RSPCA of PNG Monthly Newsletter

18th January, 2019

D OG A DOPTION D RI VE FOR J ANUARY

“They too are created by the same loving hand of God, which created us. It is our duty to protect them and to promote their well-being.” Mother Teresa

Vet Clinic Operating hours

Monday to Friday:

Consultation & counter sales: 8:30am - 4:30pm

Saturday:

Consultation & counter sales: 9:00am - 11:00am

We are closed on Sunday.

Over the counter sales applies to pet accessories,

shampoos, cat litter, etc. Please note that vaccinations

and medications will only be provided after a

consultation with the vet and with a prescription from

a PNG-government approved vet.

2019 Longest Lunch set to be the best one yet

It’s coming close to the date of our first fundraising function of the year, the

Longest Lunch. This year’s event will again be hosted at the Airways Hotel. The

Greek themed lunch will start at 11:30am and includes a 4-hour drinks package,

delicious foods from Greece, light & live entertainment in what promises to be a

fantastic, secret out-door location. This year’s event will be held on Sunday the

24th of February. Tickets to be purchased

at the RSPCA Vet Clinic.

This event is possible with the support of

our great friends at the Airways Hotel.

We also acknowledge the

contributions of PNG Air,

Tufi Resort & Moore Printing.

Every tail that wags in our shelter has a tale to

tell. Too often these tales are far from fairy tale

beginnings where life starts off happy then

faces a challenge in between and then finishes

off happy again. The tales that come from our

shelter begin fighting the moment they are

brought into this world. It is often a fight to

survive. The tails from our shelter belong to those who are true survi-

vors, dogs who fought to stay alive despite not having any food in their

bellies, despite shivering out in the cold at night and walking in the

scorching heat in search of a meal. Their struggles are real and on-going.

For those fortunate ones who come to our shelter, we strive to make

their lives better by providing them with lots of love, care and attention

(medical and non-medical). The reality of it is that despite us doing eve-

rything within our capabilities to ensure they get the best quality of life,

we cannot guarantee a happy ending for all. Our shelter is full to capacity

and we urgently need to find

homes for all the dogs this month.

In a last ditch effort to give each

dog his/her second chance at life,

we are reducing our adoption fee

to K75.00 for this month only.

You can make a difference. By adopting a pet, you will be saving

a life. By adopting a dog – whether he/she is a senior citizen or

a puppy or any age in-between, you will be giving that dog the

second chance at life he/she so deserves.

All dogs are desexed, treated for ticks and fleas, de-wormed

and vaccinated. Please call in to the pound and meet them. You

just might find your next best-friend.

Pictured is 3-year-old Chan

who was rescued from down-town Port Moresby. She has been on our shelter since

October of 2018. She, amongst many others, is in urgent need of a good, loving home.

ADOPTED ADOPTED ADOPTED Rolling Stone Nirvana Adopted Adopted Mimi Cooper

Page 2

RSPCA of PNG Monthly Newsletter

Adopt. If you can’t adopt, foster. If you can’t foster, sponsor. If you can’t sponsor, volunteer. If you can’t volunteer, donate. If you can’t donate, educate. To make a contribution, contact Hellen or Brigitte on rspca@rspca.org.pg

Rol l ing St on e a nd Ni rva na ar e in tow n and nee d perma ne nt ho mes

The Rock and Roll groups from the 80’s and 90’s

were the inspiration for our animal adoption naming

theme for the month of October 2018. We are

pleased to announce that Rolling Stone and Nirvana

are in town and looking for homes. Both puppies are

20 weeks of age, energetic and keen to learn and try

new things (as puppies do).

Both fur babies came to our shelter without much

fur, starving and without a mother. Our staff gave

lots of tender love and care, along with the correct

medical treatments they required, they are now two

of the happiest and cutest puppies we have ever

encountered (mind you we have met many over the

years). Please give them their second chance at life

by adopting them. They deserve it.

