Assemblyman Manoharan hosting dog adoption drive

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/10/30/central/7302416&sec=central

Saturday October 30, 2010

Assemblyman Manoharan hosting dog adoption drive

With too many puppies rescued and with nowhere to house them, canine welfare project Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB) is desperately looking for adopters or fosterers to take them in.

Coming to MDDB’s aid this time around is Kota Alam Shah assemblyman M. Manoharan who is holding an adoption drive at his service centre tomorrow.

The service centre is located at 7A, Persiaran Raja Muda Musa and is between the Klang traffic police contingent headquarters and Hin Hua High School.

Adorable: One of the 20 puppies and dogs to be put up for adoption at tomorrow’s drive.

About 20 puppies and dogs will be put up for adoption at the drive which will be held from 11am to 5pm.

Manoharan said he decided to help MDDB because he was aware of the plight of stray dogs.

“I also support MDDB’s call for the local councils to initiate the trap-neuter-release-manage (TNRM) method instead of catching and culling strays,’’ said Manoharan.

MDDB adoption coordinator Christine Lai thanked Manoharan for his kind gesture and hoped Klang residents would come in full force to support the maiden adoption drive in their town.

“A large number of the puppies up for adoption are from Klang and we hope they will be adopted and given a second chance in life,’’ said Lai.

She said those wanting to make donations to MDDB and its feline welfare counterpart Malaysian Cats Care Project (MCCP) can also drop off the items at the venue.

“We need dry and canned dog and puppy food, dry and canned cat and kitten food, old newspapers, dog and cat shampoo, old towels, rice, cages, detergent and bleach,’’ said Lai.

For details, call 019-3576477, 012-3739007 or visit: www.malaysiandogsdeservebetter.blogspot.com or write to: malaysiandogsdeservebetter1@gmail.com .

Puppy Rescue

Puppy rescue

A group of concerned dog lovers has set up a half-way home for abandoned puppies.
IN conjunction with World Animal Day today, canine welfare project Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB) is launching its shelter for destitute and abandoned puppies. The MDDB project was initiated by non-governmental organisation Commu­nity Development and Inte­gration Initiative (CDII) last year.
CDII director Firoza Buranudeen said a shelter in Klang was urgently needed due to the large number of puppies rescued almost daily.
“We had nowhere to put them and we felt that veterinary clinics were not safe enough for unvaccinated puppies,” she said.
Since the project depends solely on donations, Firoza is appealing to the public to help out so that the shelter can continue to operate.
“Our expenses are high as we have to pay RM35 for the first vaccination for each puppy as well as veterinary care. Some of the puppies have many health problems,” she explained.
MDDB, said Firoza, also has to raise money to pay monthly rental of RM600 for the house as well as an additional RM500 monthly for the caretaker who cleans up after the pups, bathes and feeds them.
“We are currently running on our reserves which will be depleted in a week or so and we are hoping that members of the public will come to our aid,” she said.
Firoza also hopes there will be offers of sponsorship for their overhead costs. MDDB welcomes donations in kind such as rice, dog shampoo, old towels, puppy food and chew toys. She said the puppies are fed dry food in the morning and rice cooked with chicken and vegetables in the evening.
“We also need to supplement their food with vitamins – being born to stray mothers, the puppy’s immune systems are usually very weak,” said Firoza.

For details, visit www.malaysiandogsdeservebetter.blogspot.comor e-mail: malaysiandogsdeservebetter@gmail.com or call 019-3576477or 012-3739007.

IN THE NEWS

For a good cause: Firoza (second from left) accepting the RM10,500 donation from GSSC Cares representative Lau Som Ye (third from left). With them are (from left) Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better project spokesman Clarance Chua, Edleen and Wong.

Getting to know you ...: A potential adopter getting to know a dog at the adoption drive.

Newfound family: A lucky dog that was adopted at the event posing with its new owners.

Thursday April 16, 2009

Scores at pet adoption drive

By WANI MUTHIAH

SCORES of people turned up at the pet adoption drive held at the NZX Mall in Ara Damansara recently.
Organised by canine welfare project Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better, the event offered rescued puppies and dogs as well as cats and kittens for adoption.
The Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better project was initiated by non-government organisation Community Development and Integration Initiative (CDII) as part of its community development efforts.
CDII director Firoza Buranudeen said the success of the adoption drive had inspired the project coordinators to organise a similar event in two to three months’ time.
“The adoption drive has shown us there are many people willing to give these unfortunate animals a second chance in life.
“Most of the animals up for adoption were rescued from a local council pound where they were waiting to be put to sleep,” she said.
According to Firoza, besides the good turnout, the Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better project had also received a generous financial contribution from a corporate donor.
“We received RM10,500 from Standard Chartered Scope Inter-national Sdn Bhd, which is a subsidiary of the Standard Chartered Bank,” Firoza said, adding that company employees who were members of its in-house social services club, GSSC Cares, had raised the funds.
She said CDII hoped more corporate sponsors would come forward to support the Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better project.
“We need a lot of help financially as, in the past few months, we had not only carried out rescue missions at a local dog pound but also rescued many abandoned and unwanted pets,” said Firoza. She added that the project’s volunteers had also to counter viral infections like distemper and parvo, which were deadly to dogs.
“We also currently have about 20 dogs and puppies that must be vaccinated and neutered pending adoption,” she said.
Firoza said the adoption drive had also helped the project coordinators to draw up a standard operating procedure to ensure that puppies and dogs adopted were free of disease. “It was a learning experience for us, too, and we now know how to prevent medical emergencies,” she added.
Several canine volunteers were also seen collecting donations tirelessly from visitors at the adoption drive.
Among the canine volunteers was Jojo the beagle, which had been rescued from the pound in February, just a day before she was to be put to sleep.
Jojo has since found a loving home she shares with another beagle, Kiki.
Also there to show support were popular Astro host Angel Wong Chui Ling and ESPN SportsCenter Malaysia host Edleen Ismail.
For details, visit http://www.malaysiandogsdeservebetter.blogspot.com/.

