Nowzad -Rescuing stray&abandoned animals in Afghanistan

[Tobi]

Nowzad: (quoted from the home page on Nowzad.com)
Our mission in Afghanistan
The aim of the charity is to improve the welfare of the animals of Afghanistan; which includes humanely reducing the stray dog population which in turn will reduce the incidents of canine rabies, provide animal welfare education for the Afghan people and develop training programmes to improve the lives of working animals. - See more at:
http://www.nowzad.com/#sthash.bdZOifmU.dpuf

[Catherine]

I am glad you brought this site to our attention. I think it is great that something has been organized for Afghanistan. The fact that they opened the only shelter in the country tells you there is very great need.
I wish them every success in their work.

[Tobi]

One of the great things about the Nowzad animal project, is their spay/neuter/vaccination protocol. Part of the reason dogs are feared and even hated in some countries, hinges on the threat of Rabies. Once these dogs are accepted as being generally Rabies-free, the local people will not be so scared of them.

Part of the problem with stray dogs also -is connected with the huge piles of garbage in Kabul, which are dumped all over! Of course, the strays will scavenge for any bits of food, and so they congregate at garbage dumps (which can be on islands between roads or any spare ground.)

Yet there are Afghan vets, and volunteers who love to work helping the dogs and cats, and receive training visits from vets in the West. So it does show that there is compassion for these unfortunate animals there.

[Catherine]

I can see why the rabies fear would influence people's attitudes towards any dog. Rabies is a terrible way to die. It is sad because rabies is so preventable.
Vaccinating dogs and neutering them changes everything. A family taking in one dog is not putting themselves at risk and they are not going to end up with puppies.
They are doing great work and hopefully it will spread throughout the whole country.

I think people everywhere care about animals, but they do not know what to do for them or they have good reason to fear them.

I think garbage dumps are a global problem. Everywhere there is garbage there are problem animal situations. It also should be possible to use the dumps as good places to rescue dogs.

[Tobi]

Yes no-one can blame the dogs for scavenging, as it is important to them, as strays. So yes -you're right. They can be a good place to locate the strays.

Garbage dumps in my particular area are more low-key and not at all disgusting....in fact, they attract me! If I discover one when on a walk I do like it, and rummage about to see if I can find anything useful! lol! It is amazing how many things I have made good use of, or transformed into something else, which were once someone else's rubbish.
Half my kitchen is made from garbage dumps.
(But then, I'm like that....people can disown me now if they feel so inclined )

[Catherine]

As the say "One man's scrap, is another man's gold."
In Toronto we are very civilized about it. If I have a perfectly good item that I do not need, I put it out on the sidewalk, nicely, sometimes even labeled that it still works. Sure enough, someone will come along and take it.
I have even helped people carry stuff home. Other people have called and said to come quick as the neighbours have just put out something that I need. Waste not, want not!

If it were not for the big city dumps many strays would starve. I just wish we could gather up all the strays and find them forever homes where they would never know hunger again.

[Tobi]

A woman -originally from Birmingham, called Louise Hastie, who used to be a soldier, gave up her life in the UK to move out to Kabul and work at Nowzad. She helps service people being de-mobbed, organise getting an animal (usually cat or dog) out of Afghanistan, and back to their own country to be adopted by them. This is quite a tricky job apparently, using an underground network of helpers, and often costs between $2000 and $3500 (no profit involved) But she has helped many animals and service personnel.

Yes we have that garbage-recycling custom quite often where I live. In my nearest village, I sometimes see things put just outside the houses on the path, for anyone to take away if they wish. Also people often put surplus vegetables out. They frequently charge a little for these, and there is a little jar where people can put their pound or 50p coins. The veg is organic and good, and a fraction of the supermarket price! Sometimes there are free apples!

[Catherine]

I like the free veggie/fruit idea. I hate to see the waste of things that others could use.

Louise Hastie sounds like a remarkable woman. She is taking her experience as a soldier and using it to work to rescue dogs. It is too bad that it is so complicated and so expensive. If we could airlift out a whole group of strays we could find them homes.

I am glad the soldiers are bringing dogs home. The dogs probably helped them when they were serving. The love of a dog can heal a lot of pain in a person damaged by war. They may be strays, but they are still working as therapy dogs.