Be Kind To Pets, Vet case studies, Photography tips, Travel Stories

March 27, 2017

Caring for the stray dogs and cats - disabled, sick and homeless is a life-long calling.
It needs an energetic dedicated leader who can organise a group of volunteers and raise
funds for the upkeep of facilities and increasing number of animals over the years.

HOUSING OF NO-KILL ANIMAL SHELTERS
Dr Sing Kong Yuen
Toa Payoh Vets

INTRODUCTION
Housing stray dogs and cats demand lots of money. Ideally, there should be a row of kennels with concrete walls up to 6 feet high and concrete flooring with drainage. This structure is easy to host down with water to clean and flush away ticks. It requires more money to build.

Two no-kill animal shelters are featured in this article.

1. NANAS' housing in 2008

Noah's Ark Natural Animal Shelter (NANAS), Pekan, Johor, Malaysia
is a well established animal shelter started by Raymund Wee, a Singaporean before 2008 when I visited NANAS. NANAS has over 1,000 animals in 2017.

Some pictures of the housing I saw in 2008 visit are shown below:

Fenced kennels for newly arrived batch of stray dogs from Singapore.

Cattery for stray cats

Stray dog without tail from Singapore settles down

to living in peace in NANAS. His tail was hacked and injured

by some burglars in his fishing pond farm in Yishun, Singapore

                              NANAS has large hectares of land for the dogs to roam freely
                             and for volunteers and visitors (prospective donors) to visit.
                             Activist Lynda Goh examines an injured stray dog. In 2008, Dr Daniel
                             Sing (facing camera), a veterinary student at Murdoch University
                             is now a vet at Toa Payoh Vets in 2017.

                                     Activist Lynda Goh attends to volunteers and visitors during
                                    their tour of NANAS

2. HOUSING IN WHITE HEART ANIMAL RESCUE AND SHELTER, Myanmar IN 2017.
is a start-up no-kill animal shelter started by Ms May Thazin. I visited the place, a
warehouse residence rented by her in March 14, 2017. This is a good start to acquire experiences of animal welfare work.

The wooden kennels are donated. Ideally, the flooring should be at ground level for ease of maintenance. If the flooring is raised, a sick dog hides below and is hard to be cared for and treated. See video.

I was much surprised to see an animal shelter started by a lady resident in Myanmar. In Yangon, it seemed that foreign animal welfare institutions are present but I have yet to see any animal shelter in Yangon. Keep up the good work of giving care to the stray dogs, Ms Thazin.

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3. LYNDA GOH RESCUES THE YISHUN FISH POND AREA STRAY DOGS IN 2018.

I met Ms Lynda Goh is a long-time volunteer at NANAS in 2008. She wanted a volunteer vet to help to vaccinate and microchip a pack of stray dogs at a fishing pond area in Yishun, North Singapore.
The Singapore Armed Forces wanted the land back and so Lynda got the stray dogs rehomed in NANAS, Johor.

Full of energy as she fielded numerous calls from people wanting her to care for the strays. See some pictures below:

The vet is me, Dr Sing Kong Yuen

A fishing pond with lots of land in Yishun, North Singapore

was leased out to an operator but now, the military

wanted the land back. Fortunately, there was Ms Lynda Goh who sacrifices

her free time to.give care to the stray dogs and cats in Singapore. She has

lots of animal rescue stories to make a wonderful movie for animal lovers.

One story was a stray dog in a factory bit a woman. She complained to the

government and the dog was wanted. No rewards. Usually this meant the end of

life for this dog. She rehomed the dog and so his life was saved.

Lynda organises volunteers to put the Yishun dogs into carriers to be transported to

NANAS in Johor, Malaysia. Lots of paperwork and efforts. Incredible efforts

from a working city girl from Singapore.

Volunteers help Lynda to round up the dogs for me to vaccinate

before going to NANAS. Volunteer Esther feeds the dogs

to befriend them. Lynda is on the left. Just full of patience and love.

Esther's 9-year-old daughter, Emily
She has her adopted dog in the fishing pond. He is called Bobby.

helps out.

Bobby is housed in NANAS

Bobby at NANAS, Johor, Malaysia with his group
of friends. Emily visits him with her mother occasionally.

Ms Lynda Goh thanks the volunteers. A group photo taken by Dr Sing Kong Yuen. Ms Lynda
Goh is photogenic. The old man and his wife (middle front) are the operators of the Yishun
Fish Pond. In Singapore, people go to fish at the fish ponds. The fishes and prawns are put into the pond by the operators and Singaporeans really go there to hook them. This hobby is not for me.

