An urgent appeal has been launched for people to donate funds to help Yangon Animal Shelter.
The shelter gets through about US$4,300 worth of dried dog food and rice every month as its looks after more than 600 rescue dogs.
Medicine, charcoal for cooking food, and salaries for the 12 workers all cost another $4,000 in a typical month, while the refuge also needs general repairs and veterinary equipment.
Buts its founder Terryl Just told Myanmar Mix over the weekend that the nonprofit organisation was down to its last $50 due to a drop in regular donations.
Though that number is likely to rise this week as the team collects donations, Just added that the shelter is barely managing to scrape by.
“Every month we really struggle, even just to get the food,” she said. “If 90 people would donate a bag of rice or dog food each, that would be a huge relief to know the food is covered.”
Just, a teacher at the International School Yangon, decided to help Yangon’s strays after municipal authorities fed poisoned meat to a dog pack she had befriended on Inya Road.
Yangon City Development Committee has tried to contain the street dog population and stop the spread of rabies through poisoning.
But the World Health Organisation advocates for mass vaccination, spaying and neutering as the most effective way to deal with stray populations.
In 2012, Just and her former colleague Roza Win established a shelter in Mingalardon township but quickly outgrew the space and moved further out of the city in Hlegu township six years ago.
A resident veterinarian gives annual vaccinations for five diseases and rabies as well as monthly injections for tickborne diseases, though equipment such as an oxygen machine costing $2,140 is needed for other procedures.
A steady flow of injured, neglected or abused dogs has strained the shelter’s already desperate financial situation and crowded the area.
“We get calls every day but we are telling people we can’t take in anymore dogs,” said Just. “We only take them in extreme cases, such as a dog recently whose leg was cut off by a train.”
Just regularly takes from her own salary and asks her family for help to fund the shelter. She encourages people to adopt or foster dogs, describing shelters as “a band aid” targeted more at helping paralysed or parentless animals rather than a permanent solution for all dogs.
She is particularly vexed by pet owners who spend thousands on so-called “designer dogs” when there are so many rescue animals in need of a home.
“It just makes no sense to spend money buying a dog,” she said. “We have so many dogs that need loving homes.”
Myanmar Mix has teamed up with Parami Pizza Downtown to raise funds for Yangon Animal Shelter.
Spirit firms Jose Cuervo and Bulldog Gin are sponsoring two special cocktails for 5,000 kyats each at the bar from 7pm to 10pm on Thursday (March 19).
All the money from the sales of the cocktails will be donated to the shelter. People are also welcome to bring donations of rice, dog food, bottles of bleach, and blankets. Parami Pizza Downtown will also offer 20 percent off all food purchases on the evening.
Staff will take the temperatures of all customers as a precaution during the current coronavirus outbreak (the government is yet to report any cases in Myanmar).
For those who are staying at home but would still like to donate, visit this page.
You can also visit the shelter’s website or make donations by contacting the shelter for its bank account information at [email protected].
