QAWS to the Rescue

Read this in Today's edition of Gulf Times.. Just wanted to say Great Job to the QAWS... please do tell if there is anything we can do to lend a hand...

Coming to rescue of stray animals
By Peter Townson

Qatar Animal Welfare Society, which is nearing its fifth year of existence, is busier than ever, with no sign of a let-up in the number of stray animals being reported, making it “imperative” that it is awarded charity status.

Last month the number of dogs in the kennels reached 59, and along with the 55 cats and kittens at the farm, the amount of space and work required to look after the various animals is becoming too much for the volunteer organisation to handle.

Janet Berry, the chairperson of the group, explained that as of yesterday, they had a waiting list of around 19 dogs, and were having to turn away up to 30 animals a week.

In a bid to provide shelter to as many dogs as possible, the QAWS is converting some of its outside exercise area into kennels.

Berry puts the high volume of animals being rescued down to the “increasing population of the country, combined with the increased awareness of our existence.”

Whereas people may have seen stray dogs in the past, but did not know about the QAWS, the animal would go unreported – now so many more people are aware of the farm and the work that Berry and her team are doing, they contact them as soon as they find a stray animal.

For instance, the organisation has been rescuing a large number of dogs from labour camps and building sites: one mother and her litter of 10 puppies were recently brought to the shelter.

And they are also inundated with cats and kittens, such as the heavily pregnant Bridget, who was dumped in a cardboard box on the bridge outside the shelter, and proceeded to give birth to a litter of kittens within two days of her ‘appearance.’

Some animals have a more interesting back story than others, like Bullet, who was rescued after miraculously surviving a number of gunshots. More like a cat with nine lives than a dog, she was being looked after by some labourers in Al Khor after four other dogs had been shot by youths.

One day, lying on the front steps of their accommodation in a gated compound, the perpetrators struck again and shot her eight times. Somehow she survived, and complete with three irremovable bullets, she is now up for rehoming.

And although there are people who are cruel, cowardly and highly insensitive to the plight of stray animals, and the effort required to run the shelter, the team is keen to point out that there are many members of the community in Qatar who do what they can to help.

“We do receive a lot of support from people here – without which we simply would not be able to run,” said Berry, adding “we just hope that we can achieve charity status so more people can support us more easily.”

One of the consequences of the overcrowding at the QAWS is that other people have had to do more to try and help pick up some of the burden on the farm. For instance, Kim Clarkson, who is the practice manager at Khaled al-Hussein’s Veterinary Surgery explained that the clinic and its staff had been doing what they could to help foster and rehome stray animals being brought to them.

She explained that ever since she began working in August, the problem has significantly grown and she now receives “at least four phone calls a day,” from people looking to rehome their pets.

One of the worst things about the calls is that many come from expatriates who are leaving the country and do not wish to take their animals with them – something Clarkson finds incomprehensible.

“A pet is a companion for life, and I do not understand how people can simply leave their pets behind when they leave,” argued the animal-lover, who brought her two dogs from Canada when she arrived, but is now fostering five others.

But the fact is that people are doing this, and Clarkson claimed that the only way to prevent the problem with stray and abandoned dogs getting any worse is to educate people.

“Expatriates need to find out the regulations and costs of taking their pets back to their home country,” she said, adding “they think it is easy to rehome them here, but it is not – there are so many already awaiting adoption.”

She also echoed Berry’s statements, claiming that the other way to help the situation here in Qatar would be for the QAWS to achieve charity status and government support.

“I would love for the people at QAWS to achieve the recognition they deserve,” she added.

Berry emphasised the need for people to keep contacting the organisation even though they may be overcrowded:

“If we cannot physically take the animal in, we may still be able to offer some help.”

“It is important that people contact us so that we can make the extent of the stray population known to others, and it allows us to monitor the population here,” she explained.

“You might have thought that after five years things would settle down here, but that is far from the case – we are finding many more animals than ever before,” she added.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=283443...