credit due other organizations funding the vaccinations in Sri Lanka

[Guest guest]

HSI Asia, based in Indonesia, has done a magnificent job of

assisting organizations throughout the tsunami-affected region of

south Asia, but organizations other than HSI are also heavily

invested in funding the rabies vaccination programs of Sri Lanka as

well as dog-feeding - including ANIMAL PEOPLE and the Best Friends

Animal Society.

 

--Kim Bartlett, ANIMAL PEOPLE

 

 

>Envelope-to: anpeople

><aapn >

> " Kelly Omeara " <komeara

>Thu, 20 Jan 2005 12:24:39 -0500

>RE: Tsunami dogs - sad plight reported in LA Times

>and by Anderson Coo...

>

>Humane Society International (HSI) has received many e-mails expressing

>concern about the reported poisoning of stray/street dogs in Sri Lanka.

>

>We are funding a rabies vaccination program that is taking place

>throughout the affected regions of Sri Lanka, concentrating our efforts

>on refugee camps where there is the most interaction between people and

>animals and where the most serious threat of a rabies outbreak exists.

>Just recently, the Sri Lankan Minister of Health, owner of seven dogs

>himself, confirmed that no eradication program had commenced and that he

>was personally supportive of the rabies vaccination and sterilization

>program.

>

>The Sri Lankan government is, first and foremost, concerned for the

>welfare of its people.

>Although, there is a dog feeding program in place, inevitably some dogs

>are still hungry and desperate and are displaying aggressive behavior

>towards people. Because rabies is present in Sri Lanka, the government

>is anxious to prevent an epidemic from occurring. They recognize that

>our program is the best and most humane long-term solution.

>

>At this time, more than 4,000 animals have been vaccinated, and HSI

>intends to vaccinate as many as possible in the upcoming weeks. HSI Asia

>Director Sherry Grant and an HSI veterinary team are in Sri Lanka and

>they will spend two weeks vaccinating, sterilizing and treating all

>animals in need. As there are an estimated 100,000 dogs in the

>devastated area of Sri Lanka, we are in a race against time. The HSI

>team, as well as teams from several other animal organizations on the

>ground, will work feverishly to prevent an outbreak of rabies, and in

>turn, keep the government from re-instating their plans to kill animals.

>

>Please visit our website at www.hsus.org for updates on HSI reports from

>the field.

>

>Sincerely,

>Humane Society International

>

 

 

 

>

>MailPV1 [MailPV1]

>Wednesday, January 19, 2005 7:04 PM

>aapn

>Re: Tsunami dogs - sad plight reported in LA Times and

>by Anderson Coo...

>

>Is there something that can be done about this issue? I thought there

>were

>several caring people and organizations helping the dogs and other

>animals in

>Sri Lanka.

>Thank you.

 

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS IS: <ANPEOPLE

Website: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/ with French and Spanish

language subsections.

 

 

Something to think about: We believe that the Golden Rule

applies to animals, too. We don't accept the prevailing notion

that " people come first' " or that " people are more important than

animals. " Animals feel pain and suffer just as we do, and it is

almost always humans making animals suffer and not the other way

around. Yet in spite of how cruelly people behave towards animals

-- not to mention human cruelty to other humans -- we are supposed to

believe that humans are superior to other animals. If people want

to fancy themselves as being of greater moral worth than the other

creatures on this earth, we should begin behaving better than they

do, and not worse. Let's start treating everyone as we would like

to be treated ourselves.