Animal 3Rs: Rescue, Rehabilitate, Rehome

Published in ‘Streets’, the New Straits Times, on Saturday, 23rd February 2008

ANIMAL 3RS: RESCUE, REHABILITATE, REHOME.
By Wong Ee Lynn

Perhaps you have received e-mails or text messages before from groups or individuals who need to find homes for cats or dogs. Perhaps you have encountered booths put up by animal rescue groups at public events and in shopping centres to find homes for the formerly stray or abused animals under their care.

Perhaps you have wondered how these people could devote so much of their time, energy and effort into caring for unwanted animals; whether the animals would ever find homes and what happens to the animals that are not adopted.

There is a small but growing number of volunteer stray animal rescuers in our country, and their mission is to help reduce the burden of our overcrowded and underfunded animal shelters and prevent healthy animals from being put to sleep.

Stray animal rescuers can be loosely divided into 2 categories: incidental rescuers, and organised rescuers.

Incidental rescuers are not intentional animal rescuers in that they did not plan to pick up stray animals, but found themselves in a situation where they have to provide care to one or more animals in need of medical attention and a new home. It could be a concerned neighbour who finds a dog left behind by a family that has moved away, or a student who brings home an injured cat but is unable to keep it.




Toby is one such case. A young lady and her friends found Toby at a food court in Petaling Jaya in September 2007. He was badly injured in a road accident and in grave need of medical attention. The good Samaritans brought Toby to the vet, where they learned that Toby’s right hind leg had to be amputated. The medical bills were rather high, and so other friends chipped in to pay for the unfortunate kitty’s surgery and medication. An e-mail circulated to collect funds for Toby’s vet bills was so successful that his rescuers managed to pay for his vaccination and neutering as well.

At the same time, Toby’s rescuers had to find him a new home, as they lived in apartments or rented accommodations that did not allow them to keep pets. Then a kind offer came in from an expatriate schoolteacher and her family, who have sufficient experience in caring for rescued and injured cats. Toby went to his new home in November 2007.

Not all injured animals are as fortunate as Toby, and it is hoped that by learning more about efforts to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome animals, you will be inspired to offer them your support and assistance.

Organised rescuers, in contrast with incidental rescuers, actively locate, round up, foster, neuter, rehabilitate and rehome stray animals. Most of them have websites or blogs informing the public of their latest activities and the animals available for adoption. Some even give out their telephone numbers to allow people to contact them if there are animals that need to be rescued. Some have earned the support of commercial establishments such as shopping centres or night markets to set up weekend booths offering animals for adoption. Others strive to find homes for their animal wards by e-mail. Many are former or current volunteers with animal shelters such as SPCA, PAWS or NANAS. Some have fostered young animals for registered animal charities before and could not accept the fact that animals that are not adopted within a certain timeframe would have to be destroyed, and have therefore started their own initiatives to find homes for the animals in their care.

Some of these organised rescuers fall under SPCA’s outreach programme, Mission HELP. Under Mission HELP, rescuers round up, feed and care for stray animals and bring them in to the SPCA for neutering and medical treatment before securing new homes for the animals. They also assist animal lovers who feed strays or who lodge reports with the SPCA on stray animals in their areas in bringing the animals in for neutering at the DBKL-SPCA Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic. This programme is one of the measures taken by the SPCA to reduce the number of stray animals in the country and to lower the euthanasia rates in our animal shelter.

All animal rescuers carry out the good work they do on the premise that we owe a collective responsibility, as humans, to the animals that we are supposed to care for and protect. Humans have selectively bred cats and dogs for so many generations that without food, shelter and medical attention from us, cats and dogs are unable to keep themselves healthy, safe and free from starvation and suffering.

Animal rescuers also understand that the problem of stray overpopulation is a direct result of human apathy and negligence. Most pet owners do not intend or could not afford to keep all the offspring of their pets, yet do not take the necessary step of neutering their pets on grounds that it is against their religion or that it would ‘alter their pet’s behaviour’ or on any other baseless or frivolous reason. The unwanted pets are then abandoned and often suffer from malnutrition, disease and injuries related to traffic accidents and fights. Strays do not live long. The average life expectancy of a stray cat is only 3 years, while an indoor pet cat can expect to live well over 10 years.