Leptospirosis is an infection caused by cork-screw shaped bacteria called Leptospira. In humans, Leptospirosis can cause a wide range of symptoms, including:

High fever

Headache

Chills

Muscle aches

Vomiting

Jaundice (yellow skin and eyes)

Red eyes

Abdominal pain

Diarrhea

Rash

Many of these symptoms can be mistaken for other diseases. In addition, some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. The time between a person’s exposure to a contaminated source and becoming sick is 2 days to 4 weeks. Illness usually begins abruptly with fever and other symptoms. Leptospirosis may occur in two phases: After the first phase (with fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, vomiting, or diar-rhea) the patient may recover for a time but become ill again. If a second phase occurs, it is more severe; the person may have kidney or liver failure or meningitis. The illness lasts from a few days to 3 weeks or longer. Without treatment, recovery may take several months.

Lepto in dogs Your dog can become infected with Leptospirosis by drinking, swimming in or walking through contaminated water. Bacteria can enter the bloodstream through a cut in the skin or through mucous membranes (such as eyes, nose or mouth). Leptospirosis is a contagious disease and can be transmitted from dog to dog.

Animal cruelty is broken into two categories: active and

passive. Active includes acts that are deemed malicious

and abusive. Passive includes acts that are found to be

negligent on the part of the pet owner, starvation.

Signs of animal neglect and cruelty:

Hoarding: a person who keeps too many animals

Lack of veterinary

care

Inadequate shelter

Chained dogs

Abandonment

Direct Violence

You can help prevent cruelty to animals by taking the

following steps:

Report cruelty to our clinic

Provide a written statement

Photograph and date the event if possible

Keep careful records

Follow-up & save a life

The RSPCA of PNG has Officers under the Animals Act

who will investigate cases of animal cruelty that are

reported.

Nirvana

Rolling Stone

Pictured above: Rolling Stone and Nirvana as week old

puppies who had been abandoned by their mother,

rescued and brought to our clinic. They arrived as

fur-less puppies in October of 2018.

With a lot of tender love and care,

the once fur-less and miserable look-

ing puppies have blossomed into

cheeky little characters. We have

named them Rolling Stone (puppy

with black and white fur coat) and

Nirvana (puppy with brown fur).

Beware of Leptospira - get yourself and your pet checked STOP ANIMAL CRUELTY

I need you. Please help me!

BEFORE AFTER

RSPCA of PNG Monthly Newsletter

Page 3

ADOPTION SUCCESS STORY - MARIESTELLA GETS HER SECOND CHANCE

The RSPCA’s animal adoption program strives to find new suitable environments for animals who have been abandoned, neglected and/or come from unfortunate circumstances. Over the years, we have successfully re-homed hundreds of cats, dogs, kittens, puppies, and the odd parrot, eagle, owl and lizard.

We like to keep in-touch with the families who have opened their hearts and homes to the fur babies we rehome. We are happy to share these successful tales like this one about Mariestella. The 5-year-old black fur baby came to our shelter in October of 2018. She was timid & shy. She successfully completed her medical checks and we engaged volunteers to help her come out of her shell (so to speak).

We put out the word on social media and main-stream media that Mariestella needed a home and within two weeks, we got a positive response through our Instagram page from a lovely lady by the name of Mary Konobo. Mary applied to adopt Mariestella and after the necessary formalities, Mariestella joined Mary’s family in November of 2018. This is an excerpt from an email we received from Mary, in December of 2018.

“Dear RSPCA colleagues,

It has been exactly 15 days since I brought the

gentle Mariestella home. Every day she is be-

coming more comfortable with her surround-

ings and new family. Stella's gentle and happy

character and her delight for car rides, walks

and playtime is catching on to my family and I.

We're all fond of her.

Pictured above (far right corner) is Mariestella at home chewing on her toy ‘Mrs Cow’.

Thank you RSPCA for choosing my home to be Stella's.

Kind regards,

Mary. (Stella's family).

P.S. The other images are of Stella out for a walk and at home with us.

Kind regards to you all.”

Our Education Program needs your help - please contribute by signing up as a Friend of the RSPCA for 2019

What is the RSPCA’s Education Program

about?

