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Animal Ambulance Service available after office hours! Telephone: 9216
For animals urgently requiring medical assistance, the Animal Ambulance can be called from 6.00 am – 11.00 pm on tel. 9216. Anyone who is involved in an accident with an animal or confronted with a wounded animal on the side of the road can call this number to inform the Ambulance driver of the location of the wounded animal. Help for wounded stray animals is free of charge. Owners of sick or wounded animals will be charged for the transportation and the vet’s bill.
The Animal Ambulance donated by Foundation Animal Ambulance Hilversum (the Netherlands) on March 8th 2007, received support from UTS, (United Telecommunication Services) through a campaign called‘Chippie cares for animals’ that was launched on October 4th. A donation of Nafl. 6,000 has made it possible to assist wounded or sick animals after office hours and at the weekend. UTS assigned a new shorter number to the ambulance service: 9216
Our youngest kennel sponsor: Shane Patrick Kluivert
The Animal Shelter’s youngest kennel sponsor is without any doubt Shane Patrick Kluivert, born on September 24th of this year, son of world famous football professional Patric Kluivert and Rossana Lima. Patrick and Rossana paid a visit to the shelter at the beginning of the year and promised to help.
On behalf of their son Shane, Patrick and Rossana will make a yearly donation to support, in particular, the shelter puppies. Shane will soon receive his kennel sponsor name plate!
Patrick and Rossana in the shelter, enjoying the puppies.
Reef book becomes a reality!
According to the experts, the ‘Reef book’, which is the popular name for the book: ‘Our Coral Reef’, shows the most beautiful part of our islands: the underwater world. Divers and snorkelers will gain more in-depth knowledge from the information presented in this book and those who prefer to keep their heads above water will become acquainted with a previously unknown and beautiful world.
The Reef book is the fourth volume in a series of books on nature published by the Curaçao Society for the Protection of Animals. Unexpected organizational problems caused a serious delay in the release of this book, for which we apologize. We are confident however that the end result is well worth the wait and aim for publication before the end of the year.
The Longlure frogfish, a spectacular reef creature that adopts the colours of whichever sponge is dominant in its area.
Photo: Gordon Cox
Fireworks victims …
On December 31 a poor dog mistook a firework for something nice to play with, and it exploded in his mouth. The animal was severely injured, suffering terrible pain and had to be put to sleep.
Although an extensive media campaign took place to warn pet owners of the necessity of securing their pets during the fireworks, and of keeping them inside, many animals, in particular dogs, ran away from home and wandered the streets. 80 dogs were registered at the Animal Shelter as lost or found and the shelter personnel try their best to match the descriptions of these animals in order to reunite them with their owners. Sadly, however, most of the animals reported lost are still wandering the streets, hungry, thirsty and sometimes wounded. Some of the found animals are at present living in the shelter, anxiously awaiting their owner, and some of them are in temporary foster homes.
If your pet is missing, please contact the Animal Shelter: tel. 465-4300
Christmas: the saddest season of the year….
Every year at Christmas the Animal Shelter personnel have to witness and reluctantly take part in the traumatic mass slaughter of unwanted domestic animals. Local tradition and superstition at the end of each year calls for a sweeping out of unwanted rubbish in preparation for the fresh new spirits of the coming year. In reality this means perhaps cleaning and painting the house, spending money on furniture, clothes and fireworks and, barbarically, clearing the yard of any suddenly unwanted pets (and their associated costs, which become less of a priority when faced with the competition of the latest flashing Santa). The owners of these poor creatures often have far too many animals to care for because they have neglected to sterilize them, but their consciences should not be eased by dumping them at the Animal Shelter and making them someone else’s problem. Those consciences should in fact be closely examined at this supposed time of love and compassion. The Animal Shelter has limited resources and limited space, which the staff maximizes to the very best of their ability. However, it is meant to be a ‘Shelter’ in the true sense of the word, and not a killing field. The vast majority of the animals dumped at the Shelter, sometimes in a cowardly anonymous fashion, and at this time of year in numbers of up to 50 a day, are healthy. There is, however, no option but to end their lives.
