The results of the photo competition are known! In our newsletter of June we asked for pictures of the paw prints. We have selected 3 winners from the entries. The winners are Astrid van Empel with the picture of the cat looking to the paw prints, Phil van Kempen with a dog paw print on her leg in plaster and Carola Wattel with the rat paw prints on her car. Ladies, congratulations! You have won 10 paw prints of your choice.
Volunteers needed
Have you always been curious to know the ins and outs of a foreign shelter? Have you always wanted to help for a while with the care of dogs? Animal shelter PAWS Spain - which received in May 2008 a donation from Wereldpootjes - desperately needs volunteers to come and stay for 2 or more weeks. Are you crazy about dogs, are you up bright and early and can you stand the heat (in summer time it's very hot in the South of Spain)? If so, please contact valerielosgiles@yahoo.co.uk . There is a mobile home with two x 2-bed rooms, fitted kitchen and lounge area, English TV and toilet and shower room. More information in the list with Q's and A's.
Turkish educative booklet
The educative booklet about stray dogs in Turkish is ready! For 2008 our first aim was to sell as many paw prints as possible, in order that we could have 10,000 educative booklets and 5,000 flyers printed for Turkey. We are very happy to announce that we have succeeded!
The booklet has been written by Mr Ray Griffin, a British education expert, and is designed to help children from 10-12 years in countries where many stray dogs live. The purpose of this education project is to motivate children to care about animal welfare and learn them how to be more compassionate towards stray dogs. There is a full explanation of the neuter, vaccinate and release policy and how this is the only effective and humane way to solve the stray dog problem long term. We hope to educate the adult population through their children. The Rumanian animal welfare organisation FPCC has successfully been using this booklet since a few years. Volunteers from the animal shelters in Istanbul, Göcek and Kütahya (600 kilometer south of Istanbul) will use these booklets as teaching aids in schools they visit. The flyer is designed for older students.
Lottery
Belly dance teacher, Sena Röhl from Hellevoetsluis ( www.senadance.com) organised a swinging disco party with her students on the 8th of December 2007. As usual lottery tickets could be bought for a good cause and this time Wereldpootjes was chosen to receive the profits. The revenues were as much as euro 275,--! We would like to thank Sena and students very much! We will use this amount for the purchase of educational booklets to teach Turkish children about stray dogs.
Poisonings in Göcek
Bad news from Göcek. Sina (the contact person from the shelter) informed us that on the 3rd of December 2007, 7 dogs died by poisoning. These dogs were with a foster family in Göcek. One of the dogs belonged to the lady who was fostering, 4 others were due to go to new homes in Holland with the help of AAI. Somebody threw poisoned meat into the garden during the night and of course the dogs ate it. This resulted in all the dogs dying a slow and very painful death.
As a result of the poisoning Sina has put posters all over her village to express the anger and sadness that she and many people felt when the news of the 7 dogs deaths became public. Hereunder the poster and the English translation.
We were domestic pets of Göcek. We loved everybody and we thought everybody loved us. We lived in a home. We protected our houses, families and neighbours. We were harmless and loved by our families. One day you crept into our gardens and you showed no mercy. You brutally poisoned us, then slinked away. We were God's creatures like you are and we had the right to live too.
1. I was called KIZIM. I lived here for a long time. Good people loved me, because I never upset any one. I suffered a lot while I was dying.
2. People called me Kader. I was full of love for humans. What did I do to you to make you murder me so viciously?
3. My name was Jack. I was only visiting my friends. My family was shocked and they will miss me so much.
4. I was named Pipo. My family tried so hard to save me. But your poison was so strong that I died, just like my friends, in agony.
5. I was Badem. I was just 3 months old. I never had a chance to grow up because of you. I did not even know how to bark properly. Why did you hurt me so badly?
6. I was called Bambo. I was so well behaved and harmless. How did I deserve to die in such pain?
7. My name was Bali. My owners loved me for so many years that I was like their child. I trusted humans but you murdered me.
You are a murderer. Maybe you will never be found and may be you will continue to slaughter our friends. We consign your soul to ALLAH and we believe that you will answer to HIM for this terrible act.
Dear friends, we were slaughtered in our own gardens. The killer poisoned us. We wanted you to know about this because poison can harm humans too. Please be careful in this neighbourhood as we dogs would not want our human friends to be harmed....
Wereldpootjes on safari
Those Wereldpootjes stickers get everywhere. They even go on holiday! Not just any holiday but on safari to Namibia! They make a fine decoration for this camera case. And this black backed jackal was curious about them.Thanks to Anne Haase for these wonderful photos.
Dog photographer Bonnie van den Born
Bonnie van den Born takes fantastic photos of animals. Many of her photographs are published in various quality magazines. Bonnie would like to support Wereldpootjes, and will give a €10 reduction on a freestyle reportage (action, portrait, dog master, play, whatever the dog wants) to everyone who has stuck Wereldpootjes stickers on their car. For more info, click here for her site.
A Thank you message from Pascal
Travel crates needed
Do you have a travel crate that you no longer need? Airplane kennels are always needed by the Göcek and SHKD shelters to transport dogs to the Netherlands an Germany. Please let us know if you would like to donate one.