In Ghana, Humane Education is the Answer

Prior to forming the Ghana Society for the Protection & Care of Animals (GSPCA) in 2004, two Ghanaians, David and Roland, coordinated and provided guidance to“Kindness Clubs”--over 200 clubs located throughout Ghana.  In these after-school clubs, children learned about animals and did activities that helped improve the lives of animals (i.e., handed out information about rabies and rabies prevention; visited homes that kept animals to help them take better care of them; and held Rural Animal Clinics, where vets and assistants would provide, free of charge, immunizations, de-worming, flea and tick control, and other disease prevention and treatment).  To formalize the clubs and bring them into the “fold” of an NGO, David (in photo below holding the cute puppy) and Roland started the GSPCA.  Since 2007, the GSPCA has been an Animal-Kind International partner organization.  http://www.animal-kind.org/GSPCAadvocate.html.

Just last month, in a statement published by the Ghana News Agency, Amasaba Abdul-Yakeen Aluizah, GSPCA Humane Educator/Communicator (shown below teaching a humane ed class), announced a new program "to engender a sense of public love towards animal welfare and protection in Ghana."  Aluizah's statement went on to say that "this new move of education that focuses first on school children, would add value to the public health education and particular the welfare and protection of animals. Dubbed, 'Humane Education Programme,' the GSPCA has begun piloting the programme in four selected schools in Madina and Kotobabi in the Greater Accra Region. The schools are Trust Academy in the Adenta Municipality, Providence School in Kotobabi, Gospel Academy, and Action School, both at Madina in the La Nkwantanang Municipality."

This new initiative is an eight-week pilot project that covers topics such as basic care for dogs, cats and farm animals. 

Aluizah mentioned to AKI, “There is a topic on how to handle donkeys, which has for long been treated as a beast of burden. GSPCA on the other hand thinks the Donkey is a friend of mankind and should be treated humanely, and so should be other animals.”

Each school will have a focal person (a teacher), who will be trained as a mentor, and who will receive handbooks to help guide and teach the pupils.  The pilot is targeting 20 pupils from each school to be trained and equipped with all the necessary materials to continue learning about and spreading the message of kindness to animals. 

Aluizah concluded, "So far the enthusiasm shown in the schools visited was encouraging, and in all schools the number of pupils exceeded the estimated number, in certain cases the number tripled the quota of pupils required for the project. This to GSPCA is indicative of overwhelming interest to know rudiments of animals who are part of their environment.”

Thank you GSPCA, and in particular, David and Aluizah, for spreading kindness!  You can donate to the Ghana SPCA through the AKI website (link above); designate GSPCA for your donation. AKI sends 100% of your donations to our partners; we have no overhead.

A rescue in Honduras and changing attitudes

Helping Hands for Hounds of Honduras, run by Pilar Thorn, is one of ten Animal-Kind International partner organizations.  Pilar rescued Chalo during a de-worming and feeding clinic last April in Tegucigalpa.  During the clinic, a woman came up to Pilar with a closed plastic bag, and opened it to reveal a near-dead, soaking wet and hypothermic puppy that was full of parasites and too weak to stand, skin and bones. The woman turned him over to Pilar and took a phone number to check on him (she never did call).

Pilar wrote to AKI, “The first week was touch and go. He had diarrhea and would not eat. So lots of antibiotics (thank you AKI) and after treating him for external and internal parasites, he started to eat but continued with diarrhea. Finally after two weeks, he was better and beginning to play. I got him his first vaccinations (also thanks to AKI) and then started looking for someone to adopt him since after more than a month, I was quite attached. He learned sit very quickly and also was crate trained and almost house trained. Jesus wrote to me and asked to visit the HHHH sanctuary.  He came with his girlfriend to walk a couple of dogs but more to meet Chalo. The next day, they came to adopt him.” (See photo below of Chalo with his new owner, Jesus.)

                 

I was especially taken with this photograph and wanted to find out more about whether attitudes towards dogs were changing.  

AKI asked Pilar, do you think there's a difference between how men in Honduras treat dogs and cats, and how women do?

Pilar: Yes, I think there is a difference.  It might be a macho thing that makes men not want to seem sensitive or caring, but on the whole women seem to be more in tune to animal’s feelings, maybe the maternal instinct but in all the campaigns you mostly see women helping with some guys (usually boyfriends of women who are helping).

AKI: Do men in Honduras have issues with getting their male dogs sterilized--as many men do in the US?

Pilar: Men here have a big problem with neutering their male dogs or anyone’s male dogs. They think they will no longer be good guard dogs.  Men act as if you were going to castrate them. They are very reluctant even if the dog is very uncomfortable and ill from Sticker's sarcoma or transmissible venereal tumor. It takes a lot of convincing and finally they might agree if they understand their dog might die if not castrated.

AKI: Are younger men more likely to show affection towards dogs than older men in Honduras (or younger people in general)?

