Foreigner-funded dog abuse in Sri Lanka

A stray dog sleeping in front of a shop

By Champa Fernando-July 4, 2019, 9:10 pm

Secretary, KACPAW (Kandy Association for Community Protection through Animal Welfare) http:/www.kacpaw.org/

A Massive Racket?

What seems to be a massive FaceBook racket (a scam may be of international proportions) duping foreigners into donating huge amounts of money to build basic buildings to incarcerate street dogs and to purchase luxury vehicles to transport street dogs to the vet (!) was reported to the relevant authorities for investigation and necessary action by a large group of animal lovers, welfarists and activists of Sri Lanka, who were appalled by the funded animal abuse and the denigration of the image of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans for personal gain.

The modus operandi was to denigrate Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans as excessive animal abusers and condemn all other local animal welfarists/activists and animal lovers as cheats and liars not to be trusted. Various ludicrous canards were used as well as gory pictures of injured and uncared for dogs to shock foreigners into giving. A heavy subscription to this scam from unsuspecting US citizens was seen in this racket. Hope the American Embassy in Sri Lanka and its Assistant Regional Security Officer take note of this and contact us for clarification.

Why Foreigners?

For foreigners visiting Sri Lanka, especially from Western Countries, seeing straying dogs becomes a major concern and a cause for anxiety. Most of these visitors do not see street dogs in their countries for the simple fact that any straying animal is either put into a kill shelter or a no-kill shelter.

Both Visitors and Non-visitors have no idea of the phenomenon of Street Dogs in Sri Lanka, how they become much loved community dogs once spayed (surgical removal of the reproductory system) and vaccinated against rabies, or about our unique No-Kill Policy on Dogs or about the National Spay Programme funded by the Government, a programme that compliments the No-kill Policy on Dogs by arresting the emergence of street dog via spaying, which is the more humane option as against annual culling, that went on till 2006 over hundreds of years with no sustainable results on the reduction or arrest of the growth of dog populations, the excess of which become street dogs.

Successful Dog Population Growth Control Programme Models reaching almost Zero Population Growth can be seen in areas where intensive spaying was consistently done over several years vouching for this method of dog population growth control.

In this highly dog welfare-conducive backdrop in Sri Lanka, which was the hard work of several decades by pioneering animal welfarists, some others and not necessarily animal lovers, have seen an opportunity to dupe these good hearted foreigners by manipulating the very nature of their anxiety and helplessness by offering to care for the rescued pup or dogs for whose care the money is readily given immediately and even after they go back. The support gets cascaded thousand times through Social Media via both actual and fake FaceBook accounts and fund raisers such as Go-Fund-Me.

Why this Exposure?

The purpose of this exposure is to warn foreign visitors not to subscribe to funded dog abuse as well as to alert the relevant local authorities to arrest the following:

1) the harm done to our much admired dog welfare programme of unique proportions. Health Ministry please note.

2) the treacherous denigration of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans as a nation of barbarians harming dogs, particularly at a time when all Sri Lankans should work towards the building of our country’s image as a number 1 tourist destination. Sri LankaTourism Development Authority please note.

Let them also be urged to investigate

3) possible money laundering of international proportions. Inland Revenue Department and FCID please note.

4) and possible non-registration and non-abiding of local authority rules and regulations in setting up such dog-holding facilities/buildings, enterprises. Local Government Authorities please note.

Allow us to Make You Aware of the Phenomenon of Street Dogs in Sri Lanka

Yes, we have street dogs in Sri Lanka, but we all want the numbers to go down, humanely and not by killing. That is why there is a No-Kill Policy on Dogs and a complimentary National Spay Programmed funded by our Government to arrest the emergence of street dogs by spaying and not by removing them and packing them to so called "shelters".

We are opposed to establishing shelters at this moment of time when the dog population growth is in the process of being made into a sustainable one. In such a backdrop, the end result of putting our street dogs into shelters will be that these dog-holding facilities are crammed with dogs in no time under appalling conditions, like it was in the infamous state-run hell shelter at Nellikulam, in which dogs end up disease-ridden and dying, becoming feral, starving and killing each other.

Contrarily, an X number of Street dogs are there in a particular location because there is a food source and they thrive as Community-cared Dogs after animal welfarists and the Government have them spayed and vaccinated.

Actually the WHO recommends the existence of a vaccinated and spayed population of street dogs in countries like ours where rabies exists, as these dogs act as buffers against the spread of rabies from other mammals to humans.

The only issue would be if these dogs are sick. But there are many Animal Welfare (AW) groups and individuals who help out only such dogs and they do not go around incarcerating dogs in shelters and bugging foreigners for donations, painting a picture of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans as dog killers and abusers and cheats and liars.

PEASE DO NOT LET A HANDFULOF UNSCRUPULOUS PEOPLE MANIPULATE YOUR SINCERE ANXIETY AND ANGUISH AND LOVE FOR OUR DOGS.

Google and judge the legitimate AW workers in Sri Lanka, make inquiries, cross-check, and contact genuine animal rescue workers in Sri Lanka for help for ONLY needy animals.

REMEMBER: All the dogs you see on the street are NOT needy dogs.

We too do not like to see thousands of street dogs and that is precisely why some of us have spent one thirds or more of our lives and established in Sri Lanka a No-Kill Policy on Dogs and a National Spay Programme funded by the Government, for which we are grateful to the State.

A lot of committed hard work and legitimately raised and accounted Animal Welfare funds have gone into establishing that humane programme in Sri Lanka.

Conclusion

So, please think twice using both your heart and brain if you want to help a street dog.

Please don’t fund dog abuse!

When you unwittingly and innocently subscribe to incarceration of our street dogs to dog holding facilities hurriedly set up to dupe you for personal gain, you create and leave a trail of monstrous suffering for our harmless street dogs, wallowed in utter inhumanity, for us animal welfarists/activists and animal lovers to clear up and deal with.