By Dr. Perley-Ann Friedman | Project Manager and CFO Lanta Animal Welfare
October is a busy month at Lanta Animal Welfare. The island is waking up after the summer low season. During low, or the rainy, season it rains a lot, and the sea is too rough for diving and swimming. Many businesses shut-down during these months as there are few tourists vacationing on the island.
October is a time for new beginnings for the island as the businesses, and Lanta Animal Welfare, begin to prepare for the busy tourist season. Let's take a look at how Lanta Animal Welfare faired during low season, and how it's preparing for the coming high season.
Rescue Operations were in Full-Swing through Low Season
This past low season had a higher than usual number of rescues with animals in truly desperate situations. Here are a few of our most serious cases:
Ginger - Ginger’s condition looked pretty grim when she arrived at LAW. She was suffering from TVT, a cancer common in many of the dogs in this area. This cancer causes red bubble tumors to develop in the backside and then spread to other areas on the dogs' body. Ginger's TVT was fairly advanced, and she had a medium- to large-sized tumor on her backside. I'm very happy to tell you that with treatment, Ginger's tumors are reducing and we expect a full recovery.
Rio - One of the most disturbing rescues this low season was for 4 emaciated dogs, who were abandoned in the backyard. When we found these dogs, they were hours from certain death. We did our best to save them but unfortunately one didn't make it through that first night. Rio is our hero. He was close to death for many days with his fragile body beginning to shut down its organs. We never gave up on Rio and slowly he gained strength and is not on the road to a full recovery.
New Staff Members
Over the past few months new resources took over 4 of our major departments, including a new General Manager. To source new managers, we market the positions on our Social Media platform, with our previous volunteers, and with our supporters. We also use many firms that specialize in animal charity resources and those focusing on overseas positions.
We are very proud of our new General Manager, from Scotland. He has years of experience with charities in both Taiwan and Cambodia. He brings a fresh approach to better integrating the various departments, and new ways to motivate our volunteers.
We've also found new resources heading up communications, the volunteers and the adoptions. All our new resources have a passion for animals and a remarkable perseverance to handle the dark and difficult days at an animal rescue. They all believe that the love they have for the animals positively contributes to their recovery.
New Clinic Direction
Our amazing medical team have received recognition from other animal rescue charities in Asia. One such organization has asked us to participate in the training of new veterinary graduates. When Vet students complete their studies, they have no practical experience, as their training is purely theoretical.
After much debate and analysis, Lanta Animal Welfare has agreed to become a teaching hospital for new graduates. This will provide us with exposure to the new graduates, not only as a clinic to receive their practical training, but also as a possible employer, once their training has completed. We also welcome this opportunity to increase our rescue abilities and provide our rescue services to more animals in need.
We are now making some modifications to our surgery and recovery areas to accommodate this change. The importance of our new Kitty City area is confirmed by our growth in rescue operations.
Wrap-Up
I hope you have enjoyed your glimpse into life at Lanta Animal Welfare. We are also busy with our rescue operations, whether it's raining or the sun is shining. We do our best on a constant basis to be the best animal rescue clinic and operation we can be.
Your continuing support means a lot to us. I welcome your comments, and suggestions. And please, let me know if you are ever in Thailand and coming to Koh Lanta. I will give you a personal tour of our facility. You will be so proud of your contribution when you are in Kitty City, as you will see, feel and understand how you have helped to end the suffering and give our rescue cats a safe future.
Thanks so much for your support from me, Junie our Founder, our staff and volunteers, and from all our rescue animals.
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By Dr. Perley-Ann Friedman | Project Leader and LAW Financial Advisor
By Perley-Ann Friedman | Project Leader
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