There is, nevertheless, a need to tell apart real animal rescuers from those who are not taking any concrete action to promote animal welfare and control stray overpopulation. The former group deserves our backing, while the latter group needs our advice and has to learn to redirect its energies towards more productive and progressive ways of helping animals. People who claim or appear to be ‘animal rescuers’ but whose actions do not help animals include people who feed strays but refuse to have them neutered, and people who allow their pets to breed indiscriminately and then attempt via e-mail and text message to find homes for all the animals they could no longer provide for.

In such cases, SPCA volunteers and officers could be requested to provide counselling and practical support to such people, in order that the animal population could be brought down to a manageable level so they could continue feeding and caring for a now stable animal population.

Not all animals may need to be rehabilitated and rehomed, however. There are special circumstances in which a neuter-and-release strategy may be desirable. This applies more frequently to feral cats that are able to care for themselves and are unused to human contact or indoor life.

To a certain extent, the neuter-and-release strategy also applies to stray dogs that live in largely rural areas where there is strong community acceptance of stray animals. This means that the stray animals are regularly fed, and the society’s tolerance levels are so high that the local authorities are rarely, if ever, called in to deal with stray dogs. Here, animal rescuers also have a large role to play in educating the community and mobilising their support and assistance in bringing the animals in for neutering.

For most people, the idea of having to commit their time, energy, resources and living quarters to rescuing and helping stray animals can be an intimidating one, especially if you have a growing family or are not a person of means. There are, however, many ways in which you may help animal rescue efforts.

Many animal rescuers are unable to reach out to even more animals as they have limited resources and space. Those that do not operate out of animal shelters often use their own homes and if they exceed the acceptable limit of animals living in their premises, complaints from neighbours may hinder further animal rescue work. Some volunteers have suffered from burnout due to escalating veterinary expenses and caregiver’s exhaustion.

If you have ever felt sad about animal casualties of road accidents, felt concern over the number of relatively healthy animals that have to be put to sleep at our overcrowded animal shelters, or walked past a suffering animal and felt immense pity but are powerless to help; then these are reasons enough to support the animal rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming movement.

How you may help:

1. Adopt from rescuers and shelters

Adopt your next pet from pet rescuers and animal shelters to give them an opportunity to live. For each animal that you purchase from a commercial pet store, one animal from an animal shelter will have to die for lack of a home.

2. Spread the word: By e-mail, text message or phone.

We spend so much time forwarding jokes and meaningless e-mails and text messages to one another. When you receive electronic appeals from rescuers needing homes for animals, kindly forward the same to your other friends. Even if only one out of 50 of your friends agree to adopt an animal, you would have made a permanent change in the life of an unwanted animal. If you are a person of means, you could add an incentive, for example, you could offer to bear the neutering costs for any animal your e-mail recipients adopt.

3. Offer your premises: Fostering, Hosting and Boarding

As mentioned earlier, one of the main problems encountered by rescuers is that of lack of space. If you are lucky enough to live in landed accommodation, it would make a big difference if you could offer to foster an animal until he or she is rehomed. If the animal is very young or in need of medical treatment, you may be able to work out an agreement where the rescuer drops by regularly to feed or administer medicine to the animal.

Alternatively, some rescuers may need to use a house in a strategic location to hold a ‘viewing party’ for their animals. You could then offer the use of your house for an evening where potential adopters could come and play with the animals and hopefully, adopt them.

Rescuers need a break too, and when they need to travel or otherwise be away from their animals, please do offer to babysit their animals for them. A week or two is not a very big sacrifice, compared to the months and years rescuers spend providing care for their animals. In addition, fostering and boarding are good opportunities for you to teach your children responsibility for animals before you decide to adopt one of your own, or determine if your current cat or dog is ready for a new playmate.

