Rescue, Re-home and Manage Stray Animals in Nepal

Dear Supporters.

The Himalayan Animal Rescue Trust have been very grateful for the extensions to their buildings which have allowed more office and work space. The extension of the clinic is being well utilised by the community. HART Comms Officer, Anjani Gurung, is making real progress with a specialised programme for local schools.

Anjani Gurung described it: "Our school program focuses students of 5th, 6th and 7th standard. The students are informed about Rabies, its transmission and how to avoid being bitten by a dog. Furthermore, the children are taught about animal welfare; that all animals are sentient as we are. Around 650 students have participated and benefited from this program, organised at four different schools. The children very much admired our mascot "Momo" and were very receptive when Momo was introduced to demonstrate the different behaviours of dog such as happiness, fear, submission and aggression. The children were taught to identify a dog's attitude based on its body posture and behaviour."

This programme has been greatly assisted by The GVI Trust and of course the donors. The mass neutering and vaccination programmes continue. One example is the pilot programme, The HART Pokhara team had been away for two weeks to conduct a pilot neutering program in Annapurna trekking route. The program began in a village, Kalopani/Lete and ended at Muktinath this trip. In total the hard working team managed to sterilize 94 dogs and vaccinate 150 dogs and cats. Rabies remains the focus of HART's work in Nepal. An essential part of any strategy is to eliminate rabies and to vaccinate dogs, ensuring that at least 70% of the dog population in any given area is covered. 

So for this, we thank you with all our 'HART'

With love, 

Nepal                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Dear Supporters, 

HART has recognised the importance of community education if they are going to make a long lasting difference to the lives of animals. A newly-appointed Communications Officer has started an outreach education program in schools. With over 300 schools in Pokhara, there is a lot to get done!

GVI volunteers were excited to be invited to be part of HART's Education in Schools program. Education ensures the following:

• That rabies is understood
• That people understand the need to vaccinate and sterilise their animals. This helps control the population and the spread of disease. 
• That people learn about animal rights. 

"No babies, no rabies"

The education programme talks about the issue of rabies, how to identify a rabid dog and also why vaccinating and neutering helps control the spread of rabies. The education session also talks about basic animal rights and the other benefits of controlling the dog population.  The sessions are interactive and are supported by a range of visual supports.

Students are given a questionnaire before and after the presentation. This helps to identify children's prior knowledge and to see what information they have retained from the session. It also provides some baseline data for when the program is followed up with the same students in the future. The students were positively engaged in the sessions and interacted enthusiastically throughout the program.  Many of the children have a dog at home so this made it easier to relate and respond to the topic.

We are also working with HART to identify regions where we may be able to support the medical equipment for ongoing neutering and vaccination programmes.  We will keep our donors posted once we have identified a suitable area and inform on when the project will begin.

With Gratitude,
GVI Nepal