Deep in Rimba Drain

Thank you to a teacher who heard a puppy cries deep in the drain outside a school in Rimba.

They tried to help to rescue the pup from the drain but it is too deep. CAS volunteers were notify and we managed to get a long ladder to assess to the crying pup.

Thank God the pup is now saved. 1 hour after its rescue, it start pouring rain. The pup would have been drowned. Thank you everyone for the effort!

Now the pup is in foster home, being treated for tick fever and should be ready for adoption in a month's time. The pup is timid however once she warms up, she is playful, friendly and happy.
If you could foster, adopt or sponsor, please email to care.actionsforstrays@gmail.com.
Every little effort counts! Spread that little love around..

THANK YOU!

A Great Thank You to JKR!

A great thank you to JKR!

 

 

Today's JKR's REACH event has raised B$5,000 for Care and Actions for Strays towards our cause - Education in Responsible Pet Ownership, Medical Expenses towards our strays, Adoption Drive and other general expenses.

 

Thank you to CAS volunteers who came today to help out in our booth too!

On behalf of the strays - THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Are you just a Puppy Lover?

Lately there was uproar from animal welfare activists in Singapore regarding a healthy 7-month old puppy being euthanized by its owner because the owner claimed the puppy was “aggressive”. This puppy named Tammy was adopted from a rescuer 4 months ago. However her “family” life was cut short when owner chose to put her down before sourcing for all possible alternatives to re-home or put in efforts to understand her.

A picture of Tammy

Despite Tammy’s rescuer agreed to take Tammy back but requested for a bit more time, till now no answer was given as to why the owner still decided to send her to doomsday. Did the vet follow any set of protocol before injecting the lethal potion into Tammy’s body to end her life? When questions were probed with the animal clinic that put Tammy down, the answer was “There were bite marks and escalating signs of aggression”. When Tammy showed signs of escalating aggression in the clinic, could this be a defensive mode when she was handled by strangers and injecting with vaccination?

Full story could be found in this link:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152296867618709&set=a.10151661009683709.610122.766698708&type=1&theater

Is Euthanasia the convenient way for human beings to get rid of an animal just because they have no voice?

Did owner fulfil her responsibility as a pet owner, makes effort to understand the pet she has adopted?

How do you understand the puppy well enough just by spending 4 months with her and warrant her to a death sentence?

Was she so called “aggressive” due to puppy teething which is part and process of a growing stage, be misunderstood as biting?

Was probably active puppy behaviour, eg. Jumping, rough play is misunderstood as an act of aggression?

Why did the owner still choose to put her down despite the rescuer is willing to take her back?

Or did Tammy just outgrow her puppy cuteness??

I believe we will never have the answers…

As an active volunteer with CAS for 3 years (2009 – 2012), the most commonly issues we have with adopters of puppies are chewing! Has Tammy’s owner not known that puppies chew? Did she make her research? In human terms, it may means biting.

This again leads to the topic of Responsible Pet Ownership where CAS is always advocating and educating.

You need to do your research to understand the different stages of a puppy growing up before you adopt one. Most people are puppies lover but that does not mean responsible owners. Most owns a puppy at impulse and lost interest after it outgrows its cuteness stage. That is where problems will usually kick in.

A puppy grows its teeth from as young as 3 weeks up to 8months old. During this stage, the puppy needs to chew! Teething process continues for several months. This could be an uncomfortable and painful experience for them. They need to chew to relief their discomfort. Unless you are ready for your beloved sofas, carpets, shoes, cupboards, doors, computer cables and even metals, yes, almost anything in your house, to go into pieces. (See picture). If you don’t, I will suggest you don’t own a pet, or rather a puppy! Perhaps, adopt an adult dog then.

 

Tammy’s life may be lost but not wasted. Because of her, animal welfare activists in Singapore united to speak up for her. Probably this could save the life of strays that are voiceless and better legislation on pet euthanizing.

