News Updates
Winter 2007 news update
Doggies on the roof - VSPCA shelter staff house
VSPCA Staff, Animal Birth Control workers, Goshala (cow sanctuary) workers.
Photo courtesy of Lavanya Raju, Best Friends.
All of us at VSPCA are thankful for everything that you, our friends and supporters, have done for the shelter and the animals. Please see our new gallery for more photos of all you have accomplished!
In January representatives of VSPCA attended the Asia for Animals Conference in Chennai.
The first such conference ever held in India, it was expertly coordinated and hosted by Dr. Chinny Krishna of Blue Cross of India. Many exciting speakers discussed a broad range of issues. Everyone in our movement hopes that the conference will bring new benefits to Asia 's animals and the people who are working hard to help them.
Here's what VSPCA has been up to lately:
January: After repeated warnings, we conducted a "sting operation" and raided an illegal seller of birds and puppies which were being kept under cruel and unhygienic conditions without a license. All the rescued birds are now being rehabilitated in our aviary, and the puppies have found good new homes.
Feburary: VSPCA answered an urgent call from the Chief Medical Officer of the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation to rescue three dogs from an apartment where the owners had abandoned them 15 days before. The dogs were tied to the bed cots and there was filth all around. Thanks to VSPCA's timely intervention, the dogs are fine and the irresponsible owners have been fined (see photo below).
VSPCA founder and Executive Director Pradeep Nath was presented with the Winsome Constance Kindness Trust Gold Medal for humanitarian service. Pradeep won the prestigious Australia-based award in 2004. (Read about other recipients here.)
VSPCA's compassionate activities for animals are inspiring other groups and individuals throughout our entire state of Andhra Pradesh. Animal People News awarded VSPCA 93 out of 100 points in its annual rating of animal protection charities. aThis is the highest score the influential newspaper has ever given to a dog or cat shelter outside of the United States, and it puts us in the top 10 worldwide. We are very careful to use all donations for our animals, and it shows.
We are committed to continuing to provide the best care for the 1050+ animals in our shelter. Your donations are crucial – if you can, please subscribe to our monthly donation plan, so we can count on covering our daily operating expenses. We encourage you to please donate regularly!
Other news and acknowledgments
Since VSPCA is relatively close to where the Asia for Animals conference was held in Chennai, we were able to show off our shelter to international visitors, including the RSPCA-UK and the Asia Animal Protection Network. Read the AAPN report written about our local Visakhapatnam zoo. "Visited in January 2007. The best zoo we have visited anywhere in the world." We are proud to say we work closely with this zoo and have influenced them in their animal care practices for many years.
Our "sister shelter", the Animal Rescue League of Boston has donated valuable supplies, and their extremely dedicated veterinary expert, Dr. Bosmat Gal, paid her third working visit to the shelter in January as well.
We are very grateful for donations received from Best Friends, USA, which also visited our shelter after the conference. Read their reports about us on their website.
Animal People News is a long-term friend of VSPCA and a friend to many other groups worldwide. We are grateful for their visit after the conference and continuing support.
Our infinite gratitude to Olive Walker for continuing to fund our vital project to help the cats with a new cat quarantine! Thanks to donations like Olive's, we are continuing to make progress for the cats of Andhra Pradesh through community outreach about proper cat care and the need for spaying and neutering. Public education is crucial, because “cats as pets” is new to India. The sign on our clinic reads: "Street cats deserve our compassion and respect."
Since our last email report two months ago, we received donations from the following thoughtful individuals: James G. Clark, Jane Courtney, Heidemarie Dittrich, Diane Faulkner, Margaret Gebhard, Ray Guinan, Tiffani Hill, Sharon St. Joan, Mary Ann Johnson, Judy Kozlowicki, Brian Mann, Patricia E. Mark, Suzanne Megles, Asha Pillar, Stephanie Prince, Beth Starkweather, Joellen Secondo, Geraine Strong, Rajesh and Sita Vedula, Barbara Vickers, Dr. John Wedderburn. Special thanks to our monthly donors: Syd Baumel, Judy Hungerford, Bosky Ravindranath, Gina Sopwith and Andrew Wells.
Many thanks as always to Derek Hogue for donating his professional web design, email design and webmaster services.
Finally, last year we received a special donation from the Compassion for Animals Foundation and Karin Hakanason.
Your USA-based Global Outreach Director, Eileen Weintraub, took her fourth trip to the shelter this January and has posted many photos online.
In memory of RamaRaoCat.
Kind regards from all of us at the VSPCA.
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