4. Funds and contributions in kind

Although Malaysians are generally very generous when it comes to donating money to charities, society tends to be more wary of organisations that are not incorporated or registered as charities. If you do plan on making a cash contribution to an animal rescue group but insist on an official receipt for transparency purposes, you could donate the exact amount needed for the treatment or neutering of an animal and request that the receipt be issued in your name. The advantage of paying for the cost of neutering is that receipts issued by the SPCA and the DBKL-SPCA Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic are eligible for tax exemption under the Income Tax Act 1967.

You could also make contributions in kind of rice, pet food, pet vitamins, shampoo, leashes, cages, pet carriers, scratching posts, chew toys and pet baskets to animal rescuers, as this would relieve at least part of the burden of caring for many animals. It would be advisable to check with the rescuers first on the items that they need most sorely before you go on a purchasing spree.

5. Spread the word about Mission HELP

You may know of people who regularly feed stray animals in your area. These kind-hearted souls are often to be seen feeding strays near food stalls, food courts and wet markets. Please approach them, commend them for the good work they are doing, and persuade them to have the animals neutered. They may need help in capturing and transporting the animals and in financing the veterinary fees. You can contact SPCA Selangor at 03 4256 5213 and they may be able to put you in touch with volunteers and rescuers who will be able to lend a hand.

Animal Shelter Monday

Final day of my Lunar New Year break. The parents had to drive Big Bro and Sis-in-Law down to Johor so they could get a bus back to Singapore, since there were no bus tickets available otherwise. I fed and bathed Amber before leaving for the SPCA with a box of goodies for the staff and vets.

I was the only volunteer around today, which guaranteed work getting done. I took out the dogs from Kennel B for walks, and then I bathed them and washed their coats with tick and flea solution. 2 of the dogs needed deworming pills and another needed treatment for tick fever.

As I was taking a dog past the office on our way for a walk, I saw a lady lifting a puppy by the front legs. I immediately stopped her and advised her that she could break the dog’s legs that way. I showed her the correct ways of picking up a dog, holding the dog with one hand while cleaning the cage with the other, and teaching a puppy to sit on command and come when called. The lady and her male companion were quite clueless and impatient with animals. Apparently, they had adopted a puppy earlier but have come back to the shelter to return the dog in exchange for another, because the dog was terrified of them and would not respond to instructions. Well, if that is the way they have been picking up and handling their dog, I’m not at all surprised to hear that the poor mite goes into hiding each time she sees them approaching.

Mrs. Wheatley, who overheard the conversation, came close to spitting with rage. She started upbraiding the couple and telling them that we will refund their money but will not let them bring another dog home. I took the opportunity to make my escape with my very patient dog companion. At the same time, I wondered if Mrs. Wheatley’s reaction had been appropriate. People learn better when they are not angry or humiliated, and I suspect that if denied another shelter puppy, the aforesaid couple would just make a purchase from a pet store or breeder anyway.

Linda arrived at 1630 hours, and having walked and washed all the occupants of Kennel B, I helped Linda feed the animals and let the adult dogs out to play so we could clean the cages. I washed, scrubbed and disinfected the Cattery and the litter trays, and then I cleaned all the dog cages. I took in the donated newspapers and took out the trash and recyclables. I soaped and scrubbed the animals’ living quarters and the shelter floor, sinks and gutters while Linda washed all the feeding bowls and cleaned the food preparation area.

Finished work by 1930h, showered and went back to the Bachelor Officers’ Quarters. Spent the rest of the night roughhousing with the cats and cleaning the Quarters. The festive season is over and it’s back to Combat Zone again, boys.

Federal Territory Day

Yet another public holiday, whoop-dee-do, which means we’ve only had 1 five-day workweek this whole month.

Left for the SPCA by noon but it had started pissing with rain by the time I got to the shelter. Ah phooey. There goes all my plans to walk, bathe, groom and de-tick all the dogs in Kennels A and B.

I decided to spring-clean the animal shelter for the Lunar New Year instead. I started with the Cattery. Cleaned out all the cat baskets and litter trays and soaped and disinfected everything. Gave the cats fresh bedding. Moved on to the Hospital and Kennel C, then to the cooking area, which I degreased and disinfected. Cleaned all the cages, the Maternity Kennels, puppy kennels, the front / administrative area and the central areas. Stacked up and moved all the old newspapers to the storeroom, threw out the leaking pails and slimy food bowls and scrubbed the place until it was satisfactorily clean. I think I managed to take a layer off the surface of the tiles with my scrubbing. Dr. Lim had refilled my bottle of tickwash and I used it to render spot treatment to the dogs with ticks.

