From the animals, thank you for this past decade – and please do find time to raise a glass and a smile of pride to yourselves for being part of the Animals Asia family and part of the positive change for animals everywhere.
Bear hugs and blessings, Jill
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Our animal therapy dogs are fundamental to the success and flawless reputation of Dr Dog. Where would we be without these incredible ambassadors - these bearers of unconditional love who melt people's hearts wherever they go and confirm without any shred of doubt why dogs (and cats) are our friends...not food. One of the most satisfying moments is when a newly submitted Dr Dog passes the test - and, at that moment, it seems that the whole world is lit up with joy for both dog and owner.
Marnie, Cassy and I (together with a team of tireless volunteers) tested 20 dogs just recently in Hong Kong with a pass rate of just 6 and one on probation (a beautiful but slightly exuberant Labrador!). In fact this pass rate of around thirty percent is normal. The tests are challenging for both the dogs and owners as we need these potential consultants to be "bomb proof". For example, children in disabled centres and hospital wards can mischievously tweak tails in the blink of an eye and the dogs must prove a temperament that can deal with the occasional "surprise". I'm so sorry for the dogs that fail - most of mine would too. But it doesn't mean we should love them any less - most dogs are just too intelligent to be tweaked and not have at least a little moan or a twitch of the upper lip. Sadly, this would disqualify them from a programme which has been incident free for 17 years and which firmly puts dogs on the pedestals they deserve.
Once passed the dogs will be monitored by the AAF team for performance and adaptability to the programme for life. These fully fledged doctors will now join our other pioneer therapists visiting centres across Hong Kong (and of course not forgetting the same process in six other countries of Asia where Dr Dog operates!).
*The Bradbury Hospice staff in Hong Kong are fabulous to work with in promoting harmony between people and animals, and stories abound of radiant smiles when the dogs bounce into the patients rooms. One lady in her mid 30's, Carmen, in an adult terminal cancer ward adored two dogs so much - Dr Chi Ma Woo and Dr Batt Mui. She often repeated to Marnie and the hospital staff how much they enlightened her life and how she would look forward to their visits - especially when looking forward to the day when she would be fully recovered.
Tragically, it was not to be, and it was so sad to hear recently that she had passed away - but right up to the end she was saying to the nurses how much she loved the presence of the four legged doctors in her life. This blog is dedicated to Carmen, because it is what Dr Dog is all about - and I'm so proud of our best friends and of Marnie and her team who lead this programme with such passion, sensitivity and dedication.
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They don't come more beautiful than this - or luckier too. Found in a petshop area just after the earthquake that hit Chengdu, Richter would have faded away and died if our previous volunteer vet nurse Judy hadn't said "should we go back one more time to see if there's anything left?" And there he was - lying in a cage, skin and bone and, according to the pet shop owner, "worth money if I can find someone to buy him". Luckily, our Education Manager Rainbow Zhu moved heaven and earth in persuading the owner to give him up and Richter left the horribly devastated area and came home with us. Adored by everyone on site at our Bear Sanctuary, but by no-one more than vet nurse Wendy (who cares for him around the clock and can never be seen far from her little white "shadow"), Richter will make a perfect Dr Dog ambassador once his rickets have healed and he's put on more weight.
Meanwhile the third luckiest dog is Quake. Thrust into our hands by the Chinese Red Cross when we were performing rescue work on the mountain of Anxian this little pup has continued growing in size and naughtiness and is now looking forward to a new life soon in Hong Kong with our Marketing Director Juanita Tom, who fell in love with him at first sight.
These are just some of the dogs we've been able to help - in fact the tally is now up to over 120 dogs and five cats thanking their lucky stars that Animals Asia was in their right place at the right time when disaster struck..
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We are getting a lot of queries about how Animals Asia is using the Olympics to highlight the suffering of animals in China. This is an issue we have given much thought to and have been discussing for some time. We have been working on the ground in China for over 20 years and we believe we know what works and what doesn't. In our view, boycotts and "aggressive" protests simply don't work - in fact they can work against us.
We show the suffering and abuse and we state the animals' case - but we are where we are today because we work with the authorities and local communities, not against them. Of course we also work with over 150 Chinese staff and with literally hundreds of thousands of animal lovers supporting our aims - this is a proud and non political time for them all.
If you'd like to learn more about our thought on this issue, please go to our position paper.
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We’re often asked if the bears really put their past behind them and recover mentally from their traumatic years on the farms. The simplest way of responding to that question these days is simply to say, “tree party”!
If ever the bears can show that their lives have come full circle, that they are happy to be with other members of their species, free to explore, forage and play, it is when we are lucky enough to catch them doing exactly what they shouldn’t be doing in the enclosures – right in front of our Bear Manager’s eyes.
Despite the tireless attempts of our team members to protect the trees on site, clearly the bears run rings around them all. They love nothing better than showing how well they can unravel the rope holding bamboo strips in place that protect the trees in their enclosures – and then showing how well they can climb to the top!
Generally – and remarkably, these are our "physically challenged" bears in House 6, missing limbs from being caught in traps in the wild and now showing how an apparent "disability" means nothing to them at all.
Old favourites who have been with us for years, like naughty three-legged Somerset (who arrived as a cub in 2004, sponsored by fabulous Lee Gibbins and her Moon Bear Rescue group it the UK), are now skilfully showing the new youngsters how to break all the rules.
We can’t help laughing. The word went out recently on the sanctuary walkie-talkies that another tree party was taking place, and we all ran over to see.
There was Somerset high in the tree-top, gleefully stripping branches away from the tree and throwing them down to no less than 14 of his eager partners-in-crime. Hours later, a few stray twigs and leaves were all that was left from an afternoon of ursine fun.
Luckily for this story, our Bear Manager, Donata, was there with her camera recording the whole sordid scene of damage and destruction by a group of happy, delinquent bears that don't give a thought to their past.
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