Animal Welfare Uganda Project #25743

Help Us Transform Uganda SPCA Haven Animal Shelter

by Animal-Kind International

Help Us Transform Uganda SPCA Haven Animal Shelter

Project Report | Mar 9, 2025
Status of the new Haven shelter

By Karen Menczer | Executive Directive, Animal-Kind International

End of January-spay/neuter at the new shelter site

Dear USPCA Friends,

I imagine all of you are tired of hearing that we are still waiting for the USPCA to receive permission from the National Environmental Management Authority to continue construction and move all dogs and cats to the new site. Reality is....we are.

We are caught up in a NEMA decision to deny any projects in wetlands. We thought we made the case in the Environmental Report that the USPCA site is upland....and we believe we did! The site was filled when Uganda built the expressway and the Ministry of Works and Transport used the USPCA location (prior to the USPCA purchasing it) to dump fill, converting it from wetland to upland.

If the MoWT did this legally, with a permit, that's great and that means the land is legally upland. If the MoWT dumped fill in a wetland without a permit, that's between the MoWT and NEMA and shouldn't involve the USPCA nor preclude our plans to build the remaining facilities at the site.

When the USPCA got in touch with NEMA about their decision regarding the wetland, NEMA referrred to an old map showing that the site was wetland. As we've mentioned, there's only a small area of wetland on the site, and the USPCA intends to leave that in its natural state.

The Executive Director of the USPCA, Bart, and Jonathan, the team leader for the USPCA's Environmental Report, are trying to arrange a meeting with the NEMA ED, a very busy and difficult to reach person. We hope an on-site meeting will clarify this issue and clearly show that the site and facilities are and will be on upland, and that this is an issue between 2 government entities, not the USPCA.

Some good news is that the USPCA's website has been updated and our 2024 Annual Report is available (see links below).

Also, the USPCA is lucky to have a volunteer vet team to spay/neuter all the dogs at the new site. This team, Lewis and Brian (in the photo, spaying a dog at the new site), and sometimes others, have been diligently getting all newly rescued dogs and cats sterilized (at the old and new sites). Thanks to donations of flea and tick meds, the USPCA also treated all dogs at the new location for external parasites and internal ones as well (see 2 photos).

When I visited in December, I was so happy to see the ~ 50 dogs at the new location enjoying their lives (see photos), free to roam (of course not beyond the USPCA's boundaries, which are well-fenced thanks to our supporters!). Fifty is the limit of the number of dogs that can be kept at the new site without a permit. We hope soon we'll be able to report that many more are enjoying their kennel-free lives.

Flea/tick treatment at the new shelter

Flea/tick treatment for all at the new site

Dogs at the new shelter are free to roam

About 50 dogs living happily at the new site

Links:

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Nov 11, 2024
News from the new and the old USPCA Haven

By Karen Menczer | Executive Directive, Animal-Kind International

Spay surgery at the USPCA-3 of the volunteer vets

We have one piece of not-so-good news from the new Haven and a lot of good news from the old Haven.

First, the not-so-good news:

We had submitted the Environmental Report to Uganda's National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) which is required (but at the time of land purchase, hadn't been) for the USPCA to continue building structures at the site and to move the remaining cats and dogs at the old shelter. We hoped for a speedy approval, but our hopes were dashed when NEMA wrote that they are unable to approve the report without more information about the status of the wetland on-site.

To remind you: Just a small portion of the new site is considered wetland, and the USPCA intends to retain that section in its natural state. No construction will occur there. The new USPCA site contains plenty of upland areas on which to build all the kennels and associated structures that are necessary for shelter operaitons. Not only will the on-site wetlands be protected from direct impacts, they will not be indirectly affected by USPCA activities such as drainage and waste disposal; they will be entirely protected with all liquid waste and runoff draining towards the other end of the property and all solid waste being removed off-site.

Now, we await a meeting with NEMA, which USPCA has proposed for on-site so that NEMA can see for themselves the condtion of the wetlands and proposed construction plans.

