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