Our Four-Legged Friends - Charities at work to help animals around the world

The past few posts have been on animal welfare.  Social Justice Mommy - Heather Setka, shared a story about her daughter's latest "social justice learning (and teaching) moment" and picking on someone smaller than she (in this case a dog at the park).  Today we are looking at animal welfare in the United Republic of Tanzania, and the Zanzibar Islands.

I was first introduced to Zanzibar about a year and half ago. I met up with a friend, Rebecca, in Dar el Salaam and we caught a ferry across from the mainland to Zanzibar for a week of much needed R&R.  Rebecca had been working at an AIDS clinic in Lesotho and I was volunteering with Canadian Humanitarian in Ethiopia.  Zanzibar is what Utopia might look like.  The white sand beaches, blue water and tranquil lifestyle of the spice islands contrasted with the horror of the Island's slave trade past and poverty.

In the most recent issue of Dogs in Canada (yes, Valley, my lab-sheppard cross has pet insurance and so I get this monthly magazine as part of their customer loyalty program), there is an article by Eric Sparling The Zanzibar Project: Improving the Lives of Dogs in Tanzania.

When discussing issues around international development we tend to overlook the animals that are part of the community system.  In most cases, these animals are seen as pests, and in some cases they are not pets, but necessary working contributors to the household - warding off thieves and other predators.  In a country where people are living on less than $1/day taking care of the working animal population is a struggle.  In 2007, Zanzibar has 5 vets all employed by the government. 

In an effort to manage the animal population and support families who need working pets to sustain their livelihood, but struggle with the maintenance a mobile pet clinic was introduced to the island.  The mobile vet clinic is provided by World Society for the Protection of Animals. WSPA representatives educate pet owners on the benefits of sterilization, rabies vaccination and dewormming.  WSPA also acts as an animal advocate to improve legislation and enforcement around compassionate pet care.  In fact, is through WSPA's advocacy work that public funds have been directed towards supporting issues around livestock veterinary infrastructure.

It is a vicious circle where the human population is dependent up on the animal population for security and financial gain; yet the price to keep that part of the "working society" healthy is too high.  As Dr. Wilson Joseph, lead veterinarian of the Zanzibar project says, "If the people cannot provide themselves with sufficient and balanced food, then it is pretty hard to feed their dogs."

On Zanzibar since 2006 the stats are staggering around number of animals treated - a total of 57,873 animals have been given treatment!