Just as human beings have rights, we believe that

animals have rights too. Our education program

preaches about the five basic freedoms for ani-

mals.

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst,

2. Freedom from injury, pain and disease,

3. Freedom from discomfort,

4. Freedom to express normal behaviour , &

5. Freedom from fear and distress.

Why teach about animal rights? In the words

of our co– patron, Justice Goodwin Poole:

‘For several hundred years philosophers (such as

Aquinas, Locke, Schopenhaur and Kant) have

assumed that there is a link between cruelty to

animals and violence to people. In 1705 Locke,

writing on education, stated:-

“The custom of children Tormenting and Kill-

ing .... Beasts will, by Degrees, harden their

Minds even towards Men; and they who delight in

the Suffering and Destruction of inferior Crea-

tures, will not be Apt to be very compassionate, or

benign to those of their own kind.”

Now, over the last forty (40) years or so, intense

investigation in psychology, criminology and

sociology has demonstrated a strong link between cruelty

to animals amongst perpetrators of violence to other

humans – including domestic violence, child abuse, abuse

of the elderly and multiple killing.

In fact, the American Psychiatrist Association considers

(after many careful studies) that animal cruelty is one of

the symptoms of disordered conduct, and the FBI

(Supervisory Special Agent Allen Brantley) is quoted as

saying “animal cruelty……is not a harmless venting of

emotion in a healthy individuals; this is a warning sign…

it should be looked at as exactly that. It is a clear indica-

tor of psychological issues that can and often do lead to

violent human crimes”

Who is the education program aimed at?

School children between the ages of 7 and 17. We are

engaged with the pre-schools, elementary and primary

schools within the NCD.

What challenges do we face? Funding has always been

difficult to source let alone secure. To date, our education

program is partially funded by our clinic operations and

through our fundraising. Our passion for bringing about

positive change fuels our drive to fundraise every year so

we can continue our program.

How often do we visit schools? Twice in a week dur ing

the gazetted education calendar, these school visits are

carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday, between 8:30am

and 12:00pm.

What are our goals for 2019? We would love

to take our education program to the major

towns and rural areas in the country. With that

being our main aim, we hope to achieve

through:

1. Securing sponsorship to be able to take

our program to the rural areas of Papua

New Guinea as well as to the other major

centres throughout the country, and

2. The opportunity to team up and work

more closely with other animal welfare

organisations in PNG.

How can you help our education program?

Annually it costs us between K11,000.00 and

K13,000.00 to run our education program only

within the National Capital District. Members

of the general public can assist our charity by

signing up as ’Friends of the RSPCA’, which

costs only K20.00. We welcome donations and

regular contributions from members & donors

alike. Apart from the reward of know that your

contribution is going toward a program that

will bring about positive change in the attitudes

of the future generations of Papua New Guine-

ans, members also receive a newsletter and

regular up-dates about our charity, our

up-coming events (such as the annual dog

show and paws walk).

Before surgery

RSPCA Dog Adoption Success Story - Coco has changed our lives for the better

After ages of waiting, we finally decided to take the responsibility of adopting a puppy. The day we were supposed to go to the RSPCA shelter, Sri (my husband) fell sick and I thought maybe it is God’s way of telling us ‘NO’ to adopting a pet. After a while I found myself still going to the puppy pound with my husband! I told my husband that I was not sure about this but I would like to see the puppy first and then see what to do. The moment I saw her tiny face, those beautiful huge eyes, happy wagging tail, I couldn’t stop myself and I started cooing over her. There was another puppy in the same cage but this particular one caught my eye and had already stolen my heart. So we decided that we would adopt her.

I had a surprise anniversary trip planned after which we were finally bring-ing her home. For the first time in our lives, we came back from the short trip very happy as we were looking forward to bringing home an adorable, small set of paws into our home. The day came & I was supposed to pick her up from the clinic. As I was driving, I thought to call and confirm that it was okay to collect my fur baby & then I heard something I had never expected. They told me she had not made it through surgery. I was shocked. I made a U-turn, went back to our office & cried my heart out. I was devastated and reached out to my colleague for comfort. It was very hard for me to believe that this could happen.

