CONFISCATED DOGS

LSPCA, with the help of the Malawi Police, confiscated 6 dogs from Universal Security Company last week.  The dogs were found in a broken down vehicle which had been transferring them from where they had been guarding.  Someone saw the dogs in the car and, concerned about their health, called LSPCA Veterinarian Sophie to inform her about the situation.  An LSPCA employee was sent to get the Police and, after inquiring what the problem was, it was found that the dogs had been kept there in the sun for over 5 hours without any food or water.  The police took the dogs to LSPCA where they are being treated for skin problems and dehydration.  Already, there is a notable improvement in their health. The company involved is being investigated.

ANIMAL CAPTURING AND INVESTIGATION TRAINING

Representatives from the Humane Society International together with the Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals conducted a 3 day training at the Malawi Police, Lilongwe Headquarters. The training was from the 23rd of September, 2013 to the 25th of September, 2013.  Its main aim was to teach the attendants on how to capture stray animals and how to investigate on animal abuse. Present were representatives from the Police, Malawi Veterinary Association, Wildlife Society and the Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development.  The facilitator of the training was Soham Mukherje from the Humane Society International.

Soham said the concept was to raise the standards of animal welfare in developing countries.  the main focus of the training were dogs.  The first presentation was on stray dogs catching, which are the most difficult to catch.  The personnel should always catch dogs safely and humanely.  Team effort is also required.  The capturing techniques are non-invasive, which is a quiet and calm way used to catch friendly animals, and using equipment to aggressive animals.  examples of the equipment used are slip leads, cage traps and chemicals.

a guide to safely and humanely evaluate, approach and remove animals was also presented.  The objective of this was to learn how to evaluate your surrounding, humanely handle the animals, protect yourself and others and remove the animal.  The calming techniques that are used are speaking softly,  lowering your stature, offering a hand to stiff and not approaching with equipment.  when removing the animals after capturing, one needs to identify the exit, observe who is in close proximity and communicate needs and intentions with team mates.  The tools required are hands and gloves, towel and slip lead, net and control pole and life trap and immobilization, and the techniques are supporting the animals bodies, securing ones hold and protecting yourself as well as identifying the animals defense method.

Soham also taught on how to write investigative reports, what to include and layout.  By the end of the training, the trainees practiced on how to approaching , capturing and handling animals.
 

THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY STAKEHOLDERS WORKSHOP

The Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals organized a workshop on 19th September, 2013.  The aim of the workshop was to look at the guidelines on how the community should manage animals considering that animal welfare is a very important agenda.  The importance of this workshop saw the presence of the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Jermoth Ulemu Chilapondwa, as the guest of honor.  

Among other things, the Deputy Minister highlighted that ensuring animal welfare, which is the means of how an animal is coping, is a human responsibility.  We should make sure that animals have good housing and feeds, and that they are handled and slaughtered in a humane way.  He said good animal welfare means good human welfare since almost 60% of the Malawian population depends on livestock products.  This can be achieved by ensuring that farmers have access to good husbandry techniques because it is directly related to good animal welfare, which also includes freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition, freedom from fear and distress, freedom from physical and thermal discomfort, freedom from pain, injury and diseases and freedom to express normal patterns of behavior.   Ever since the Malawi Animal Protection Act was reviewed in 1970, the country still has inadequate animal legislation hence the need for another review.  At the moment, the government is setting up a veterinary school to enable farmers access new technologies needed to improve livestock welfare.

One of the issues that was tackled at the workshop was how the issue of animal welfare can be approached. Rabies reduction was specified.  Rabies, which is spread mostly by dogs and cats, can be reduced by knowing the population of the animals which leads to proper planning of education, sterilization, legislation, management, etc.

The recommendations that were made at the workshop to make sure that good animal welfare is achieved in Malawi were that since animal welfare is involved by a lot of issues, it needs to be addressed by more than one organization.  Some of the organizations which were mentioned are LSPCA, Wildlife, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), Ministry of Health, Civil Society, Malawi Veterinary Association, the Malawi Police and Cold Storage. It was also recommended that the Animal Protection Act should be looked at and revised if need be.

Clinic in a Box film

Check out this short film of the Clinic in a Box journey - from the donated veterinary equipment and supplies being loaded in the UK to the magical moment of the truck arriving in Malawi and all the equipment being used in the clinic. A huge thanks to everyone who made this happen!

Malawi's first x-ray of a pet!

Inglis vet team (Adam, Louise, Audrey) treating Scruffy

Little Scruffy the dog was involved in a road accident last month. He was obviously unaware of making history when he became the first pet to be x-rayed in Malawi! 

Dr Richard Ssuna viewing Scruffy's x-ray

Thanks to the wonderful team from Inglis vets and engineer extraordinaire, Mark from Max Fordham in Scotland, the x-ray generator (the bit that takes the x-ray) was carefully hung from the wall (Mark was so confident in the strength of the bracket holding it that he even swung from it himself...!). 


Scruffy had two broken ribs, so our new equipment is already making a difference and helping us to more accurately diagnose and improve the treatment of our patients.

Huge thanks to all our sponsors!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

LSPCA and RSPCA would like to say a huge thank you to all the companies and individuals that made the Clinic in a Box project happen. Thanks to your generosity the LSPCA veterinary clinic now has the equipment, medicines and supplies to treat many more animals and carry out procedures such as blood tests and x-rays. We also have lots of food to feed all our dogs looking for new homes and the LSPCA staff look very smart in their new uniforms! These photos show just a small selection of the many donations, but we hope they will give you an idea of why we were so excited about this project and how grateful we are to all who helped with it! 

Richard Ssuna (LSPCA) and
Donnamarie O'Connell (RSPCA) in the clinic theatre

Lots of dog food for animals rescued by LSPCA  (Mars Pet Food)

Richard with new surgical instruments (Henry Schein)

The anaesthetic machine will make operations safer for the animals (Burtons)

LSPCA staff in new uniforms (Co-op)

'Anna' on the new consult table (RSPCA Manchester animal hospital)

We will post more photos of the donated equipment as it is used in the coming weeks. For more photos of the equipment being installed (thanks to the help of our new best friends from Inglis Vets in Scotland!) check out LSPCA's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/lspca 

Clinic in a Box arrives in Malawi!

Pallets ready to load at RSPCA warehouse

Sorry for the long delay in updating this blog, but lots of things have happened since our last post!!! The container was finally loaded in March, and set off on its 2 month trip round west Africa and down to Port Elizabeth in South Africa. Then it went onto a new ship up to Mozambique and finally after a bit of a delay in the port it was on a truck and on to Malawi!!

Clinic in a Box - on the truck!

It has been like waiting for Christmas to come week after week, but finally the truck arrived at the LSPCA clinic to much excitement and LSPCA staff and friends were waiting eagerly to off load the contents and start opening boxes!

The container arrives!

Richard Ssuna with an open Clinic in a Box!

The truck arrived late in the afternoon and after a couple of hiccups - like it wouldn't fit through the clinic gates, and we struggled to get the seal off! - it was a great moment when we started off loading all the veterinary and office equipment, medicines and consumables that LSPCA have been waiting for. All went very smoothly despite the darkness outside as the sun set, and darkness inside the clinic thanks to a power cut... 

Lots of friends helping to off load!

Still off-loading...!

LOTS of dog food!

Thanks to everyone who came to help off-load, this was definitely a team effort! 
As you can see, it was a great moment when the container was finally emptied and we all jumped in for a photo!