As Qatar’s animal welfare charities struggle to meet increased demand to help homeless and injured pets during the summer, one of the nation’s oldest and largest shelters has recently received a two-ton boost.
Over the weekend, the Qatar Animal Welfare Society (QAWS) announced on its Facebook page that, thanks to a food drive organized by members of Doha’s South African community, it has taken in its largest-ever single donation of pet food.
The 2.2 tons of food is enough to feed the shelter’s residents for a month and will save the volunteer-run organization around QR20,000 in bills that will instead be used at the veterinarian’s and for other expenses, the group said in a statement.
The fundraising drive was organized by South African Craig Swartz. He said he was inspired to take action after the shelter launched an appeal in June to raise the QR51,000 it needed to cover its rent during the summer.
QAWS pays QR17,000 a month rent for the shelter, which is located on a farm just west of Doha. Like all other animal welfare groups, it struggles to find the resources to look the hundreds of animals in its care, especially during the hottest months of the year.
Launching his own social media campaign, Swartz called on fellow South Africans to donate.
In nine days, around 70 families had gifted enough money to buy 2.2 tons of food, while Swartz’s employer, Jassim Transport & Stevedoring Company, agreed to help with the logistics of delivering the large amount of food to the animal shelter on Friday.
Speaking to Doha News, Swartz said:
“I wanted to make an impact and make people realize that there is a huge need for donations, particularly in the summer. When we went out to the shelter to give them the food, I was very humbled as what I saw there.
“They (the volunteers) are doing an incredible job, really a thankless job.”
Swartz chose just one charity as the focus of this donation, to raise awareness of the volume of animal food needed to keep the shelters running.
However, he said he has now decided to make the food drive a bi-annual event, to help out other animal rescue groups in the future.
He also challenged other groups in Qatar to beat the South Africans’ fundraising record.
“The dogs need food. I would love to hear of other communities coming together to do the same sort of thing,” he added.
QAWS has run a rescue shelter in Qatar for more than 10 years, and also arranges fostering and adoption for homeless animals.
Earlier this summer, one of its founding members Kelly Allen told Doha News that its services had particularly come under strain this year as many residents who had been made redundant were abandoning their pets before leaving the country for good.
This time of year is particularly difficult for all animal charities, as many of their supporters are away on vacation and so they are short of foster and adoption parents until they return in September.
Raising awareness
Since QAWS opened more than a decade ago, a half dozen other animal rescue groups have also come into operation:
According to this infographic designed by Qatar resident Marsya Karmila, founder of infoqraph.com, there are at least seven groups here that are mostly run by local volunteers, and provide different types of care to abandoned and stray animals.
While all of those featured run adoption and fostering programs in Qatar and abroad, four also provide animal shelters – QAWS, 2nd Chance Rescue Qatar, Cat Assistance Team Qatar and Paws Rescue Qatar (PAWS).
Without state assistance, all the groups struggle on a monthly basis to pay their costs, with many volunteers coming up the money for vet and food bills themselves.
Many of the animal rescue volunteers have been calling for a government pound to be set up, and a shelter at Umm Salal is planned to be built by the Ministry of Environment on 3,000sqm of land, to include some 120 kennels.
While it is expected to open this December, no updates have yet been given on the project.
Thoughts?
Well done Craig Swartz and everyone who donated. I’m a proud South African and even more so because of this.
Useful infograph. Lesley Walker, I think that posting donation links to each welfare society in the infograph would be very useful. I would like to donate to each society.
I think what Qatar needs is a mass culling program to deal with overun of cats and dogs, especially cats. They are not native to Arabia and they are not endangered species, they are just vermin living off the scraps of humanity. People have no problem using pesticide to mass kill animals in their houses and gardens so I don’t see why this should be any different.
How to attract hateful comments 101.
Well I don’t see the difference in people killing rats, mice, cockroaches, cows, goats, sheep and ants. (I like ants, ants are cool).
Expats are quite willing to spread deadly chemicals around their villas but what really needs action is the cat problem in Qatar. Its out of control, they get run over, live in squalid conditions and carry all sorts of diseases. Time for a cull.
you got that right, a cull indeed….. culling you !
If they get run over, live in squalid conditions and carry diseases – which not all feral cats do – then it’s because they are not being given the care and protection they need amidst all the rapid man-made development that has destroyed their natural habitat and affected their ability to both survive and remain healthy.
Cats help to control the population of rats and other vermin which are their natural prey. People won’t be needing deadly chemicals to get rid of vermin in their houses if cats are not being cruelly abandoned or shot, poisoned, tortured, run over in the streets, or allowed to die in the heat without being provided with a safe shelter.