There was a gaggle of girls who had turned up in the afternoon to ‘volunteer’ but had not done any real work. Patting puppies and stroking kittens don’t count as work to me. I had already done the difficult stuff – cleaning excrement off the cages, sweeping up and disposing of any waste matter and swabbing all surfaces with soap and disinfectant. Would Her Ladyships care to hose down the floor for me?

No, they wouldn’t. They were afraid of getting wet. “Ah,” I nodded, observing wisely. “Yes, that’s the trouble with water, it gets one wet.” The young madams didn’t care much for cleaning, either. “We are students,” they pointed out. Well, if they are students, that must make me chopped liver. I am a lawyer and have been cleaning up after animals for over 10 years, because I know that it benefits the animals directly. I don’t think it would make an ounce of a difference if I were a student or Whoopi Goldberg or the Loch Ness Monster. If something has to be done, and it is for the sake of improving the welfare of other living things, then it will be done.

Having no time for or further interest in spoilt brats, I resumed cleaning the shelter and was pleased with the results. Cleaned myself up and left the shelter by 1900 hours. Had 1 ½ hours of hiphop with Kef, and then went home to do the laundry and clean up after the rowdies before going to the pub for its annual Lunar New Year Party.

Time to get plastered. Whiskey-Echo-Lima Over and Out.

Letter: Misleading Information on Plastics and Polystyrene

My latest Letter to the Editor, which was published today:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
MISLEADING INFORMATION ON PLASTICS AND POLYSTYRENE

The letter ‘Polystyrene use: tested and proven to be safe’ (NST Friday, 25.1.2008) is astounding in its attempt to misinform consumers on the safety of polystyrene products and the inferiority of biodegradable substitutes.

The author claims that the use of biodegradable packaging will have adverse impact on the environment. It should be noted that biodegradable plastics and packaging have been studied by consumer watchdog organisations and non-profit environmental groups including the US and UK Environmental Protection Agencies, and have been found to have higher environmental and safety benefits than the products they are chosen to replace. These studies have been conducted in relation to toxicology, air quality, ocean water quality and greenhouse gas emissions.

Polystyrene products today contain no chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) not due to any magnanimous initiative on the part of the plastics industry, but because of a worldwide ban on the ozone-depleting substance. However, polystyrene and plastics are still made from petroleum, a non-renewable, fast-disappearing and heavily polluting resource. Also, benzene, a material used in the production of polystyrene, is a known human carcinogen.

The author argues that biodegradable plastics made from biomass sources entail the use of fertilisers, herbicides, pesticides, arable land and fresh water, while the process of decomposition releases methane gas, which is ‘22 times more harmful than carbon dioxide’.

The biodegradable packaging targeted by the author in his flawed argument is actually made from empty oil palm fruit bunches, which is a by-product of the oil palm industry, therefore there will be no increase in the volume of land cleared for the cultivation of oil palm for the specific purpose of producing biodegradable food packaging.

In addition, the increased cost of biodegradable packaging would mean that consumers would be discouraged from requesting unnecessary and excessive packaging material as they are currently doing. Institutions that have replaced plastic and polystyrene food packaging with biodegradable packaging have reported that consumers have since requested less or no packaging and this has facilitated the inculcation of mindful and environmentally responsible behaviour.

The methane gas generated by decomposing biodegradable packaging is expected to be negligible in comparison to the amount of organic waste already in our landfills, and in any case, there are solid waste management plants in Malaysia that harvest methane as a source of renewable energy. This demand for methane is expected to rise as more energy suppliers around the world are looking for alternatives to coal-fired power plants. This is to be contrasted with polystyrene and plastics, which release noxious gases such as styrene, xylene and hydrogen bromide when broken down or incinerated, and has no energy potential.