CAS volunteers came across many dogs during our rescues. There are some friendly, most of them are fearful of humans, timid, but none of them would show signs of aggression. Some do bark and yes may bite but that is due to distress, perhaps in a car accident, in pain or confused with our rescue where they are in self-defensive mode but never once did one come up to attack for no reason. When a dog barks, the best is to avoid eye contact and walk calmly away.

My purpose of writing this article after reading Tammy’s case, was hoping to see more responsible pet ownership in Brunei. Don’t act on impulse to adopt when you see a cute puppy. Are you ready enough? No doubt Adoption Helps to Save a Life, however it could also destroys a life if there is no patience, no efforts made to take care or understand your pet.

Some families adopted from CAS and realize later the huge responsibility behind taking care of a dog. Whatever happen, if an adoption does not goes well, please return the dog to CAS. Do not try to re-home the dog on your own, abandon or put down. But you have to give CAS time to find alternatives.

Proper education channel in animal welfare is lacking. Legislative Law to protect animals is not updated. But words of mouth could be effective! People passed information, communicates every day.

YOU can make that change!

Agnes, once a CAS Volunteer

CAS Ribbon & Paw Print Recycle Bags

GOOD BYE BART!

You Have Touched All Our Souls!

Rescued 2008 - 6 June 2012 (approximately 5yrs old)

Video 1 of Bart: When Bart was just rescued in 2008.

Please watch this video. It only take you 30secs...For supporters who have been following some of our volunteers all these years, you may know a dog named Bart.

Bart rescued on 29/03/2008, 11:30am

Yesterday was another depressing day for us... Bart a happy-go-lucky fellow, always cheerful with tremendous positive spirits even though with his Semi-Paralyzed Disability, had left us...

Before CAS was formed 2 years ago, our senior volunteer has started rescuing strays on her own. In March 2008, she received a call reporting a dog dragging his butt on the road in Gadong. Description of this was quite vague, nonetheless we activated volunteers to go in searching for this dog. Volunteers took a few hours to look for him but could not find such dog. Just as they were about to leave the location, one volunteer noticed a dog under a car and went forward. What volunteers did not prepare to see was a dog dragging his half body down. (The video was Bart just rescued in 2008).

Bart's lower body was suspected to be run over by car that caused his paralysis. None of us could imagine how long has he dragged his body, how he moved on his own with that disability, did he suffer or in pain when the car hit him. Though every possibility crossed the humans' mind, we believe Bart felt NONE of his abnormality. He greeted our volunteers with the Sweetest Smile we have ever seen and all of us were overwhelmed by his positive soul! During then, he should be just about a 3-4mths pup.

Bart stayed in our foster home ever since. He is one of the most amazing dog we have ever come across. With just 2 front legs, throughout these years, Bart has learned how to support his lower body, all on his own WILL POWER, to be as normal as he could. He was agile with 2 legs. Nothing can stop him. On top of that, Bart could also pee and poo as normal. None of us trained or teach him how to walk on his two front legs. He did everything on his DETERMINATION. Very soon, he became Pack Leader of his own pack in the foster home. 2 legs vs 4 legs, Bart is always the King of the Pack. He was with us for a good 5 years…

Bart in 2010

  

Bart, you have been an INSPIRATIONAL soul and you touched many of our hearts. We have to make the most painful decision to end your suffering when you suddenly suffered from Rectal Prolapse (rectum fall out of place) on Tuesday night.

As the condition happened on Tuesday night, there wasn't any vet till the next morning. In the night, Bart has apparently chewed some part of his organ quite badly. Moreover, with his paralysis, he would be dragging his wound. Looking at some of his last moment pictures, we saw Bart lost his smile for the first time... This truly breaks our hearts.

Bart has taught us NEVER GIVE UP. Stay Positive and Be Happy ! Look at his smile (in the video), THE MOST SUNNY SMILE. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED! Bart had also showed us, with defects and disability, you could still live a BEAUTIFUL LIFE!

