Sunday, May 23, 2010

VSPCA needs our help.


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As some of you might know, VSPCA - Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals is the chosen charity at Art by Susmitha. Each month, a portion of the sales from my store goes to their Cow Sanctuary.

Cow Showing AffectionThe people at VSPCA do some amazing work to help the animals in the surrounding areas. And now that they are faced with Cyclone Laila, they need all the support and help they can get.

Here is an excerpt from the message sent out by Eileen Weintraub - VSPCA Volunteer for Global Outreach.

"Dear friends and supporters of VSPCA,

As you may know VSPCA collects funds to go out and rescue stranded and sick animals in distress when there are natural disasters.

First the shelter report:

We are worried about the front and the back stream – when there are rains (we have been experiencing heavy rains for the past three days) these are dangerous streams that can flood us.

We have shifted all the star tortoises to a higher place; all the birds to higher areas; all the ducks to higher ground and also the rabbits. The dogs have been all kept indoors in the kennels. Cats are OK and can climb up. We have asked at least ten workers on extra payroll to stay overnight.

Our shelter managers (Raj and Sarada) are staying overnight while Pradeep is taking care of this area and meeting and communications and materials . We purchased 20 raincoats and another 10 for the workers. The rest of the workers (40) have rain gear from other disasters.

Old BuffaloThe biggest problem is the 300 loose cattle who have no sheds (another 350 cattle and buffalo have sheds). If these 300 are brought in during the day there will be no possibility to clean and give them food. Therefore alternative feeding is going on. It is still raining very hard and we are doing our best to remove water logging, etc. Given the experience with past cyclones the shelter has also been built on five feet high structures with strong metal with good drainage to resist the water rush from the hills and streams.

We have kept all feed and medicines in the natural disaster rooms.

Feed Storage at VSPCAThe only upsides of the cyclone are that we now have more water in our wells and borewells which were quite dry. The shelter plants and trees (although we lost several in the storm) are intact. The severe heat has come down considerably. It is only because of past planning and new drainage systems – and your support – that our shelter has survived!

Aside from our ongoing needs for food, medicine and animal birth control, currently our urgent needs for the shelter include: one genset, a new vehicle (another one is down due to old age) and a new submersible pump.

Now for our disaster outreach work:

We are concerned for the animals in the 400 km area surrounding us. This is a hurried note to inform you all as we cannot sit by while animals need our help. Kindly consider donating any amount for our efforts.

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Please see our ongoing updates on Facebook (you do not have to be a Facebook member to view them).

On behalf of all at VSPCA,
Eileen Weintraub
VSPCA Volunteer for Global Outreach"

6 comments:

  1. I just donated US$20.00 Sus... thanks for the heads up. I hope many more will come to help as well. Every dollar counts.

    Love and light,
    Nath xoxo

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  2. Thank you so much Nath! That's really kind of you to have cared to help like this. And yes, every dollar counts big time! *hug*

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  3. Hi Susmitha!
    I've donated, and also have nominated Eileen's umbrella organization "Help Animals India" for Romeo the Cat's charity of the month for June here:
    http://www.romeothecat.com/contact/
    (I nominated "Help Animals India" rather than VSPCA directly since it must be a U.S. 501(c)3 organization). Note that anyone with a valid e-mail address can nominate - the more nominations, the better the chances of being selected.

    I have mentioned VSPCA on my blog but will do so again - I know they could really use the help right now.

    Love,
    Katie

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  4. Hi Katie, Thank you so much! So nice of you to have nominated Help Animals India too! :)

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  5. Hi again, Su - I've been corresponding with Michele and she suggests nominating VSPCA or Help Animals India for the July EFA charity? She and Haley have also given me permission to post a modified version of my blog post on the EFA blog (every little bit helps!)

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  6. That's awesome Katie! :) Michele had asked me too a few days ago if I wanted to post something about VSPCA and the cyclone on the EFA blog. I'm glad your post will be going up there now. It has all those details about Romeo the Cat's Furpower nomination. Will definitely make a difference! :)

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