Projects

Ongoing AN Projects

This page is contiuously updated as AN projects come online and advance. Check here often for the latest in project info on:

• DOGS (ABC Program, Rescue Training, First Aid)
• DONKEYS (Adoption, Rehab Center, Medical Aid)

Animal Nepal wants to bring a lasting change in the lives of stray dogs. That is why we conduct an Animal Birth Control/Anti Rabies programme with the help of local municipalities at the Chobar Animal Sanctuary. We catch, vaccinate and sterilize female dogs from the southern part of Kathmandu Valley. We educate communities on stray and pet management. If you want to sterilize your pet we will charge only a nominal rate. We conduct mobile health camps for pet and stray dogs and accept sick or injured stray dogs at our shelter. Our services include blood and stool tests, surgery and chemotherapy. After recovery we return the dogs to the street or give them up for adoption. Pet dogs are treated at a nominal charge. Do you like to help? We need lots of help! You can cuddle or walk with the shelter dogs, organize education or fundraising programmes or sponsor the treatment of a dog or kennel. Contact us to find out more! Want to adopt a dog? Animal Nepal has launched a popular Adopt a Nepali Dog campaign to promote the adoption of rescued mixed breeds. Have a look here (www.adoptanepalidog.info) for more information.

Background

Animal Nepal wants to bring a lasting change in the lives of stray dogs. That is why we conduct an Animal Birth Control/Anti Rabies programme with the help of local municipalities at the Chobar Animal Sanctuary. We catch, vaccinate and sterilize female dogs from the southern part of Kathmandu Valley. We educate communities on stray and pet management. If you want to sterilize your pet we will charge only a nominal rate. We conduct mobile health camps for pet and stray dogs and accept sick or injured stray dogs at our shelter. Our services include blood and stool tests, surgery and chemotherapy. After recovery we return the dogs to the street or give them up for adoption. Pet dogs are treated at a nominal charge. Do you like to help? We need lots of help! You can cuddle or walk with the shelter dogs, organize education or fundraising programmes or sponsor the treatment of a dog or kennel. Contact us to find out more! Want to adopt a dog? Animal Nepal has launched a popular Adopt a Nepali Dog campaign to promote the adoption of rescued mixed breeds. Have a look here (www.adoptanepalidog.info) for more information.

Project Profile

Animal Nepal has been rescuing injured dogs since 2003. In 2009 launched a Community-Based Stray Dog Rescue & Release Programme called Kathmandu Rescue. The programme has the following objective - to create a healthy, reduced stray dog population in Kathmandu Valley through community-based education and rehabilitation care. The programme aims at evaluating the following strategies:

• Implement pilot community based Animal Birth Control/Anti Rabies programmes
• Rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured dogs
• Set up a help line
• Provide education and preventive health care within the community
• Promote stray dog adoption

For more information:

Watch a documentary on Chobar Animal Sanctuary, or meet some of the dogs that were treated by us. And also read AWNN’s survey report titled: Dogs in Kathmandu Valley: Man's Best Friend Betrayed.

DONKEYS

Around 1000 equines (donkeys, mules and horses) are employed in brick kilns in the Kathmandu Valley. Shocked to see their conditions, Animal Nepal in 2008 launched an outreach programme. We now work in over ten brick kilns, where we provide treatment, educate the owners and handlers, lobby for improved conditions, and rescue sick and handicapped equines. We also work in Nepalgunj, Nepal’s main equine bazaar, to make a lasting change in the lives of Nepal’s suffering working equines.

The Godavari Donkey Sanctuary was constructed in 2009, with the help of Brigitte Bardot Foundation. The residents were all the verge of death when we rescued them. Some are blind, others lame or severely malnourished. After a live of abuse, we provide them with well deserved retirement, including good nutrition and ongoing treatment. Most residents are financially supported by individual sponsors through Animal Aid Abroad Australia. Some are even luckier and are adopted by local families and resorts, where they live the remaining days of their lives in comfort.

Do you like to help?

We need lots of help! You can cuddle or brush the donkeys or organize an education or fundraising programmes. Contact us to find out more!

Would you want to join our Walking with Donkeys programme?

Do you like to spend some time with our donkeys and enjoy the beautiful surroundings of Lalitpur? If so, book a 1 or 2 day donkey tour, a unique chance to get to know our residents intimately and help us become financially independent.

Background

Here are a few facts to consider:

• 165 brick kilns
• 60,000 child workers, 500-800 donkeys
• Donkeys are underfed, overloaded, and overworked
• 85% of donkeys have open wounds
• Most donkeys suffer from dehydration and malnutrition
• Pregnant donkeys work up to the day of delivery and are given only a few days to recover
• Newborn foals risk disease and death
• Any donkey that is injured or too weak for work is abandoned

Anyone who pays a visit to any one of the 165 brick kilns in Kathmandu Valley will agree the situation is desperate. Every year around 25 donkeys die from exhaustion in Nepal’s brick kilns that have been called a ‘medieval hellhole’. The conditions of these working donkeys are as dark as those of the children and of the adult labourers who work there. Horses, mules and donkeys, brought in all the way from Nepalgunj, increasingly become the backbone of brick production, hauling bricks to and from the kiln. There are no laws that govern their treatment, and no government department represents their needs.

The equines fail to receive basic care such as nutritious food, water, rest, shelter, and are continuously overloaded and overworked. Injuries go untreated; severely ill donkeys are left to die. The animals are beaten relentlessly by their handlers, mostly children, some as young as six years old. This project addresses the needs of these animals.

Project Profile

Animal Nepal in 2008 introduced a Working Donkey Outreach Programme. We conduct regular mobile clinics, provide first aid boxes and improved harnesses, and educate factory and equine handlers and owners. Weak and handicapped donkeys are rescued and taken to the Godavari Donkey Sanctuary. By now, the conditions of the 500 or so working equines in Lalitpur have improved considerably. We also reach out to sick and injured equines in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur district whenever we are called.

During the off season (May-December) we run an outreach programme in Nepalgunj, where the equines are kept six month per year. The objective of our Working Equines Outreach Programme is: To improve the conditions of working donkeys, to educate donkey owners, handlers and kiln owners and to lobby for better conditions for working animals across the nation. The programme aims at evaluating the following strategies:

• Organise regular donkey clinics
• Organise regular education sessions for donkey owners, handlers and kiln owners
• Rescue sick and injured equines
• Lobby for passing of Animal Welfare Act and rules for working animals
• Create awareness among the general public
• Promote ‘clean and green bricks'

For more information:

Watch this documentary about our work or this short documentary about donkey adoption.

You can also read a story written by Pramada and Lucia and then check out this website to learn about a novel campaign promoting clean and green bricks: www.brickclean.net.

Here is a slide show of our work in Nepalgunj and a campaign report on the conditions of donkeys in Nepalgunj.