***************

At the old Haven, from April through August 2024, 164 cats, dogs, kittens, and puppies were rescued and brought to the shelter! By September, the USPCA had a backlog of 43 dogs and cats at the shelter who hadn't been spayed or neutered. That meant that females and males had to be separated and it also accounted for a lot of the noise at the shelter when one of the females came into heat.

Separately from our GlobalGiving project, Animal-Kind International sent funds to the USPCA to get all the shelter animals sterilized. That work started in October and was accomplished 100% by vet volunteers (AKI funds purchased the supplies and provided transport money to the volunteers), all graduates of Makerere University interested in getting practical experience at the USPCA. They were all dedicated, diligent, and did very professional work. During October, they sterilized 33 of the 43 shelter animals (see photos). Of course, now there are more rescued animals (those rescued in October) needing to be sterilized and we will get those surgeries done as well.

Yes, the USPCA had a full-time vet and you may be wondering why he didn't do these surgeries. We were wondering that too. And as we checked into the situation, we realized that his services would no longer be needed. We will probably hire one of the vet volunteers, but for now, the USPCA is well-covered by the staff and the continued participation of the volunteer vets.

The acting USPCA shelter manager is very enthusiastic about getting the community more involved in the USPCA, including all the local children and we've seen so many of them bringing their pets to the shelter for spay/neuter, vaccinations, and de-worming (see photos). We've also seen an influx of volunteers at the shelter (see photo), for which we are very grateful!

So while we wait for government of Uganda permission to continue construction of our new shelter, the old Haven is pressing on. We're happy to report that with recent savings, we were able to give every USPCA staff member a monthly raise of 50,000/=. For some of us, that may seem small, but believe me, for the USPCA staff, who haven't seen a raise in many years, this was huge. It showed that management really does care and try and will do the best we can for them and in turn, we know that they will do the best they can for USPCA's cats and dogs.

Thank you for sticking with us through these difficult times!

Some of the volunteer vets & vet techs at USPCA

Local kids bring their pets to the USPCA

Local kids & pets at the USPCA-World Rabies Day

USPCA invites students to volunteer at the shelter

Some of the USPCA staff-happy about their raise

Links:

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Jul 14, 2024
A milestone for the USPCA

By Karen Menczer | Executive Directive, Animal-Kind International

Overview of the site - ESIA team visit

Additional shelter construction has been on hold for several months while the USPCA has been dealing with the Environmental & Social Impact Assessment required by Uganda's National Environmental Management Authority. But finally, the ESIA has been submitted to NEMA. And now we wait for their input: They'll visit the site, share the ESIA with other interested parties, possibly send questions and comments to us, and eventually issue a certificate that will allow the USPCA to continue construction, allowing the USPCA to house the hundredes of cats and dogs in their care, still at the old Haven.

Even though we anticipate about 6 months of review, visits, and comments/replies ahead of us, submitting the ESIA is a huge milestone! What took so long?

First, the USPCA was caught off guard. When we purchased the property, the intention was always to leave the on-site wetland intact. There's plenty of buildable land on the property and the wetland will be a nice area for visitors to relax and dogs to walk.

But then, Uganda got more serious about their wetland conservation efforts and required that even though we wouldn't be touching the wetland, because it was on the property, an ESIA would be needed.

Once we realized there was no changing minds, we had to find a reliable, experienced, and reasonably priced local and registered environmental assessment specialist. We found that in Johnson. Johnson put together his team and we put together their scope of work, and the work began.

Once we reached that stage, everything progressed smoothly. We are hoping that approval will be granted soon--sooner than we expect. I will keep you updated on the progress.

Thank you for your ongoing support, commitment to the USPCA and for your help in getting us to this point!

For information about recent rescues, adoptions and USPCA's ex-shelter manager, please see the AKI Blog post, linked below.

ESIA team talked to the staff as part of the study

Links:

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