Macau’s Greyhounds situation and Anima Strategy for saving them
For the Greyhounds Macau, 31 January 2017 Our ref 016-01-2017-AAWA Circular letter To All Animal Welfare Associations, GREYHOUNDS SITUATION AND ANIMA STRATEGY FOR SAVING THEMDear friends, Anima got aware in the middle of 2011 of the terrible situation of the Greyhounds in Macau, by an article published by South China Morning Post of Hong Kong.
In December 2011, Anima has received the visit of representatives of Grey2k USA and from that time on, we have decided to fight together for those animals.
First, forcing Canidrome to have adoption programs.
Later, asking and pressing the Macau Government to close the Canidrome, as its adoption program was a scam and they continued to kill the animals (between 22 to 30 greyhounds per month)!
I may want to refer and thank, besides Grey2k USA that has began this campaign with us, Animals Australia, Animals Asia (the three initial supporters), AFA (Asia for Animals) Conference in Singapore in January 2014, and all the 10 animal welfare organizations that have attended our Round Table in Macau on July 2015!
Later, in the beginning of 2016, following the sending of the first nine dogs by Ireland, I want also to thank all those very active organizations and groups in UK and Ireland that have helped us and Grey2k USA Worldwide to stop the sending of those animals to Macau.
I also want to thank Pet Levrieri Onlus of Italy for the strong support received by Anima, mainly after its International Conference of September 2016 in Milan.
Besides those countries we have referred, Anima has now many friends all over the world, in almost all Europe, including France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Montenegro, Croacia, Asia (including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan), Australia and USA. All in the same fight for closing all tracks in the world!
The responsibility I have assumed as President and CEO of Anima, in this very difficult environment, was very clear for me: close the track and, last but not least, save ALL those animals. We all have win the first battle. Canidrome, by order of the Macau Government, will be closed up to 2018! However, we are in situation of losing the second battle, which is save all those animals!
When we launched this fight for the closing of Canidrome we knew that Anima had no physical capacity to receive all animals in once. We have around 620 animals in our two shelters and no space at all for more! However we have prepared in 2012 pens for receiving around 50 greyhounds, enough to begin to send to outside one by one and fill in those pens with others. As the time was passing and the rate of abandonment of animals were high and no law for protecting animals was passed, and no greyhounds were given to us, in spite of our efforts, we have lost all that space for the greyhounds, as our rescues of other animals continued! Today we are completely full of abandoned and stray animals!
So, we strategically decided to prepare ourselves for saving the greyhounds with two plans.
Plan A, to make our second phase of construction in our shelter capable to receive around 700 more animals (the greyhounds).
For that we needed that the land used by Anima as a temporary concession could be transformed in a definitive concession. Unfortunately, the process in still in Macau Government hands. If we are able to get the land definitively for us, we still have to follow a new step which is to prepare a new project of architecture and get it approved by the Macau Government. Unfortunately, by our experience, this is not possible to happen within two years time. However, we are confident that sooner or later we may have such phase built. Unfortunately again, not as fast as we want in order to save the greyhounds!
So, we decided to have a second plan (Plan B), almost on the same time, which was to send all those animals to Portugal, as the land in China is now very expensive and China has not laws for protecting animals and the animals once in China may go out to outside with increased difficulties. It is very risky to put animals for adoption in China, as you may understand! However, to accomplish such plan we need to receive all animals in once, to be sent in once by a charter flight from Macau to Lisbon.
To have those animals, Anima asked and continue to ask the Macau Government convince the Canidrome to give us the animals and allow us to run the Canidrome premises for one to two years time, enough time for us to get the finance for the transfer of all animals and build the new International Re-homing Center in Portugal. Meanwhile, some could go out case by case if we have adopters mainly in Europe or USA! For that transfer to Portugal, we also had a succeeded meeting in last December with the Minister of Agriculture in Portugal and with the mayor of the town where the Center is planned to be established! So, we just need the greyhounds, the use of the Canidrome premises for one to two years and get enough funds. All difficulties that we have to solve!The Pet Levrieri Onlus petition launched at the end of 2016, came out to help us a lot to achieve such goal of getting the animals. Please support it! It is really important for us and our greyhounds!
To get all those dogs is not an easy issue, as Canidrome owns around 120 dogs and the remaining (around 520 now) is at the hands of Chinese gamblers and we have no capacity to know how to contact them, even if we know who are them. But Macau Government, if they want to intervene, can convince them! Macau Government is the key of all this process! And we are aware of that doing the best we can to convince them! Until we are capable to get all those animals, they continue to be killed by Canidrome in violation of the law that was passed on September 1, 2016, which do not allow animals to be killed by economic reasons. Anima is complaining near the Authorities against that.
So, Plan B, seems in danger. Now, comes, in parallel, Plan C! As Canidrome does not give any dogs directly to Anima, as Anima destroyed its business, we are trying a way to get them indirectly!
This is easier to us but will not save all of them, unless we get temporarily a new land! We need to find a space for animals for staying 3 (three) months time, in case we want to send them to Europe (European regulations obliges the animals to have a serology test (against rabies) three months before they flight). In Macau, it is very hard and very expensive to rent a space to accommodate so many animals for three months (we may be capable to get a space for three or four animals only unless Anima is capable to convince the Macau Government to give us, temporarily and very fast, another land for a period of one to two years! We are working on that also! For the transfer of dogs to USA, this three months time is not required. For Australia (and also New Zealand), is really a hell, as besides 6(six) months in Macau, after the blood test, they need another quarantine in Australia, lots of vaccines, and the process of sending those animals is very difficult and costly to handle. For Hong Kong they need also quarantine and those blood test results! The difficulty of all this process in only the administrative process of handling case by case and the cost of this operation, as the animal must be transported as cargo (by boat to HK and after by plane). We estimate that all process can cost around HKD 25,000 to HKD 30,000 per animal (depends on the weight). And we are very aware of this cost as we handle ourselves, free of charge, this process helping many people to transfer their animals to Europe and Australia. The big portion of this cost is the shipping to HK and flight to Europe using a HK pet service (around HKD 26,000. Of this cost, only shipping to HK and the Pet service costs around HKD 6,000!). No airlines in Macau Airport do this now but we are trying to convince some companies of Thailand and Singapore that flies to Macau to intermediate in this process. In Bangkok or Singapore, the animals will afterwards change to another airliner! We could save at least this HKD 6,000 and get an easier process, not involving Hong Kong! However, to send animals to Europe we need final adopters. And now come all your support. Please ask your supporters eager to save our greyhounds, to enrol as adopters in our website animamacau.org (our services/adopt us/ adoption application form). They must give all the details about themselves, address and, in the field of pet name, just write Grey and in Anima Tags n., G001. And inform us of how much they can real pay! Please see also how many animals your organization can receive and how much you can help us to finance the transport of those animals. We must manage the situation of these animals very carefully and now as fast as we can. Otherwise, when the Canidrome definitively closes at the end of 2018, if not earlier, no animals are still alive. Please help us to help them! Yours sincerely Albano Martins President and CEOFor the GreyhoundsMacau, 31 January 2017Our ref 016-01-2017-AAWACircular letterTo All Animal Welfare…
تم نشره بواسطة Albano Martins في 31 يناير، 2017