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‘Love me tender, love me true’
The KACPAW shelter is a “ Doggy Haven” to more than 170 strays. But much more needs to be done says its secretary Champa Fernando, on the eve of World Animal Day which falls on October 4

By Marisa de Silva
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man” said Mark Twain and how very true it is.

As she called out lovingly to her many “charges” each, by name, I realised what real compassion and commitment was. For Mrs. Champa Fernando, Secretary of the Kandy Association for Community Protection through Animal Welfare (better known as KACPAW) cares for abandoned dogs with rare dedication. An Instructor at the English Language Teaching Unit of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Mrs. Fernando devotes all her free time to her beloved dogs and their upkeep.

Since its inception in 1999, KACPAW - a team of animal lovers, has been dedicated to a single cause; the welfare of stray dogs in Kandy. Their 119- perch “Doggy Haven” is home to over 170 dogs from as young as one week to veterans of eight. KACPAW is a shelter for all sizes and shades of stray dogs; many abandoned on their doorstep as tick-infested, mangy, malnourished dogs or puppies, in dire need of attention and tender loving care.

This shelter was once a horrible dog pound, with dogs cooped up in tiny dirty cages. However, over the years, KACPAW managed to shut down the pound and with initial funds received from two British associations-the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), build a shelter more conducive to the wellbeing of the dogs. The “Montessori” section, which is home to most of KACPAW’s pups, was built with funds donated by an organization “Pavithra Nagara Ayathanya” and L.M. Samarakoon who donated money for “Santhoshini Nivas” in memory of his beloved dog “Santhoshini”. KACPAW now has an international support group from all parts of the world, who help provide the food for the dogs.

The dogs are separated into different compounds according to their various temperaments, ages and health. Those with ‘problems’; the slightly nervous, overly friendly, anti-social, infants, toddlers, adolescents, adults and elderly, are grouped together as far as possible and treated accordingly. However, there are also a few VIPs, one in particular who struts about aloofly, looking down on her countless “lowly subjects” not displaying an ounce of fear. This is Kalu the solitary cat that roams the premises!

Two other VIPs are Rani and Wiji, who have become very much a part of the KACPAW family and would be shattered to have to leave the shelter where they’re so clearly set for life! As they sleep side-by-side in their snug-blanketed baskets, Rani, Wiji and Kalu clearly, rule the roost.

The love and care they receive at KACPAW has transformed these strays into healthy, lovable and more importantly, re-homable dogs. They’ve all been vaccinated against Rabies, Parvo and Distemper, regularly wormed and sterilized, leaving them well able to give all their love and loyalty to anyone who’s willing to give them a new home. This would help create more room at the shelter, for the countless other dogs out there facing a similar plight.
Mrs. Fernando, however, points out that shelters are not the answer to the stray dog problem and that the implementation of a four-pronged approach to educate, vaccinate, sterilize and re-home them would be far more effective in the long run.

Visitors are welcome at the centre, even if not to adopt one of the adorable inmates, to come and spend the day with them. Volunteers, both local and foreign have worked at the shelter helping the staff of four who care for the dogs.KACPAW has printed a booklet with photographs of each dog, along with details of age, character and health status thus giving prospective owners a better idea of what to expect. If around 10 or more dogs are wanted for adoption from an area out of Kandy, KACPAW is willing to bring them over. When a dog is adopted, the new owners are given a little handbook on how best to look after and treat their pets inclusive of information regarding how often to vaccinate and bathe them.

Those who are unable to take a dog home could even sponsor a dog at a cost of Rs. 2000 a month. Alternately, for those wanting to help, a day’s meal for all the dogs in the shelter costs Rs. 2500 or providing old newspapers to line the pups’ cages too would be much appreciated, says Mrs. Fernando.

Among KACPAW’s other initiatives are cards adorned with the cute faces of KACPAW’s inmates available at 20 rupees each. Meanwhile, with KACPAW’s sponsorship, the Health Education Bureau and the Public Health Veterinary Services Unit of the Ministry of Health have issued a leaflet in all three languages, to educate dog owners on how to be responsible and help eliminate Rabies.These leaflets were distributed islandwide last week (see box).
KACPAW could be contacted on 077-6923260, 081-2223378 or on 081-4470292 after 6 p.m.

Day with the doggies
To mark World Animal Day on October 4, a group of Sri Lanka Youth Parliamentarians (SLYP) in collaboration with Interact Clubs of Kandy and veterinary surgeons will spend the afternoon at KACPAW. The SLYP plans to make a presentation for Interact representatives from schools on the stray dog problem in Kandy.

"By this initiative we hope to build awareness about this problem and activate the Interactors to gather support in their respective schools by fund raising for a sterilization cum vaccination programme that we hope to organise by the end of this year," said Zaynab Zubair (17) a Youth Parliamentarian. They hope to encourage each school to sponsor at least 10 dogs for sterilization at Rs. 500 a dog.

Creating awareness
The Health Education Bureau and the Public Health Veterinary Services Unit of the Ministry of Health has just released a leaflet to make the public aware of their responsibilities and ‘stop the killing of dogs by controlling the birth of unwanted puppies and by preventing dogs going astray’.

Among the tips given:
To prevent Rabies:

Get your puppy from a known and reliable source
If you get it from an unknown source, vaccinate it and avoid close contact with it for at least one month as it may have the Rabies virus
Vaccinate your dogs against Rabies at the age of six weeks, six months and thereafter once in every one or two years
Keep the vaccination report safely. If the dog bites someone, produce the vaccination report to the doctor.

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