Eventually I regained my composure and was able to drive home. When I reached the house, I saw all the puppy stuff we had got from our vacation (a bag full of puppy stuff)

and I burst out crying again! I couldn’t sleep properly that night as I kept thinking about the poor little puppy.

After a few days, Sri convinced me to go back and see if we could choose another puppy. I went there half-heartedly still thinking about her (the initial puppy I had set my heart on). When we were going near the puppy cages, my heart was pounding and I thought I don’t know if the next puppy I choose would come home with me or not. But I took the chance & went through the passage and the person showed us two cages. One cage had two pup-pies together, a brother and a sister and they were playing. The other cage had only one puppy who was eager to share cuddles and kisses. She licked me like it was our last day

on Earth! It did not take me long to realise she was the one for us & when I looked up to Sri, he smiled and I knew he thought the same as well.

Once we came out of the shelter, the staff informed us that our chosen puppy would get neutered the next day and that we could pick her up that same afternoon. My heart sank and I asked what if something happened to her as well? They reassured me that since she was a 4-month old puppy, she will hopefully sur-vive. That did not help me much. I again had a restless night. At 11am the next day, I called

the reception & the lady told me they were taking our puppy in for the surgery. My prayers began & I fought with my God. The time was ticking & we still got no call. To distract me, Sri took me for our usual Saturday grocery shopping. I was just finishing when Sri got a call & said, “Coco is coming home”! We just dropped half of the stuff and quickly came to the clinic. When the nurse brought her out, she gave her to me and said, “Thank you for giving her a home!” She did not know that that it was Coco who was making our home complete.

Clinic operating hours for 2019

Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 12:00pm and 1:00pm - 4:30pm

Saturday: 9:00am - 11:00am

To make an appointment please contact our customer

service officers on 325 2363/7198 2200 or send an email to:

reception1@rspca.org.pg /rspca@rspca.org.pg

We are open all day Monday to Friday for counter sales and

half day on Saturday.

Over the counter sales applies to pet accessories, shampoos,

cat litter, etc. Please note that vaccinations and medications

will only be provided after consultation and with a

prescription from the vet.

When we got her into the car, she looked up & down but was too weak & drowsy from the surgery. I was a scared parent & was fussing over everything. When we reached home, I had Coco’s bed & playpen ready for her. The nurse had said that Coco would be sleeping a lot as she had been on anaes-thetics earlier in the day. That was not the case though as the moment we put her on her bed, she looked around and was out of the bed, ready to explore her new home. She went all around sniffing and investigating like she was Ms. Sherlock! That was just the be-ginning.

She filled up our lives with loads of love & happiness. Our priorities changed and we loved the changes she brought to our lives. Her wagging tail & her licks are the best

medicine for any stress. Coco comes to school with me every day (I’m a teacher). Her favourite play toy & sleep buddy is her ted-dy! She needs her teddy even when we go to visit her doctor. Initially she was fussy about trav-elling but now she comes to the

front when I put her at the back seat. She sits & looks around when I drive. Everyone loves her at school as well. She loves being around children and they adore her too. Within a few minutes of meeting her, Coco captures everyone’s hearts. Though she is a very friendly pup, if a stranger approaches or comes near me or the school children or our school or even our house, she automatically becomes “The Guard”. She will bark until the stranger backs away.

It’s been 2 months since she has come home and she has grown from a shy, fussy puppy to a more independent and exploring one! She is a total attention seeker but she knows when to stop as well. She loves to be around us all day, but she is a good puppy when we are not around as well. Our neighbours love her & she equally loves them too. In fact, we have been much closer with our neighbours after she has come, so I could say she made more friends. She loves Sundays and Holi-days as she gets to come and curl in between me and Sri in the morning. She loves to push us away from our bed & then sleep. I can proudly say, looking at her, one of our friends adopted a puppy from RSPCA a few weeks back, so Coco has a new friend too!

All I can say is she has changed our lives for good and we cannot imagine a life without her anymore! She is our first baby & she always will be.

Article written by Coco’s mum