786 animals were put to sleep during the month of November and December
Schroederschool creating awareness of animal welfare
Teachers of the first and second group of the Schroederschool recently organized a project named ‘Pets’ with the intention of creating more understanding and awareness in their pupils of the needs of animals, in particular house pets. The children visited the Zoo, the Veterinarian Clinic at Parera, Petshop Veeris and the Animal Shelter where they obtained lots of valuable information which was later processed in the classroom. The project was concluded with a collection of money for the Animal Shelter.
In the picture: pupils from the Schroederschool with pieces of work they created. In the foreground one of the donation boxes used to collect money for the shelter animals, which produced the amount of Nafl. 447.75
Generous campaign by ladies fashion boutique Novedades
For the second consecutive year the management of Novedades have organized a campaign to raise funds to support the Curaçao Society for the Protection of Animals. In a much appreciated attempt to achieve a better life for the needy animals on our island, Novedades designated a percentage of their profits to benefit the Society. This resulted in the substantial donation of Nafl. 3,900, which was presented to the Society on November 26th by Mrs. Freny Bekerman, Managing Director.
In the photo: from left to right: Sahaira Bloem, General Manager Novedades, Ineke Cijntje PR officer ‘Dierenbescherming’ and Freny Bekerman Managing Director of Novedades, presenting the cheque.
The Board of ‘Stichting Dierenbescherming Curaçao’ wishes to convey its most sincere gratitude for this donation! Novedades, thank you so much for your support!
Tremendous proceeds of third charity golf tournament 'Going to the Dogs'
On September 22 the third charity golf tournament 'Going to the Dogs' was organized by Vince Kelly from Samzigolf International BV. With the proceeds of this event flea and tick ‘Preventic’ collars, sprays and medicines were bought for the Shelter animals, which will go a long way towards keeping our residents parasite-free.
The picture shows tournament organizer Vince Kelly (on the left) from Samzigolf handing over a batch of products to Animal Shelter Manager Andrew Berry (on the right)
The Board of ‘Stichting Dierenbescherming Curaçao’ wishes to convey its most sincere gratitude for these most welcome donations!
The Animal friends’ calendar 2008 is for sale!
This is the beautiful cover of the Animal friends’ calendar for 2008. This calendar is very popular especially among teachers and students, and features photos of wild and domestic animals, made by professional photographers. The calendar can be purchased at the Animal Shelter and at several Veterinarian Clinics. This project is a fundraiser and all profits are for the Animal shelter.
Tremendous support from UTS: ‘Chippie cares for animals’.
UTS (United Telecommunication Services) decided to support Dierenbescherming with a campaign called ‘Chippie cares for animals’. The campaign was launched on October 4th, Animals Day.UTS donated Nafl. 6,000 to help run the animal ambulance, making it possible for the service which assists wounded or sick animals to be also offered after office hours and at the weekend.
Six Chippies (mobile phones) were donated to enable communication between the cruelty inspectors, the drivers of the pick-up trucks, the ambulance driver and the office, free of call charges for one year.
An SMS campaign was launched inviting everybody to send an SMS with a message about animals, whilst donating Nafl. 1 to Dierenbescherming. Participants of the SMS campaign can also win one of two prizes: Nafl. 150 worth of calls, or the free sterilization of their dog or cat.
UTS also sponsored a two month television promotion on the subject of pet sterilization.
The Board of the Dierenbescherming wishes to convey its most sincere gratitude to UTS for this wonderful support.
In the presence of two sweet shelter puppies the Chippie campaign was launched. This picture was taken right after the presentation of the Chippie phones. From left to right: Olav de Haseth, president Dierenbescherming, Fayna Haseth Public Relation Officer UTS, Ineke Cijntje Public Relation Officer Dierenbescherming, Andrew Berry Manager Animal Shelter.
Fundraising Coffee Recital a tremendous success …
The traditional Fundraising Coffee Recital was held on September 30 at the CCC (Cultural Center Curaçao) at Emmastad. Performances by Grupo Serenada, and the “Muzikantios”; students from the Music academy of CCC. turned out to be hugely popular! All proceeds of this yearly concert go to the Animal Shelter. The photos give you an idea of the atmosphere during the concert.
MC Saskia Smit presents a gift to Edsel Provence, director of Music Academy Edward Palm, thanking him for the outstanding performance
of his students.
Serenada performing with folkloric instruments.
‘Musikantios’, a group of students of the music academy in concert.
Volunteers selling articles in the stand.
