Main Activities of the
Year
Ø
Establishment of Animal shelter and clinic for the implementation of the
spay neuter program of the society by the end of the year 2005, and made it
functional in the year 2006.
Ø
Purchase
of the spay neuter and educational car
Which the society
used to carry out Animal Birth control /ABC/ program through Trap Neuter
and Release /TNR/ method in order to reduce the population of homeless
dogs,
This car was also
used for Intensive educational campaign as a methods which can easily
create awareness about animal welfare and related problems to as much
people as possible such as printing pictures and different educational
advises on the car, use a megaphone, cassette and microphone to educate
people by moving in the areas where people are found in numbers such as:
§
Bus
stations
§
Market
places
§
Exhibition centers
§
Around
schools by the time of entrance and exit of children from school
§
And
around the government offices which we think are important for the
successfulness of animal welfare
in our
country
Ø
The
media coverage gotten from news paper and radio channels from more than 13
different Mass media organizations with a wider coverage has also
contributed a great deal in drawing the attention of the community and the
government
Ø
Due to
the above activities the society managed to convince the local community and
the government that shooting and poisoning homeless dog is not a solution in
terms of population control and disease prevention and by doing so got the
government approval for the Addis Ababa Community
for the Animals /ACFA/
project which is the first animal welfare project agreement in the history
of our country.
Ø Please browse
http://www.haps-eth.org.et/ThefirstquarterlyreportforACFAproject.htm the quarterly report
of ACFA project
Ø The
society has also participated its two representatives in the 5th
International Colloquium on Working Equines hold here in Addis Ababa
and acquire more experience and knowledge concerning the welfare of working
equines and animal welfare in general
Ø
The
society is also managed to be visited by different Volunteers from USA
and Canada and also by different
and well known international organizations and individual animal lovers such
as
v
Mrs.
Katrina Morrison
and her husband Dave Price
from Australia, Dr. Alexandra Bechter and her friends from
Germany, were visited and very much impressed with our activity for
the animals and donated in support of the society’s activity
v
The
Executive Director
Neil
Trent
and Program
Director
Kelly Omeara
of Humane Society
International visited and shared their international experiences
with HAPS staffs and volunteers
v
The
World
Society for the Protection of Animals
/WSPA/
Companion Animals Director Dr Elly Hiby
and Dr. Nick Disuza also visited the whole activities for the animals
and spay neuter training is also given by Dr. Nick Disuza for the
society’s vet and the Addis Ababa university clinical year volunteer
students
Ø
HAPS
also discussed about the issue of the lions Cubs poisoning with the
Ethiopian Wildlife Department and the Lion Zoo Administrators to bring a
better solution instead of poisoning and reached on the common understanding
with all the concerned bodies that the lions should not poisoned.
Ø
Next to
this the society’s vet has given treatment for the disabled two lions Cubs
in the lion Zoo according to the Zoo’s request.
Ø
Following all the above activities the Addis Ababa Urban Agriculture
Department Head and Veterinarian Team and the City Government of Addis Ababa
Social and Civil Affairs Bureau also made a brief visit to the society’s
facility at the same time the invited Ethiopian News Agency and the Addis
Ababa Mass Media Agency recorded the whole activity of the society and the
visit of the government higher officials.
Ø Then
broadcasted for the public several times in both Ethiopian National
Television, Addis Ababa Mass Media Agency Television and repeated Radio
programs.
Ø
In
addition for 2 consecutive days the Addis Ababa Mass media agency Television
then continued to broadcast the series of programs recorded that covers all
the stories since its establishment and its current activities particularly
the spay neuter activity and the educational campaign including the
officials interview for about 20 minutes
each. The wider media coverage also addressed millions of people at a time
and created awareness more than we planned.
Ø
Developing a web site to promote our activity is also among the main
activities carried out in the year 2006.
Importance
People abuse and
mistreat animals due to lack of awareness by considering that they are their
property.
For the time being
HAPS mainly focused on homeless dogs. These are dogs ones were owned by
people and abounded due to several social and economical reasons in which
their number is increasing from time to time due to improper management of
their population.
Government agencies
used poisoning homeless dogs as a means of population control and rabies
prevention and this is done several times with in a year but the problem
never solved.
Therefore HAPS idea is
very important in terms of awareness creation concerning animal welfare and
proper handling of pet animals through its educational campaign and homeless
dogs population control through its spay neuter program.
Improvement in animal
welfare
Before, most people,
even if they are able in terms of their financial capacity they never
thought of taking their pet to medical treatment. But this time due to the
information they got from HAPS, many people started to ask advises from HAPS
when ever their pet is sick or there is a need to vaccinate them.
Most people’s attitude
towards animals is changed due to the information they get from what is
written on HAPS car and the detailed information they get from HAPS members
and volunteers through telephone and personal contact.
People find HAPS
volunteers and members during dog catching and releasing and they can easily
recognize us due to our car and then ask any questions concerning what we
are doing and why? Then proceed to ask what to do with their pets. Some took
our office telephone no from the car and call to get information.
This educational car
has also attracted different Media’s attention and being provided wider
space in news papers, different Television and radio channels. Before, we
were only restricted with few medias.
This also helped our
society to convince the concerned government officials and managed to sign
the first historical animal welfare agreement in the history of our country.
Successes
In the past times no
one has given attention for the animals due to the socio-economic problems
of our country, every body’s even government attention was only for human
problems and it demanded our society a lots of energy to change the public
attitude towards animal welfare.
But this time, due to
our intensive educational campaign using this spay neuter and educational
car many people even the government showed their willingness to stand beside
us in disseminating our information to others to change the previous thought
about animals and in facilitating to fulfill different needs of the society.
Beside this, people
started to adopt adult dogs that are spayed and neutered in HAPS clinic
before they get released, the number of people who give us information and
taken care of dogs while they found them sick or injured due to accident has
also increased and also so many people started to ask about low cost
affordable veterinary service for their own pet dogs is also increasing from
time to time.
It is also become very
common to see healthy dogs that are spayed and vaccinated and bear HAPS tags
in the street of our project area.
The activity of the
society with the limited capacity it has, also attracted attention of
organizations and individuals in and out side of the country and being
visited by the representatives of organizations such as Humane Society
International and World Society for the Protection of Animals.
Challenges
The society which lots
of effort and sacrifice spent on it to bring a better situation for the
animals with a very much limited capacity is in a difficult situation due to
lack of funds.
This problem is
occurred due to its opposition of dog shooting in and around the Bale Mountains National
Park /BMNP/.
For further
information please browse:
http://www.haps-eth.org.et/History.htm
Signed
Efrem Legese
President
Special
thanks