Overpopulation of cats can be controlled with a good government-led trap-neuter-release program, which will also promote a healthier feral cat population. Better awareness and more compassion from residents can help cats to survive and do what they have been designed by nature to do, which is to hunt and control vermin populations.
You’re confused. What is it, “destroyed their natural habitat” or “being cruelly abandoned”
The cats are an imported menance who have become feral over the years. Not being native to Arabia by helping these cats survive you assist them in competing with other native species in Arabia, therefore leading to their decline.
Well, for starters the problem isn’t the cats, the imported menace in Qatar are the vast majority of the populace who have happily & ignorantly destroyed native flora and fauna and imported people and products that has allowed the cat population to grow out of control – that along with the wilful ignorance and disregard for the suffering of these creatures.
With out the population explosion and the food scraps the cat & dog pupation would have remained stagnant. The influx of people brought rats, mice cockroaches etc. The chemicals people use around their homes are hardly an issue compared to the chemicals spewing out from the desalination plants, the rubbish burn off’s and the cars, which has made Qatar have the worlds second highest air pollution..and it is of course a country built on chemical exploitation.
As an imported menace im fairly sure not one cat has joined ISIL, the FSA, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, Al Qaeda etc, they have not made any corrupt bids for major world sporting events, have not imposed a kafala scheme on foreign workers and do not make people work in 48 degree temperatures.
A humane approach is the neuter & release approach..which would also work on other species that are far more detrimental to people and the environment in Qatar.
Well done to QAW’s and to the saffirs..
Wow, you must be a cat authority to make the sweeping statement that cats are imported and are not native to Arabia.
Do your research…the Arabian Mau which is what we often see on the streets IS native to the Arabian peninsula and has lived here for over a thousand years. It has evolved to adapt to its natural surroundings, which have been threatened over the past decades by the rapid development in the region.
The very impetus for the common street cat’s having been formally recognized as a breed (the Arabian Mau) is precisely because it is the future of this species that is at risk due to the pace of development that threatens its natural habitat, plus the misguided efforts to put them down. So you want to cull a recognized native species of the region to save what species, exactly?
Other breeds that are very common here and are originally from the continent are the Turkish Angora and Persian cats. However take note that most cats of these breeds that end up on the streets nowadays were usually former pets which means they do not have the same ability to survive on the streets — and especially not these streets — as cats who have been feral from the outset. Add to that the selective breeding of Persian cats by breeders to produce flat-faced cats, instead of the traditional Persians, which makes it difficult for them to regulate their body temperature and puts them at a higher risk of dying from the heat.
The Arabian Mau is a domesticated cat. I rest my case.
LOL!
Lol. No understanding.
I’m with you Mimh, far too many dewy-eyed people here who have lost touch with reality. It is cruel to maintain these animals in that place, especially in summer; I’ve been there, it’s no quality of life at all. This is misplaced charity. If they can’t be effectively re-homed quickly, euthanize and then educate potential pet owners.
Did you actually bother to read my post or are you the sort of person who if another person does not echo what you think, their thoughts/facts cannot possibly be valid.
Cats are desert creatures, they were roaming this land way before anywhere else on this planet (why do you think they thrive so well here, this is their natural habitat)!
AND as any vet or animal welfare person will tell you (and I have personal experience to boot), a healthy neutered cat population is better than a complete culling.
Are you being serious, Cats were originally desert creatures and probably existed in this region long before they did in Europe etc.
Also, try taking a slightly more humane approach and think about neutering instead, such as the capture, neuter release programme??
We are not talking about the Arabian Lepoard here we are talking about feral cats.
Capture, neuter and release sounds good, would you extend that to other mamals such as rats and mice or just to ones people think are cute?
Actually, a healthy neutered population is more beneficial than getting rid of Cats completely (can’t speak for dogs). We had a CNR programme on our compound, it worked really well, the healthy neutered feral cats kept the diseased ones out. When they came and took them all away, we were overun again within weeks. Nature abhors a vacuum
Wow. There’s a cruel and barbaric way to solve a problem. Why not just neuter them instead? Mass culling seems like an extreme first step. Also, you come across as something that sounds a lot like a grass hole.
Katie
http://www.onlyindoha.com
Hate to Say it but : Typo in para 3: QAWS pays QR17,000 a month rent for the shelter, which is located on a farm just west of Doha. Like all other animal welfare groups, it struggles to find the resources to look after the hundreds of animals in its care, especially during the hottest months of the year.
Good news, so ‘baie dankie’ to all the south africans. wish the locals would also take better care of the animals, which need to be sterilized.
A huge well done to all involved!
Katie
http://www.onlyindoha.com
god bless these people! amazing