Bringing hope to our animals

This is Smudge. I found her lying face down at the side of the river among all the garbage. Thankfully Dr. Jalloh was able to rescue her just in time.

My first day in Freetown, Dr. Jalloh took me to the streets in one of the mobile clinics, and straight away I saw just how vital his team is. Scurrying along the street and searching longingly was an extremely thin female dog. She was lactating and what worried me was that her puppies were missing. With poor sight and hearing, the distressed puppies would be unable to fend for themselves. Without their mother they would surely die.

We were told that some young boys had taken the puppies and thrown them into the river. Dr. Jalloh was angry with rage. As a mother, and an animal lover, I was heartbroken … imagine the anguish this poor dog would feel. As I was wiping away my tears I spotted one of the puppies lying face down at the side of the dirty river. We were there just in time and Dr. Jalloh was able to rescue and treat the puppy, named Smudge.

Dr. Jalloh and his team have already treated over 34,000 dogs and sterilized 12,000. But with thousands of suffering dogs in Freetown, Dr. Jalloh relies on the support of WSPA to treat their wounds and illnesses, spay and neuter them and vaccinate them against rabies.

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This is Dr. Jalloh, who is making a huge difference to the lives of dogs in Freetown.
This is Dr. Jalloh, who is making a huge difference to the lives of dogs in Freetown.

Remarkably, there is one person who is helping these dogs – Dr. Gudush Jalloh, an inspiring man and the only doctor practicing veterinary medicine in the country. It was when his brother died after being allegedly bitten by a rabid dog that Dr. Jalloh knew he must follow his true vocation and become a vet.

Dr. Jalloh and his team at the Sierra Leone Animal Welfare Society (SLAWS) fight for Freetown’s dogs in the face of extreme poverty. They provide low-cost or free veterinary care, rabies vaccinations and spaying and neutering through their clinic and the two WSPA-funded mobile clinics.

I recently went to Sierra Leone to meet Dr. Jalloh and to see the horrendous suffering for myself. Watching him take care of a sick dog in an otherwise hopeless situation is something I will never forget.

Dear Friends,

We celebrated the World Rabies Day and World Animal Week by vaccinating 1,250 dogs, cats and some livestock in the capital Freetown and northern city of Makeni  from September 25th to October 11th, 2009.

This hugely successful campaign was made possible by the hard work of SLAWS staff and the kindness and generosity of institutions and individuals like  Mr. Juan Coatain.  Juan, who is an employee of the World Bank, not only hosted one of the clinics at his residence, he also provided sponsorship. This is the third time this generous man has helped us to save lives.

Thousands of people were made aware of the event through local authority advertising and we thank them for their contribution.

The SLAWS team gathered together at their headquarters in Monrovia

Many more people turned up with their animals than we expected and inevitably, we ran out of vaccines and drugs.  The massive turnout of people is an indication of the need and appreciation of our work. We had excellent support from the people of Makeni who whole heartedly embraced the programme.

Without the support we received from he Ministry of Health which supplied syringes and the Ministry of Agriculture which provided accommodation for SLAWS staff and technical support we could not have undertaken this campaign.

Davida Street contributed $500. Proceeds from Juan were also used to buy medication.  SLAWS provided the vaccines.

In the meantime, I am appealing to you our wonderful friends around the world  to  continue to help us to do this vital work. You can wire money directly  to our bank account the details of which will be posted soon. We are still working on using PayPal to raise funds.

We thank you all.