Pilar: I see more and more kids of both sexes becoming more interested in dogs and cats and their needs. They want to go with their pets to the vet and see what is happening, but the girls like to cuddle them more.  I also think young men are more compassionate than older men. This might be due to the influence of TV, internet, movies, books or because they do not have to struggle out in the fields working from dawn to dusk to help feed their families giving them more free time to enjoy pets. (Photo below of Galip, another HHHH rescue dog enjoying the company of his new family.)

 

AKI: Do you think animal cruelty is linked to domestic violence in Honduras?

Pilar: I feel there is definitely a link between animal abuse and domestic violence with some men beating wives and children as well as pets. This is especially true in the campo where life is harder and the men go out drinking and then come home to beat wife and kids and any pets around. Although I have also seen very poor people treat their pets much better than some very rich people. I am not sure why.

Thank you Pilar!
To read more about HHHH, AKI's partner organization, and to donate to HHHH's rescue and sheltering efforts, see: http://www.animal-kind.org/honduras.html

South Sudan: The value of dogs (continued) and cats

Nickson from South Sudan continued his story about dogs and also this time, talked about cats in S. Sudan. 

 [Photo above is of a humane ed meeting with tribal elders, held in S. Sudan in 2009]

Also in South Sudan, people name their dogs so they can call them when they are together in the bush.  They usually give their dogs a traditional name, and sometimes multiple names.  Amirock is a popular name, and in the Bari language means the enemy.  Often the name will depend on some event or the situation/position of the dog’s owner.   

Some people in South Sudan cut the tail of their dog, in the belief that the dog will be very strong and work hard for his owner.  Cutting the dog’s tail is thought to take away the cowardice and to make the dog courageous in any situation.
 
We believe that dogs in Sudan are able to identify the people of their ethnic group.  By being able to identify the different dress and different colors, a dog can tell which group he belongs to. 

Also dogs are used in the bush to bring hunters back to their homes in case they are lost.  We believe that dogs don’t forget the direction they came from.    

South Sudanese do not eat dog meat in any form.   But some South Sudanese eat cats.  In a few parts of South Sudan, if you are an honored guest, you will be fed cat meat, which, in these areas, is considered the best meat. 

People from some tribes, including the Moru Tribe, believe that they can change themselves into cats.  If you do something that a Moru does not like, he will change himself into a cat and come for you at night and scratch you like a cat.  And if you take a Moru girl and don’t pay bride price—considered an affront--many Moru members will change themselves into cats and all will come for you at night.
    
Cats are usually kept in shops and homes to protect them from mice and rats.  When cats are young, Sudanese may feed the kitten, but when the cat is older, he is expected to hunt for himself, and little if any care is given to adult cats in South Sudan.  Most of them are fairly wild, and usually don’t survive long—cats may be eaten by other animals, hit by cars, or die from some disease.  

South Sudan: The value of dogs

I asked my friend Nickson from South Sudan how people feel about dogs in his country.  This is what he told me:

In South Sudan, dogs are used to protect against thieves, as a security “machine” in compounds.  Also, they are used by local people to herd cattle, sheep, and goats, and during hunting trips in the bush.

The value of dogs differs from area to area, depending on the service they deliver to the owner.  Pastoralist communities such as the Bagara in Kordofan State, the Denkia, Mondari, and Bari peoples, and all other cattle keepers are very serious about their dogs because they help them on the range.

There is one clan, in the Bari tribe, called Lodara, who looks on dogs as their brothers.  In their tradition, they believe that a woman who has just given birth must eat with a dog, on one plate, using one spoon,

drinking water from the same cup, and sitting at the same table.  This tradition is meant to prove that the baby is actually the husband’s.

If the wife has strayed, and the baby is someone else’s, after she goes through this traditional ceremony, the baby will die immediately (or possibly one week or even one month later or the child may turn out to be handicapped in some way). If the new mother refuses to eat with the dog, the family knows that the baby is not the true child of the legal husband.

The entire family plays a part in the ceremony by helping to select the dog that will participate.  They select the dog based on the behavior of the wife.  If she is kind to the relatives and a wise woman, they will choose a clean, kind dog.  If they don’t like her, they select a dirty, flea-bitten dog with wounds to eat with her.

The Lodara often marry outside the clan and this ceremony also serves to show that the new wife accepts this culture in which the dog is their brother.  In most other cultures in Southern Sudan, it would be unacceptable to eat and drink with a dog, so if a wife is willing to take part in this ceremony, she has obviously accepted her new clan and their ways.

The real reason behind this ceremony though is that the husband does not trust his wife, and the ceremony is used to prove her faithfulness.  The dog is used to bring trust between husband and wife.  If she passes the test, her husband will be responsible for his children because he knows they are really hers.  She must go through this ceremony every time she gives birth.    

Lodara babies then grow up, with the dog who shared their mother’s plate, as their uncle.  The child will protect the dog and won’t allow anyone to beat him.  The family may even kill a person who dares to beat or kill the dog, the uncle.  The dog remains an uncle to the child for the entire life of the dog.