Good Bye Bart! We will truly missed your presence and the many times you made us laugh till we cried happy tears..... Another amazing soul has left.... Another dog has gone to the Rainbow Bridge...We have lost many special dogs this year...

Nonetheless, our work still move on. Spay Your Pet, Adoption Helps To Save Life!

Adoption Helps Save Lives !

REMEMBER, ADOPTION SAVES TWO LIVES !

The adopted pet will have a safe, loving permanent home and this free up a space in foster home to rescue another homeless stray from unnecessary pain, abuse, neglect, disease or starvation.

CAS 7th Activity Day !

"A Note from our Senior Volunteer"

Care & Actions for Strays (CAS): As much as we do not condone poisoning as a method of population control, we need to realise and tackle the root cause of the problem - IRRESPONSIBLE ANIMAL OWNERS who do not sterilise their animals and cruelly dump unwanted animals all over Brunei leading to severe over population of animals !

The main problem is not the government nor its officers doing their jobs. Cursing them and getting upset with them will not solve the problem. During our dialogues with the respective government agencies, we were asked to offer alternative solutions to control the dog population. While we have the solutions, we lack the necessary resources to implement it so that the government agencies can stop poisoning as a tool for population control.

Apart from the resources that are needed, including funds and manpower etc, we also need the understanding of the public cos the government agencies do not go around randomly looking for dogs to poison but rather they ONLY ACT UPON COMPLAINS FROM THE PUBLIC and they need to do something when there is a public complain.

So even if we have ALL the resources that we need, we still need the whole community to be more tolerant of strays to allow us to achieve long term sustainable solutions.
In short, we NEED TO WORK TOGETHER as a community from all angles to achieve a humane society where humans and animals can co-exist harmoniously and where the best of humans can be brought out, NOT THE WORST !

We all can play a part :
(1) STERILISE YOUR PETS
(2) FUND STERILISATION OF STRAYS
(3) BE MORE TOLERANT OF STRAYS
(4) STOP BUYING PETS, ADOPT THE HOMELESS INSTEAD
(5) OPEN UP YOUR HOMES TO TAKE IN SOME STRAYS
(6) SHARE RESPSONSIBLE PET OWNERSHIP WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES

To also clarify further, according to the government head vet, THERE IS NO RABIES IN BRUNEI ! So for those of you who have been mis-informed or have misconstrued that ALL dogs carry rabies, please check your facts.

Thank you to all our Muslim supporters who have given so much insights abt Islam, Muslim and dogs. We really need a lot of help in this area to create and conduct educational materials in this aspect. Pls contact us via email to help promote positive awareness and make a difference. We really desperately need to create materials with quotes and teachings from the Holy Book.
To all of you who think that just because dogs occasionally attack humans, or because some dogs carry diseases, please understand that it still does not justify being cruel to the dogs, to any dog or animal.

Why dogs or any animal for that matter, attack humans, please watch National Geographic "Dog Whisperer" and other documentaries for insights into the animal world. In fact in the animal world, they ONLY kill when they are hungry and this was captured by photographer Michel Denis-Huot in Kenya's Masai Mara. He captured pictures of 3 cheetah brothers chasing a group of impalas (deers) and when they caught the weakest one, to his amazement, the cheetahs only wanted to play with it and did so affectionately without hurting it one bit !

So why dogs attack humans? And dogs who attack humans get put down. What about humans who attack dogs and animals? What should we do with these humans? If we were to act by our own standards, then we should be putting down too these people who attack animals !

By the same token, humans carry diseases too so should we be running around putting down all these disease carry humans too? Or do we put down those humans who cannot contribute and some are even a burden to society e.g. the old, the sick, the invalids, the special needs, the criminals etc etc etc.....