                                      Ms Lynda Goh with her volunteer Esther and her two children.The old man
                                    may be the fish pond operator. A rural life with electricity generator in this
                                    fish pond area, now demolished and is army land.

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MS LYNDA GOH, SINGAPORE, Animal Activist

Lynda Goh in 2008 was overwhelmed with animal welfare

work, attending to queries as a volunteer and working lady.
In 2017, she is still active in NANAS. I estimated over 100,000 stray dogs
and cats have been helped by her since 2008.

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                             MS MAY THAZIN, MYANMAR
                             Animal Activist. Started the White Heart Animal Rescue & Shelter recently to
                             help stray dogs hit by vehicles. She could have been a lady of leisure. I hope she
                             can get a big piece of land and funds to build up a no-kill shelter 10 years later.

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Article on White Heart seen in Mar 14, 2017 by Dr Sing Kong Yuen.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

3048. Myanmar Travels: White Heart Animal Rescue and Shelter, Magwe, Myanmar

VETERINARY FILES FROM MYANMAR
Sponsored by Toa Payoh Vets
Mar 13, 2017

A MEANINGFUL LIFE

It was a bright and sunny morning of Mar 13, 2017. I had my breakfast and was ready to move out of Htein Htein Thar Hotel, Magwe to visit another famous pagoda after visiting 4 of them in Bagan yesterday. My hosts were Drs Thein Tun Aung and Thin Thin Soe, accompanied by their daughter. Mr Soe was my friend and our driver. Dr Aung came and introduced a well dressed slim lady to me and we left the hotel.

Ms May Thazin, a civil engineer founded the White Heart Animal Rescue and Shelter, Magwe, Myanmar. She was the first local animal activist I have met in Myanmar.

Ms May Thazin had contacted Dr Thein Tun Aung from Royal Asia Veterinary Surgery, Yangon via Facebook. As Dr Aung was in Magwe, she rode her scooter to the hotel at 8 am to show him her Shelter. Dr Aung asked me to accompany him, sacrificing his breakfast.

The first thing I noted was that there was not one piece of dog faeces on the ground, unlike the other animal shelter I had visited. There were around 20 stray dogs and so there ought to be some dung. Many were limping casualties of traffic accidents (video).

One cross-bred was badly wounded and hid under the dog kennel. He would growl if anyone approached him.

KENNEL FLOOR PLAN
Well wishers had contributed to the construction of the dog kennels. "The kennels should not have raised floors as it will be easier to clean," I could see an injured dog hiding under the kennel for safety. Ms Thazin had asked Dr Aung to examine it. Dr Aung had to bend down and try to pull the leash to get the dog out (video).
One hid under the wooden kennel as he had a serious large facial wound. Dr Aung bent down to examine him.

"Are there private vets in Magwe?" I asked Dr Aung. "No," he said.
The government vets in Magwe do treatment but it will be charged.

This shelter was a house used as a warehouse rented out to Ms Thazin.

EXPOSED WELLS ARE DEATH TRAPS FOR DOGS
A small well of around 6 feet across provided water for the dogs.

This was an excellent idea as underground water is free. Many houses may not have piped water and bottled water is very popular as some residents do not drink the well water which is used for washing and bathing. Some residents of riverside towns bathe and wash their clothes by the river as part of their culture.

"The well is a death trap," I said to Ms Thazin. "Some dogs may fall in or be pushed in by other dogs and drown. It is better to design a rectangular narrow trough as used for cattle feeding." Such drownings are foreseen and a strong netting covers the top. This will not be practical as the dogs drink from the sides of the well (see video). Unfortunately, in real life, only when a dog drowns in it will there be action to prevent further deaths.

CANINE DISEASES

Puppies do suffer from viral diseases like distemper, parvoviruses. There was a German Shepherd puppy that had coughing and runny noses, likely to be a victim of distemper. Dr Aung treated him.

Rabies in dogs are present in Myanmar.
The government vets do rabies vaccination of stray dogs and culling. There are stray dogs and cats in the villages. Road traffic has increased considerably as the country modernises and becomes prosperous. So, more stray dogs wandering around the roadside get hit by vehicles and become lame.
Rabies can kill people. I hope that Ms Thazin had got her rabies vaccination done.

A MEANINGFULL LIFE. Being educated and internet savvy, I expect Ms May Thazin to do an excellent job for the strays and the disabled dogs and cats by forming a group of helpers and donors to fund the expensive maintenance of animal shelters.