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THE BSPCA is celebrating the first anniversary of its new animal welfare centre, writes Claire Cunningham, BSPCA supporter and former secretary.
Yes, it’s now one year since we finally moved out of the old shelter in Shakoora, closing the door on 30 years of history in the old tumble-down premises and opening a new chapter with our move into the long-awaited purpose-built Animal Welfare Centre (AWC) at Askar.
In a way it was sad to say goodbye to the crumbly old porta-cabin, run-down dog pens and mish-mash assortment of outhouses which constantly required patching up, as it had been our home for many years and had seen so many animals come through the gates.
However, there was also excitement at the thought of finally moving into a ‘proper’ building with a suitable air-conditioning system, not only for the staff but also for all the cats and dogs, plenty of space to prepare meals for the animals, a dedicated quarantine area to isolate any new intakes and prevent the spread of illnesses to the rest of our canine and feline residents and, best of all, our very own clinic, operating theatre and recovery rooms where the animals can recuperate in peace and quiet.
The icing on the cake was a dedicated Lecture Room, named after founders Khalil and Betty Rajab, where we teach students on school field trips about animal welfare in comfort with plenty of space.
So, what a year it’s been! Our usual canine and feline residents have been joined by a collection of birds, ducks, rabbits, tortoises and terrapins as well as two donkeys and our menagerie continues to grow.
Since moving in we have had to create suitable areas for the aquatic and avian wildlife so we now have a small aviary where parrots, cockatiels and pigeons happily live. We even have a hamster and some guinea pigs to round off the menagerie.
With the help of local companies and some in-house fundraising we have managed to construct a duck pond and now have 13 lucky residents.
If you look closely you will notice though that actually one of them is a goose … a case of mistaken identity during the rescue.
We have put our resident chickens with the ducks and they all seem to get along swimmingly!
Our two donkeys, Benny and Jenny, have a small paddock at the back of the AWC which has stalls and an exercise area and the next step is to try and get the ‘field’ shaded so they can have a bit of respite from the heat of the sun. Both of them have mellowed in their short time being with us and now get along with each other fairly well too and they are very popular with the children when they come to visit.
Our cats live in two-storey pens – with two moggies cohabiting in each apartment, so they can live and sleep up or downstairs and they have access to an outside run and exercise toys for recreation.
The Purina Cat House and all the dogs kennels are air-conditioned so the animals have some relief during the summer.
Throughout the past 11 months we have been full to the brim with 1,200 stray dogs in Bahrain going through our CNVR programme.
At any one time we can have up to 20 dogs in the kennels waiting for their neutering op and vaccination, then recuperation before being returned to their ‘patch’ so that the next batch can be brought in.
As any visitor will tell you, a joyous chorus of barking goes up whenever somebody drives into the car park and steps out of their car and the dogs get really excited to see visitors – all hoping that this time they will be the one to be chosen and taken home.
We have been surprised at the number of people turning up to volunteer at the weekends – after receiving many comments that Askar is ‘too far away’, obviously some people have found it doesn’t take too long to get down here after all, and the journey is well worth it to be greeted with such friendly happy animals.
Perhaps the residents of Riffa Views, Awali and Durrat have found a new weekend activity … visiting us!
So, in celebration of our first birthday, all our resident guests have been given some extra treats which, of course, delighted them all. Thank you Purina for continuing to provide us with doggy and moggy treats to keep the animals happy.
We would like to thank all our supporters and volunteers who have taken the time to come down to Askar to see us and the dogs and cats, and a special big thank you to everyone who has adopted one of our residents, 26 animals found new homes in August alone – that is what makes our day!
