Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals
Find us on Facebook

News Updates

VSPCA Special Report

At VSPCA we just passed our 11th anniversary! It is our privilege to be helping more and more animals each year with your generous support.

Here are two of our major current projects:

1. The ABCs of success

With over 27,000 dogs spayed, neutered and vaccinated since 1999, our Animal Birth Control (ABC) program is going full force. Yes, we help cats too. But, unfortunately, dogs continue to be the main problem in India.

Street dogThanks to our work, the brutal dog killings that plague other parts of India have not infected Visakhapatnam. But we are still in a mad race to humanely keep the street dog population down as India modernizes and people decide they no longer want community dogs. Thankfully, our protocols and veterinary expertise is the best in our part of the world, and the authorities know it . On a recent tour, the Chairman of the Animal Welfare Board of India called our shelter a model for others in India. Animal welfare groups in other parts of the world must constantly struggle to promote stray animal sterilization against public demand to eliminate them altogether.

Fortunately, we are blessed to have the approval of the mayor of Visakhapatnam and more and more community support. All of us at VSPCA are pulling hard to keep the public's trust and prevent puppies from overflowing the streets and rabies from threatening our citizens. Our mobile camps are starting soon and reports will follow.

Please help us help street and community dogs like the ones below.

Street dogs at our shelter

Here are doggies we could help at our shelter. Note the notch on the left street dog's right ear. It means the dog has been fixed and vaccinated.

2. Staying dry

We are working hard to keep the shelter dry following heavy rains early this year. Unfortunately, recently we sustained heavy storm and water damage (see below). Still we are trying to stay ready, willing and able to help in the surrounding areas where there is no one else to rescue animals. We cannot turn a blind eye. Please consider donating to help us equip our three rescue teams. Read recent report.

Flooded ABC (animal birth control) areaJune 28, 2007
Photo: Flooded ABC (animal birth control) area with all workers pitching in nonstop to prevent further damages. The water was up to two feet! All 200 dogs needed to be temporarily relocated.

We also need funds to rebuild the flooded Interpretation and Education R oom and fix our generator. The Goshala (cow sanctuary) had one foot of water. The roof of one of our vermicompost huts collapsed. (Note: Vermicomposting is the process of having redworms and other decomposer organisms process our organic waste and turn it into a great natural fertilizer. ) We thought we had it all taken care of, but the extreme rains showed us weaknesses – such as the drainage system from the main gate – which we aim to improve with new funds.

Other news ...

May 17, 2007
In nearby Gajuwaka, we raided, along with the Forestry Department, an illegal animal entertainment operation . We rescued a total of: one alligator, one hyena, two civets, three rabbits, one domestic cat, two ducks, four long -tailed Langoor monkeys, two porcupines, two guinea pigs and a python!

It was a big catch, and the operator has been arrested. The guinea pigs, pigeons and cat have been handed over to us, while the zoo is looking after the wild animals.

May 26, 2007
Residents of Visakhapatnam look to us to monitor and enforce the laws against animal cruelty. This May, we conducted a raid of an illegal pet shop with the help of the III Town Police Station. One of many raids we have done, this time we seized five puppies, three rabbits, three parrots and two pigeons. Pigeons are used in competitions, for "health" reasons (rubbing pigeon blood on paralyzed limbs) and for their meat. The rabbits were terribly dehydrated and the puppies emaciated. Aside from one rabbit that was dead on arrival at the shelter, the others are doing fine now after treatment and good care from our vets at the shelter. The puppies are from pure breed parents and are therefore adoptable (it is a sad fact that people do not adopt the mongrel street dogs), so we are finding them suitable homes once they are rehabilitated.

We are also checking on how well the horses in our Kailasgiri hills are being cared for. Horses were recently introduced to our area for the tourists and they are often ill treated. We have begun to treat the horses and holding education camps with the horse keepers.

This June we completed work on the ABC camp at Sullurpeta, the Indian Space Station north of Chennai. The Station contracted our services once again for a spay/neuter/vaccination camp for the community dogs.

We have trained the vets sent to us from Orissa (the state just above Andhra Pradesh) groups. Next we will train the Srikakulam vets and dog catchers. Skrikakulam is north of Vizag where the migratory bird monitoring is done. We are also filing a case to stop the dog killings at Srikakulam. We are waiting for the right time. Mobile camps at the nearby steel plant have also been completed.

Our shelter is now becoming more colorful with more animals, but we need a new house for the recently rescued rabbits. We hope to build a circular like pond for our rescued ducks with pleasant rabbit quarters nearby.

A baby sparrow rescued by our office staffRight: Our little friend – A baby sparrow rescued by our office staff. It was a joy for us to watch the baby sparrow becoming bigger and stronger. She was kept for a month and then released after she grew strong to fly. We miss her!

We are so grateful to the following kind groups and individuals who have helped us since we wrote to you this spring:

We are very excited to announce that the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has given us a humane awareness project grant. This will begin in August and will target schools and colleges; villages near unprotected wildlife; livestock and pet owners throughout our region. Our educational reach will be with posters, ads in media, programs, etc.

We were honored to be included in the Best Friends Society India campaign and very thankful for their kind fund raising effort. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our consultant veterinarian, Dr. Bosmat Gal, who is being sponsored by "our sister shelter" the Animal Rescue League of Boston. We are grateful to Earth Watch for their contribution.

Special mention to Ms. Olive Walker and Ms. Margaret Gebhard who are our great patron friends and inspire us to continue to make a difference. Thank you to Animal People News and the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights for facilitating their donations.

We also received donations from the following people who make up a worldwide circle that somehow miraculously helps keep VSPCA afloat: Robert and Sherri Andrews, Shelby Davis, Judith Embry, Ramsay Everitt, Michael Grievson, Renee Kehr, Glynis Jennings, Ganesh Meruva, Susan McClung, Monique Moerenhout, Eric Rice, Barbara Vickers, Sandi Vivion, John Wolf. Monthly donors: Syd Baumel, Jean Bird, Melanie Freeberg, Esther Geisser, Judy Hungerford, Ellen Leach, Brian Mann, Bosky Ravindranath, Gina Sopwith and Andrew Wells. Sponsorships: Paulomi Joshi for Tiffin and Gomantha; Rossnina Ruggieri for Milky; Susanq Mcclung for Chiranjavee.

Won't you consider joining these kindhearted souls? The truth is that we are once again now in debt and worldwide friends can help us a great deal.

Thank you on behalf of the animals and all of us at VSPCA.

KlintuIn memory of Klintu.

For further info please contact:
Pradeep Kumar Nath at VSPCA in India: vspcadeep@yahoo.co.in
Eileen Weintraub in the USA: vspcaindia@yahoo.com

Read the story on the Best Friends network about VSPCA's sea turtle project: The transformation of poachers into sea turtle protectors.

Sign outside VSPCA front gate

Sign outside VSPCA front gate.

one of our calfs rescued from wretched conditions

One of our calfs rescued from wretched conditions.