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Soulful Scottish singer Sandi Thom, along with a band of animal-loving advocates and organisations, will be starting off the New Year with a Bahrain vaccination programme aimed at tackling 1,000 stray dogs in Askar to wipe out distemper and parvo.
Distemper and parvo are both highly contagious viral diseases that can be fatal, which is why Sandi, one of the founders of the Bahrain Animal Rescue Centre (BARC) has teamed up with the Animal and Environment Protection Charity Organisation (AEPCO) to help save the strays.
“It is absolutely crucial to vaccinate all stray dogs and cats against distemper and parvo,” said Sandi, the multi-platinum selling singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who lives in Saar. “It will minimise the amount of horrific deaths that occur particularly in puppies and kittens and allows the country’s leading organisations such as BARC and AEPCO to continue its ‘Catch, Neuter and Release’ (CNR) programme. While the diseases are still present, it is very difficult to continue the programme.
“We will begin the vaccination initiative in the New Year and will start in Askar, the hardest hit area for disease outbreaks. We will start with the first 100 dogs. The dogs will be given immunity to life-threatening diseases and we will be able to continue to spay and neuter all the strays in order to keep the population down.”
Once the spread of the disease is contained, Sandi hopes to bring to Bahrain large organisations to mount a massive scale CNR programme where thousands of dogs can be spayed and neutered, not just hundreds.
She added: “It is also my intention to bring out our UK partners Wild at Heart Foundation and Humane Society to launch this programme on a much larger scale along with spay and neuter. The Humane Society has already agreed to come to Bahrain. This is what BARC and AEPCO are currently working on launching in 2020.”
BARC was formerly The Dogfat-her’s Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre and Sandi is a voluntary manager there as well as one of the founders. The Punk Rocking chart-topper had taken over the reins after Tony, a beloved animal supporter, passed away in 2018.
Sandi had started supporting the shelter as soon as she arrived in Bahrain in January 2017. She had approached Tony to lend a helping hand, aiding him with a variety of different day-to-day animal care. She primarily organised fundraising events and concerts. She also raised around $30,000 when Tony told her about the treatment he required.
“After he passed away, I basically took it upon myself to run the shelter,” she said. Since the time of Tony’s passing, BARC created long lasting relationships with adoption groups in Canada and the UK and have rehomed more than 100 dogs and 50 cats. They also implemented a framework of legally binding agreements between adopters or fosterers and the shelter created policies and procedures. They underwent a mass vaccination of all the shelters dogs and cats, created online and physical records for the animals and are now in the final stages of completing a brand new purpose built shelter in Hamala where all the animals will soon be relocated to.
“It was a difficult task to take over when Tony passed as no one knew it like him,” she added. “We basically had to start from the ground up. Everything we’ve achieved is collectively as a volunteer group and I always refer to BARC as a volunteer run organisation, it’s a collective effort.”
According to Sandi, the new shelter, vision and existing shelter is and always will be built and confined in Tony’s honour.
“The story of how it came to be will be retold on the walls of the new shelter,” she explained. “However, for me, I wanted to create a place that belongs to the people; a place that is all of ours to cherish and look after. It is a place that everyone can contribute to and feel like a piece of it belongs to them. It’s so important, I feel, to bring about a sense of community and pride not just within the general public and animal lovers of Bahrain but also with other rescue groups and organisations, which is why we have also forged relationships with groups like AEPCO and Bahrain Strays. It is my intention always to work together to bring about great change both within the centre walls and outside. Before Tony passed away, I promised him that I would carry out his vision for all the other stray animals out there and also build a new shelter and that is exactly what we’re doing!”
Sandi suggests that the best way to give back to Bahrain’s furry friends is by spending time with them and that would be the best gift of all. “So much can be achieved from simply showing love,” she explained. “It makes them feel happier and healthier and for them that is such a small simple gift that is priceless.”
In the meantime, Sandi is currently working on her seventh album entitled Wanderlust which is very-much inspired by her time in Bahrain. “I’ve also launched a new jewel here with my friend Chip Moore. Chip and I will be starting a monthly residency at Dubai’s Irish village this February and I also have a documentary launching about my life’s journey filmed here in Bahrain by U track TV which will be available to view in January.”
