabilize the dog population. In the following phase, we will have a 9-to-1 female-to-male ratio. We are working with various authorities to ensure safety for animals and humans by combining this ABC program with the rabies vaccination program.

VSPCA works successfully with Eastern Naval Command

We have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Eastern Naval Command (which has its headquarters in Visakhapatnam) to carry out ABC and vaccination in all their facilities. The naval administration has agreed that, instead of shooting stray dogs, they will support our program. This will be the first time that a Defence establishment has entered into this type of agreement with an animal welfare organization, and we sincerely hope that this will be adopted by Defence establishments across the country.

We are also taking our program to township areas where there are large industries to encourage them to let us sterilise and vaccinate the animals and this is proving successful, although we desperately need more funding to expand our activities.

Right: his community dog show by its ear notch that it has been sterilized and vaccinated. The notch ensures the population that the dog is safe from rabies.

Some areas are now rabies-free thanks to additional assistance from the Mayhew Foundation. This is a wonderful result after years of work and negotiations. Our team also conducts awareness programs in rural areas and provide anti-rabies vaccinations which keeps the local people safe.

Please pledge your support for our program to help us minimise the stray dog population and to provide the vital anti-rabies vaccinations!

Our new strategy

Despite some success stories and our best efforts Andhra Pradesh is unfortunately still suffering from an extreme rabies outbreak. We really must do something urgently to address this as people are dying, and dogs are being beaten to death. Our new strategy is to sterilize female dogs and vaccinate male dogs as well as creating awareness of the real facts about rabies and our plans to eradicate it. We have had valued help from Greater Good Foundation to sterilise 5000 female dogs but we need to do much more! We would be very grateful if you can help us do what needs to be done. It costs $10 to sterilize a female dog and $1 to vaccinate each dog. The effect of that $10 is priceless.

Can you help us sterilize ten dogs? Twenty dogs? Thirty dogs? Your kind contribution of any amount will go towards this effort and with each dollar you contribute, you are saving a dog’s life. Think what a difference you could make with a regular donation!

Our continuing rescue program

Of course, as well as trying to manage the ABC and vaccination program, we rescue injured, ill and badly-treated animals on a daily basis.

This dog (above) was rescued after being tied by a tight wire around his neck. He has now been treated and is doing well at our shelter.

BHPV (above) was abandoned and badly injured. We are looking after him and hope one of our supporters will sponsor him if we can not find a kind home for him.

This small baby monkey named Bala (shown above right with shelter manager B. Sarada after healing) was rescued in July by our rescue team when we received a call from a concerned member of the public. She had been tied up by a plastic rope around her neck causing a deep cut which left her unable to eat or chew. We were able to treat her wound and she will now live safely at our monkey shelter.

Don’t forget that you can sponsor any of the deserving animals we rescue and keep safely at our shelter!

Sea turtle report

As we reported in our August newsletter, we have been having some success with protecting sea turtles along the coast of Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam.

This year, more than 188 nestings have been sighted along the coast, and the success rate of the hatcheries is 84%. This is very encouraging news for all of us engaged with this project, and is proof of how your donations help with conservation projects such as this. Twenty protection officers are in force to protect the sea turtles along the coast and based on this year’s results we expect progress will be made in the future after extensive awareness campaigns amongst the coastal villages.

Learn more about our good work saving sea turtles. You will see that we have successes such as the increased turtle numbers to thank you for.

We never take your support for granted, and value every dollar you donate.

Thank you so much,
Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals

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