IN THE NEWS

Above: Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better volunteer
Clarance Chua with mascot Sharmini Popiko Sasha.
— K. K. SHAM/The Star

Saturday April 11, 2009

Champion of the oppressed

Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better http://www.malaysiandogsdeservebetter.blogspot.com/

Log on to this site, and you will be greeted by Sharmini Popiko Sasha, a female mongrel who is the face of this project which champions the welfare of Malaysian canines.
It even says on the top of the blog that: “this blog was created by a dog to help other dogs”.
Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better came about because one of the directors of Community Development and Integration Initiative (CDII) — an NGO dedicated to welfare programmes for the poor, needy and disabled — couldn’t stand seeing so many homeless dogs roaming the streets.
“The project became a reality last year after an incident in which a dog was dragged out through the gates of an empty house by local council workers in Subang Jaya,” explained Clarance Chua, a volunteer.
“That’s when we decided that these helpless creatures needed a voice, someone to look out for and stand up for them. We mostly rescue dogs from the local pounds, as well as off the streets, and bring them to our panel clinic where they are neutered, vaccinated and treated before being put up for adoption. We seek adopters through advertisements as well as through adoption drives,” said Chua, 30, a lawyer by training.
Recently, they held a successful adoption drive at NZX Mall in Ara Damansara, and this has convinced them to persevere with the programme. There are a number of local issues that they are currently trying to address.
“We are troubled by the way stray dogs are caught by companies engaged by local councils. A large number of these dogs have collars! This raises a question as to how the dogs ended up on the streets.
“We have also rescued pedigrees which were abandoned because of genetic skin disorders. We hope the local authorities will take note of unlicensed breeders who are flooding the market with pedigrees through pet shops.
“There are even a few pet shops that offer mating services! This is like operating a canine prostitution den. We hope the local authorities will seriously look into these issues instead of expanding their dog-catching activities,” said Chua.
Chua has one important advice for all canine owners: “Please neuter your dogs, and please adopt a homeless animal instead of buying one. The breeding will stop only when the buying does”.

In The News

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/3/7/central/3419755&sec=central

Saturday March 7, 2009

Seven dogs rescued from pound tested positive for distemper

By WANI MUTHIAH

THE director of a non-governmental organisation that has launched a canine welfare programme, is seeking public help to save the lives of dogs rescued from a local council pound in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Community Development and Integration Initiative (CDII) director Firoza Buranudeen said seven of the dogs in a recent batch rescued from the pound tested positive for distemper.

Distemper is a viral infection, which is similar to chicken pox and measles in humans, and deadly to dogs if left untreated.

CDII’s venture into animal welfare programmes took off last year when the organisation launched its Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB) project, spurred by the precarious existence of dogs in the country.

According to Firoza, distemper could be countered with the isolation of the infected dogs, which would be administered high doses of vitamins to strengthen their immune systems.

However, she added, almost all veterinary clinics did not have isolation wards and most veterinarians would turn away infected dogs lest their clients’ dogs catch the virus.

“Given this, we have placed our infected dogs in homes of kind people willing to foster them and our veterinary clinic has prescribed the necessary vitamins,” she said.

Firoza said the outbreak had depleted the project’s funds and she hoped the public would once again help CDII help these displaced dogs.

“Please help us to help them,” she said, explaining that dogs could contract the distemper virus at pounds from non-disinfected cages that became a thriving breeding ground for the virus, as well as overcrowding.

She said the CDII would also initiate meetings with local councils to recommend that holding cages be disinfected regularly and that captured dogs be kept in better conditions.

“When dogs are caught off the streets, it must be with the mindset that they may be rescued and rehomed as opposed to the belief that they would all be put to sleep,’’ she added.

Firoza also said the CDII would continue to rescue dogs from the pounds even if they tested positive for distemper or any other canine viruses.

“We will nurse them back to health and find families that will adopt them,” she said.
Firoza noted that an increasing number of pet dogs were ending up in municipal council pounds.

“We know that they are pet dogs because they have collars and some are purebreeds,” she said.
She added that it was sad that some owners, who had been careless enough to allow their dogs to be caught, did not come to claim them from the pounds.

The CDII is also looking for more veterinary clinics which are willing to work with it in its canine rescue mission.

“Currently, we work with one clinic each in Klang and Petaling Jaya, but we need to work with more clinics due to the increasing number of rescues we carry out,” she said, adding that the clinics would be paid for their services.

For details, write to: malaysiandogsdeservebetter@gmail.com or visit http://malaysiandogsdeservebetter.blogspot.com/