In response to the argument that poor attitude and not polystyrene is to be blamed for the problem of litter, I must point out that the problem of littering and will be greatly reduced when consumers make the choice of not accepting plastic or polystyrene products, most of which, whether improperly disposed of or fastidiously rinsed and deposited into recycling bins, will eventually be landfilled.

Polystyrene, due to its brittle nature and lightness, is easily carried by wind and water to rivers and seas, whereas biodegradable packaging, due to its weight and its ability to absorb moisture and decompose, is far less likely to end up as an environmental pollutant or in the food chain of marine animals and wildlife.

Although the author lobbies for better recycling facilities for plastics and polystyrene, surely he must be aware that most plastics and polystyrene cannot be recycled. Simply embossing a mobius loop on a carton does not make it recyclable. Only plastics categorised under codes 1 and 2 are actually separated and collected for recycling. Polystyrene is hardly ever recovered for recycling due to its light weight, low scrap value, prohibitive cleaning and transportation costs and the fact that it is almost always contaminated by food and other matter.

It is for good reason that institutions, cities and countries around the world have banned polystyrene. Please do not underestimate consumers and readers, who are not easily swayed by the public relations stunts of manufacturers, but are able to understand the vested interests of those in the industry.

Wong Ee Lynn,
Petaling Jaya

SPCA on Thaipusam Day

After years of envying those who work in Selangor for getting more public holidays than those of us in the Federal Territory, I whooped with glee when the Prime Minister announced that Thaipusam will now be a gazetted holiday in the Fed Territory as well. We all know it’s a propitiatory offering to the Hindu community in order to get them to support the ruling coalition in the upcoming general elections, and we don’t care! The government could declare every day a paid holiday as far as I am concerned, and I would shake them by the hand and thank them for their magnanimity but not vote the same goons back into power.

And so I spent Thaipusam morning doing some quick cleaning of the Officers’ Mess and weeding the front lawn. By 1100 hours, I was at the SPCA animal shelter to help out, as most of the Hindu staff was on leave.

Things were pretty quiet today as most of the other volunteers will only be here on Saturday. I walked all the dogs in Kennels E and F and gave them baths and tick rinses. Swept the shelter compound and disposed of the litter. Put away the newspapers and donated items. Cleaned out the cat baskets and litter trays in the Cattery. Soaped, disinfected, scrubbed and washed the kennels, central area, cattery and office & reception areas.

A few visitors dropped by to surrender their pets, mostly cats and kittens, who the caregivers insisted they had to give up because ‘there are too many’. I took the time to explain to them the harsh realities and euthanasia rate at animal shelters and expounded the benefits of neutering. I asked the visitors if they loved their cats, and if they wish to save their cats’ lives. I helped them fix neutering appointments with our DBKL Spaying Clinic. I was relieved when 2 out of 3 visitors expressed sadness that their pets, if surrendered, would have to be put down, and upon my advice, willingly agreed to have the adult cats neutered within the month. I really hope they follow through with the kittens.

2 battles won, 50 million more to go.

The drive home was surprisingly smooth for a public holiday. I reached home, washed up, took Boy Scout out to dinner, did the laundry, completed some things I had to do for the MNS Annual Dinner, cleaned the house and retired to bed with a copy of ‘The Consumers’ Guide To Effective Environmental Choices’.

Letter: Discourage Polystyrene and Plastic Bag Usage

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
ENFORCE MEASURES TO DISCOURAGE POLYSTYRENE AND PLASTIC BAG USAGE

As an environmentalist, I am heartened by the many positive responses from readers to USM’s ban on Styrofoam tableware (7 Jan 2008) and China’s ban on plastic bags (9 Jan 2008).

The Government must be responsive to the fact that the state of our environment is a matter of growing concern to the rakyat. Many countries have already taken the dynamic step of banning, taxing or phasing out plastic bags and polystyrene products, and many Malaysians have called for our Government to do the same.

In all my jungle and coastal cleanup efforts, I have discovered that jungle litter consists mostly of Styrofoam food boxes, plastic packaging and PET bottles, while polystyrene foam pieces from buoys and fishing trawlers’ iceboxes makes up much of beach litter.