We don't because we share this planet together with every living being and it is our responsibility to take care of those who are weak. It is our blessing to be able to care for those who need us, the healthy and strong ones and by the same token, we also have a responsibility towards these strays and animals living amongst us in our urban environment WHO DID NOT ASK TO BE PUT HERE AMONGST US in the first place !
These animals have no voice and no choice. Humans do ! Make the right choice and do the right thing ! Even if you cannot help in any way, you can be more tolerant and learn how to behave when strays are around.

For those of you who support poisoning or any form of mass culling as a means of dog population control, look up the internet. There is a wealth of information out there to tell you that mass culling has never worked, not for over a hundred years ! And it will continue to be an highly ineffective means and all these are documented by the World Health Organisation as well who gets involved in dog population control due to rabies deaths in countries like India where dog population control is a matter of life and death for humans, not simply because of nuisance or eyesore as is the case in Brunei.

More and more countries are turning to sterilisation as this has proven to be highly effective in dog population control and is of course a much more humane method of population control but again we need the entire community to come together and play its part.

Start with your own animals, how many of you have unsterilized pets? Not only dogs but cats as well. In recent years, we had to increase our spending on cats, draining our very very limited funds which otherwise could have been used for dogs. There are many many cat owners with unsterilised cats, allowing them to breed rampantly and then dumping them all over Brunei when they can no longer manage. This results in many of the cats getting sick and also even more rampant breeding. We have had to rescue so many more cats and expenses for cats increased more then 20 folds !

Let's all play our parts and work towards a stray free Brunei through humane methods. It can be done but requires all of us to work together ! We will continue to work with the government agencies to completely stop poisoning but the responsibility should not fall on the shoulders of only a few individuals. All of Brunei needs to play their part too.

And for those of you feeding strays, pls pls pls pls....get them sterilised ! Feeding strays must also come with the responsibility of ensuring they DO NOT BREED ANY FURTHER. Otherwise you are only creating a bigger problem. Not that we discourage feeding of strays but they MUST BE STERILSIED TOO. If funding is the main problem that the strays you are feeding are not being sterilsied, then find ways to raise funds for them to be sterilised or get in touch with us.

STOP THE POISONING!

Extract from our Facebook Posting on 24 May, at 2.35am

Please read the story link !

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.444167875611946.114288.139700362725367&type=1

Project Bulat – A Semi Paralyzed Kitten

Last week, CAS received 2 reports of the same paralysed kitten found at a Tutong Petrol Station. Our volunteer went to assess the kitten on Saturday after getting clearer instructions.
 

We found the kitten and saw that 2 of his back legs were paralysed and he was unable to move. The kitten could only move his upper body. He is very young, approximately 3-4mths old.

The staff at the petrol station said this kitten was born there normal and the mother cat comes and goes. They did not know what has happen to the kitten. One morning, the staff discovered the kitten in the drain injured with such condition. They suspected a car could have hit him. The staff were kind enough to bring the kitten to the government clinic however as government clinic no longer has surgery services, there is nothing much they could do. Moreover, the staff at the petrol station do not have enough money to spend on the kitten surgery. We would like to express our appreciation to the staff who has been helping to feed this paralyzed kitten before CAS intervened.
 

This morning, our volunteer sent Bulat (kitten's name) for vet's assessment. Preliminary discussion was probably to amputate Bulat's back legs so as not to hinder his movements. However, we are taking into consideration if Bulat is able to withstand the operation as he is still very young. Such operation for him would be very painful.

 
Nonetheless, he is still going through medication and also has slight skin problem. In the meantime, you could help us to provide care and food for him by sponsoring any of his medical or daily needs.

 
If you would like to help, please email to care.actionsforstrays@gmail.com and subject "Project Bulat" and we will reply to you with sponsoring details.

We would also like to emphasize that CAS could only take in animals needing medical treatment. We do not have space for every strays dogs and cats, puppies and kittens reported. If we take in every single strays reported, we are depriving a space given to any animals that come in needing medical attention immediately, like Bulat.

Education, creating awareness to sterilisation is the key to curb the strays' overpopulation. Every little effort counts. Please do your part and be a responsible citizen!