Animal shelter SPARE
Cairo, Egypt
Number of dogs: ± 120
Number of cats: ± 60

In March 2005 we went on holiday to Egypt and as a volunteer of the Animal Association International (AAI), a Dutch organisation, I was curious to know if there would be any animal protection organisations in Egypt. I learnt about 3 organisations, one of them was SPARE in Cairo. Because we were to fly back from Cairo, I asked if AAI wanted to rehome a dog from the SPARE shelter. I contacted Mona Khalil from SPARE and got some pictures of dogs who were ready to travel. AAI chose for Fulla, a female who had been in the shelter for 3 years. Of course, we also visited the shelter when we were in Cairo and we were impressed by the dedication and love of the staff for the dogs. The shelter appreciated enormously that foreigners were showing interest in their work, even if they were only there for one dog. In a country where the average man earns about 1.50 Euros a day, people obviously have other more important concerns than the destiny of a street dog. 

The shelter is located in Gizeh, near the Pyramids, some distance from the City. The shelter looked tidy; they sheltered approximately  50 dogs, which where placed in pairs in one kennel and there was also a courtyard, where they could play. Besides taking care of dogs, SPARE also offers medical care for horses and donkeys, free of charge because Brooks Hospital is only active in Cairo. After Mexico, Cairo is the biggest city in the world with a population of 20 million people. There are some open areas, spread over the city where street-dogs are being taken care of by volunteers from SPARE. They have to pay some guards money to watch over these dogs so they won’t by taken down or poisoned by the municipality.

As SPARE had no crates, Fulla would be transported in a huge iron cage more suited to a lion! AMC airlines, the Egyptian charter company, had informed Mona that they would not charge extra costs for the transport of Fulla. In Egypt only people who are actually travelling may enter the airport. As a result, Mohammed, the driver who would take Fulla to the airport, could not go into the building. I dreaded a little our trip back, I hoped the check-in would be alright. It became a journey never to be forgotten....! 
 
At a quarter past one the bus picked us up to take us to the airport. Mohammed was really on time and went to see the bus driver in order to inform him he would drive behind the bus. I had agreed with Mona that Fulla would be tranquilised, but Mohammed said that this wasn’t the case. I could not believe it, she sat so quietly in her crate. The cage was covered by a sheet at 3 sides. It seemed to me wise to inform the Egyptian representative of our tour operator about Fulla. Mahmoud had a security pass so he could accompany us into the airport. He looked surprised for a moment, but then took control. He checked the health papers and shepherded Fulla around the X-ray machine. Mohammed was allowed no further than the point where our passports, ticket and luggage were checked. We lined up in the queue for the check-in.   
 
In the meantime Mahmoud was already busy talking to the co-workers from AMC airlines. The company wanted a copy of Fulla`s travel documents, and I didn`t have any copies, so Mahmoud gave someone a few Egyptian pounds and sent him to make copies of those documents. He asked me: “Who told you you could take this dog free of charge”? Pessimistic I thought: Here comes trouble….. Of course Mister Amr isn`t here…. Mahmoud instructed me: “Write down in English what kind of deal you had made." I wrote down on a paper that we would take a dog from the shelter in Cairo and that we had permission from Madam Khalil after she contacted Mister Amr, he had said that we could take the dog free of charge (Free of Charge, I underlined). In closing I thanked the charter-company for their wonderful cooperation (always be polite). Mahmoud translated this story afterwards into Arabic.


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