Sunday, January 18, 2015

Volunteers/Adopters Needed - As Always

Puppies - we always have puppies up for adoption as well as adult dogs. But they are - unlike those at pet shops/breeders that people will pay a few hundreds or thousands for each - not of any pedigree breed. They are mainly mongrels. We are often asked, where do all these so-called stray puppies come from? From the unsterilized street dogs we have not been able to catch – they who avoid us like plague, who will only come out to grab the packet of food and run for their lives the minute we take one small step forward. Some will wag their tails from afar if we are lucky, others will just hide in one corner and wait for you to go off before emerging from their hiding area. Nonetheless, how can we bear to starve them? All they ask for, is food.



 
 

Project Industrial Dogs (PID) has been constantly on-going for years, whether we update about it or not. Over months and years, the street babies can easily recognize the sound of our car engines. So much so that when we change vehicles, we have to resort to repeatedly calling their names or nicknames for them to come out. Otherwise, rain or shine, they will be faithfully waiting at their factory gate or by the roadside greeting us. Needless to say, we try not to drive past when it’s not feeding day!

 
We are recently helping to rehome three puppies and thankfully, they are on the good-looking side and we hope we can find them homes soonest. Teddy and Snuggles (both boys) are still up for adoption and they are non-HDB approved. Do drop us a note if you can give them a permanent home.


This batch of puppies are lucky enough they do not look like the “normal” brown, black or black and tan mongrels we often see. Please do not be mistaken that we are biased or superficial, for many of our own volunteers have these brown, black or black and tan mongrels at home themselves as well. However, if the puppies do look better, it is much easier to get them adopted quickly. Some puppies/adult dogs might have excellent temperaments but they are often overlooked for looking too "ordinary". Reality is frank but harsh, though we hate to admit this. It takes a genuine dog lover to look past their looks and choose them as a lifelong companion according to their temperament.
 
The next question will be, why are these street females still not spayed then? We dare say we have put in our very best effort with trapping but still, some remain elusive. Even dog catchers have cases they have not been able to resolve. While we are no professionals, we have no qualms spending a few weekends just attempting to catch that one female, for we know it will change her life forever.
 
Noah's Ark are one of the few AWGs around that do the actual site work ourselves, so we do see for ourselves what is on the ground and what goes on beyond. We have often been asked to help other individual stray caregivers and we try our best to work with the practical humans. Sometimes, we get requests to "clear" an area and take in eight to ten dogs at one go. Due to complaints or moving of premises, many many reasons, valid or otherwise. Yes we do have a huge sanctuary NANAS over at JB behind us, which many see as a wonderful retirement sanctuary and/or one of the last few solutions out. But among us volunteers who have been caring for our own charges for so long, we also have to pick and choose who to send across the border as we cannot be overloading the sanctuary as well. NANAS has well over a thousand mouths to feed, and our debts run into five-digit figures monthly. It is not that easy to raise such a huge amount of money every month and we believe most AWGs are struggling like we do. Our founder Raymund often laments, “The sanctuary is a curse at times.” We know he might have said this in a fit of pique, but certainly with some truth within as well.
We are always in need of committed volunteers, who understand what we have been consistently doing and who genuinely want the better for the street animals. We are active both locally and in Malaysia, doing fundraising, education and rescue.
 
Noah’s Ark is a society caring for 600 dogs, 300 cats, 10 horses and many other small animals – please let us know how you can help the animals at the sanctuary. You may contribute your skills and assistance in the following locally:
      designer
      writer
      videographer
      photographer
     stray caregiving/feeding which entails trapping and site work also (which you might get extremely dirty with)
      fosterers for rescued dogs/cats
      roadshow volunteers
      sale of Noah’s Ark annual calendars
      sale of merchandise
      let us know any other way/s you can help the animals

90% of the animals at the sanctuary have no caregivers – they were given up, abandoned, abused by their ex-owners - the animals need all the help they can get from you to help care for them.

If you will sincerely like to join us to be part of our team, please drop us an email at noahsarkcares@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you! :)

Sunday, November 9, 2014

The Cats Situated at The Heart of Singapore

When one mentions Marina Barrage, Marina Financial Centre, MCE, Gardens By The Bay, what comes to mind is a modern and developed Singapore. In this little red dot, a number of stray and community animals share the same space with us and sometimes, in the most unexpected places.




Sometime in October, one of our Noah's Ark CARES volunteer was alerted to an area with a number of unsterilized cats, at a worker's dormitory off MCE. We had previously spayed and rehomed some of the dogs around that same area too when we were asked to help the cats as well. We were informed that this dormitory will be demolished at the end of November this year. After finding out that the cats will be shelter-less soon, the volunteers made a decision that the cats should not be returned to the site after sterilization. It would be inhumane to return the cats back to the site as the dormitory is in the middle of many other construction sites - they may be knocked down by heavy vehicles and their source of food would have been gone soon too.



A site check was promptly arranged and after speaking to the site supervisor, we gathered that there are over twenty cats within the dormitory premise! We saw a number of cats, both adult and young cats moving around in the compound - a clear sign that the cats have been breeding in this premise. During this first visit, we brought out six cats for sterilization, vaccination and to be microchipped.


Four younger and scrawny-looking cats followed us around as we checked out the place, hoping that we will spare them some food. According to the site supervisor, the cats are fed with leftovers and scraps left behind by the workers each day. It was heart-wrenching when the young cats wolfed down the canned food and kibbles when fed - they never had a full meal before, the already-scarce leftover food is usually lapped up by the older cats. We then passed a bag of kibbles and a carton of canned food to the supervisor so that he could feed the cats meanwhile. We assured the supervisor that we will remove the cats in batches (over the next two to three weekends) and that no cats would be left behind when the dormitory is vacated.

 
Noah's Ark CARES volunteers hope to rehome as many of the dormitory cats as possible. All six cats which were brought out are very friendly; they are alert and are eating well after their sterilization. We brought out a three to four months old cream-colored kitten and five adult cats. JJ, Bella and Matilda are all looking for homes. They love human interaction and look forward to feeding time. If you can welcome them to your family and provide them forever homes, please contact Noah's Ark CARES at noahsarkcares@gmail.com.




Noah's Ark Natural Animal Sanctuary (NANAS) in Johor Bahru was set up to provide a forever home for our street animals. This group of cats who are not rehomed after they have been sterilized will be sent to our sanctuary where they can live out the best years of their lives.

We need your help to contribute to the following costs for this project:
1) Sterilization
2) Vaccination
3) Microchipping
4) Transport to NANAS 
5) Lifetime boarding and medical costs over at NANAS (sponsorship)

If you are able to contribute (no amount is too small for the animals), please write to us at noahsarkcares@gmail.com.

Many times, all it takes is an unsterilized male and an unsterilized female cat/dog to cause a population explosion. Noah's Ark CARES' mission is and will always be, to reduce the stray population in Singapore (and Malaysia). This is a community project which we need your help and contribution. 

Thank you for your continuous support in driving our cause and please help us spread this important message: STERILIZATION is the only humane way to control our stray population!


Warm regards,
All of us @ Noahs's Ark CARES

Beneficiary of Animal Merchandise :)

Noah's Ark CARES Supporters