At the end of March a group of vets, vet nurses, equine dentists and helpers will be leaving New Zealand for Egypt. Although it sounds like an exciting jaunt, this will be no picnic as the group of dedicated animal lovers, known as the Kiwi Care Team, will be rolling up their sleeves to help the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends (ESAF).
Trap, Neuter, Release Program will help effectively control the wild/stray dog/cat populations
For three weeks the Kiwi Care Team will be based around Cairo and will assist ESAF by providing first aid for hundreds of horses, donkeys and camels as well as helping with a Trap, Neuter, Release programme for stray dogs. The politically unstable climate in Egypt has severely impacted the tourist trade, resulting in an economic downtown which has affected humans and animals.
Look carefully - these are three donkeys held in a rubbish skip awaiting euthenasia
There are very grim ‘before’ photos of horses on the Kiwi Care Team Facebook site. Luckily these horses have been taken in and cared for and the photos show what an amazing recovery that animals can make with the correct care and knowledge. Passing on this knowledge and educating people will be a large part of the task of the Kiwi Care Team, as well as providing hands-on veterinary care whilst they are there “We have chosen to work with ESAF as they not only do hands on care, but are also actively involved with lobbying the government to put animal welfare laws in place and it also runs many educational programmes for locals” explains Michelle Horan, one of the team leaders of Kiwi Care
This horse collapsed in the street in Cairo. She was rescued by Continental Rescue and Rehab and can now seen on video cantering around a yard on their Facebook Page, looking like a new horse
All of the Kiwi Care Team members are paying their own way and volunteering their time and expertise. They were lacking a farrier, but this was overcome by an offer from a remedial farrier from the UK, Kris Parsons, who, along with two of his students, will be joining them and travelling to Cairo for that all important first week. And so the Cairo Farrier came about! Both of these amazing groups are working hard to raise money to purchase veterinary equipment and medicines to take with them. The Kiwi Care Team has been actively fundraising for the past three months and will be holding a big dinner and auction night on 2nd March as their final and biggest fundraiser when they are hoping to raise $10,000. The Cairo Farrier is getting fantastic support in the UK, including auctioning off lessons with top riders such as Lucinda Fredericks, Mary King and John Whittaker to mention just a few. Lucinda will even provide a horse if the winner doesn’t have one! You can read more about the Kiwi Care Team and the Cairo Farrier on their Facebook pages at http://www.facebook.com/KiwiCareTeam?ref=ts and http://www.facebook.com/CairoFarrier . Even better you can donate to help the project, either by providing cash or product. All donations will help improve the life of suffering animals, so why not drop by their Facebook pages and get on board? They’re doing all the hard work, all we need to do is open our wallets and hearts
Volunteers are making hundreds of sheepskin nosebands to help reduce the suffering caused by chain nosebands