As long as the prices of plastic and polystyrene products are kept artificially low, these items will continue to befoul our natural environment and annihilate wildlife. The true cost, that is, the environmental cost, of plastic and polystyrene is actually much higher when calculated cradle-to-grave to include the costs to human health, to animal lives lost, of disposal and of cleaning up beaches and rivers and after flash floods.

However, instead of taking the bold and necessary move of phasing out the use of plastic bags and polystyrene through a combination of incentives and penalties for the manufacturing sector, corporations and consumers; the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, together with the Malaysian Plastics Forum and a few participating retailers, opted to take the ineffectual and apologetic move of putting up bins to collect clean and reusable plastic bags (Metro, 13 November 2007).

I have inspected the bins at 12 participating retail outlets and all are invariably full of dirty and wet rubbish. Plastic bags are still being given out by cashiers with wild abandon and shoppers are almost entirely unaware of any campaign to reduce the usage of plastic bags.

There are many progressive steps the Government could take to phase out the use of plastic and polystyrene products and mitigate the damage done to Malaysia’s ecosystems and tourism potential. In my humble opinion, I would recommend that:

1. The Department of Fisheries and Ministry of Rural Development subsidise the purchase of durable, permanent cooler boxes and buoys for the fishing community to replace their polystyrene ones. The polystyrene ones can then be collected for proper disposal. This can improve the quality of life of the fishing community, as they would be spared the expense of having to frequently replace their foam coolers and buoys.
2. To impose a heavy tax on thin plastic bags (i.e. less than 0.025 milimetres), polystyrene products and PET drink bottles to reflect their true environmental cost.
3. To put in place a system to replace plastic packaging including cellophane sweet wrappers and cigarette packet wrappers with biodegradable plastic, the cost of which shall be borne by the manufacturers.
4. To ease the transition of turning Malaysia into a litter-free society by creating incentives for consumers to bring their own shopping bags and food containers; including by providing cash rebates, shopping bonus points and express checkout lanes.

The Government must have the political will to reverse the effects of environmental degradation and climate change. An efficient combination of public education, legislation and stringent enforcement will work better than expensive campaign launches in protecting what is left of our natural environment and wildlife.

WONG EE LYNN
PETALING JAYA, SELANGOR

SPCA and Saturday Night Party

Saturday, 19th January to Sunday, 20th January 2008: SPCA and Saturday Night Party.

Left for the SPCA on Saturday around 1100 hours after attending to the cats and the housework. It was a good day at the shelter today. Dr. Pushpa had made a huge tub of tickwash solution for bathing the dogs with, and so, assisted by Rose, I got to work shampooing, rinsing and tick-washing all the dogs from the Maternity Kennels and from Kennels G and H. Our driver Rajes came back with 2 tick-infested ‘new arrivals’ in the van, and so it was a good thing I was there to rid the poor doggies of their parasites.

There were 15 adoptions today, which is an unusually high number for a non-Jumble Sale day. Joy! Jubilation!

It started drizzling around 1700 hours and so I put away the tickwash and started cleaning the shelter instead. I scrubbed, soaped, disinfected and flushed the Maternity Kennels, the central area, the puppy areas, the cattery and the administrative areas. I swept and cleaned up the parking bay and areas surrounding the shelter, bagged up the rubbish and hauled the trash out. Cleaned myself up before driving home.

Reached the Officer’s Mess, fed the cats, tidied up, did the laundry, had a thorough shower and then I was off again to Jessica’s Dad’s home for their annual barbecue. It had rained earlier but the weather cleared up long enough for us to keep the grill sizzling. I met Jess’ friends and Dad and initiated conversation with them. However, I could only stay until 2330 hours as I had promised my parents that I would be home the same night. Made like a rally driver and barrelled the Battletank home to Rawang.

Spent Sunday tending to Amber’s needs, cleaning the parental home and spring cleaning their living room cabinets and laundry and storage area. Sorted out a number of things for recycling or to be given away to charity. Did the laundry and ironing, washed Mom’s car, drafted a report and a letter to the editor and called it a day by 0230 hours on Monday morning.