Archive: Apr 2020

1. #GivingTuesdayNow

   April 29, 2020

   Giving Tuesday has announced an extra day of global action, #GivingTuesdayNow, in response to COVID-19. This will take place on May 5th as a day of giving and unity.
   
   

   Over the years we’ve been overwhelmed by your generosity on Giving Tuesday.

   In 2018, Giving Tuesday donations helped fund our Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic programs, which finished their first years in 2019 and still operate with our partners.

   Proteccion Animal Cabrera, our local partner in the Dominican Republic, not only work tirelessly to protect stray dogs and cats, but they are some of Piggy’s oldest friends, and worked with at-risk children to implement Piggy’s Animal Guardians program. The children, with their amazing teachers, completed a 6 week pilot of Piggy’s humane education program in 2019, working hard to bring critical thinking and creativity to rebuilding community!

   The program continues in the Dominican Republic as this year they’ve completed eight more sessions in a small mountain school. An additional two groups have started the program but have yet to finish due to the shut down. Hopefully, with just a couple of session left, they will be completing the program just as soon as they’re able!

   In Puerto Rico, our partners at the Las Cabachuelas Nature Reserve in Morovis, along with students from our local school partners, took part in our rebuilding program, building sustainable gardens and hands-on science labs.

   

   They continue to build new gardens, and continue to manage them, and Piggy’s humane education program is in its second year of teaching!

   Giving Tuesday 2019, just last December helped fund our first campaign of 2020 when our amazing community developer Sarah Wang went to Sumatra to work with schools, NGO’s, Rangers, and communities from all over Indonesia. During the course of her Youth Rangers Program, hundreds of teachers and students learned everything from First Aid, to wildlife conflict resolution, to jungle trek communication and safety, and humane education teaching techniques, and we saw the culmination of her work in early March when Stay Wild’s Youth Ranger students graduated phase 1!The video for her campaign can be found here: campaign:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrLzGvfwUP0&t=8s 

    

   Not only that but 2019 Giving Tuesday also helped fund our school programs around the world, which resulted in people turning away from deforestation as with these local farmers in Sumatra:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm8jOfyPXJs&t=3s 

   Our main focus at this time are, of course, our COVID-19 Campaigns. We want nothing more than to see our partners and wildlife around the world safe and protected, but we are also looking forward to that glorious day when our many postponed campaigns and projects can continue again.

   https://darwinanimal.bsd.net/page/contribute/global-covid-19-campaign

    

   -Tod and Piggy, Presidents, Darwin Animal Doctors

   

   Leave a Comment

2. Sumatra Campaign

   April 21, 2020

   A month ago, we updated you on the amazing rehab story of one little sun bear in Sumatra. This week, we’re going back to Sumatra to look at the challenges our partners Stay Wild and ISCP are facing amid this pandemic. Their work fighting wildlife trafficking in Indonesia is more vital now than ever, as this is also the fight against the spread of zoonotic disease like COVID-19.

   In the wake of economic shutdown and the close of the Leuser Ecosystem park, it seems people are becoming more brazen about poaching and trafficking wildlife. Sun bears are, tragically being hit particularly hard, since the devastating promotion of China that sun bear bile can be used to combat COVID-19:

   https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/03/chinese-government-promotes-bear-bile-as-coronavirus-covid19-treatment/

   We are seeing, through patrols like those organised by Stay Wild, more bear and monkey snares being brazenly set in the open:

   

   And we are seeing the heartbreaking effects of these snares:

   

   

   https://darwinanimal.bsd.net/page/-/zoonotic/sunbearsnare.mov

   The images and video link above have been taken by our partner Stay Wild, captured on one of the wildlife camera traps which we donated to them.

   Our program with ISCP works to rescue and rehabilitate all wildlife, like sun bears, poached and trafficked in the area of Gunung Leuser National Park, in cooperation with the BKSDA Indonesian wildlife reserve:

   

   We need to work with these partners we have in Sumatra, coordinating teams to stop the sources of poaching and the black markets, but we need to protect our teams as well. These ISCP team members are rescuing animals from the black markets in PPE given to them by the BKSDA to protect against zoonotic disease from the markets:

   

   We want to provide them with as much protection as possible, so they are able to safely protect, rescue and rehabilitate as many vulnerable animals as possible, whilst also continuing to educate the local communities on the risks that arise from poaching, the black markets and contact with wild animals.

   Our COVID-19 campaign is continuing to raise money to help keep this work going:

   https://darwinanimal.bsd.net/page/contribute/global-covid-19-campaign

   -Tod and Piggy, Presidents, Darwin Animal Doctors

    

   Cute Piggy image of the week:

   Leave a Comment

3. Street Shepherds Campaign

   April 15, 2020

   This week we want to tell you all about our Moroccan campaign. Our local partner, RAPAD-Maroc is working to address the huge education and animal care problem that has come about surrounding COVID-19.

   Among the torrent of false information viewable on TV in Morocco is the claim that you can catch COVID-19 from your cats and dogs and farm animals. This has led, as we shared with you previously, to the mass dumping of farm and domestic animals. The sudden appearance of hungry and increasingly aggressive animals everywhere is a second public health crisis all of its own.

   

   

   The current situation in Morocco is a military enforced stay-at-home order but RAPAD-Maroc is one of very few groups given government permission to operate on the streets- they’re working basically alone, and what they’ve done is to create the “Street Shepherds” campaign.

   

   

   The Street Shepherds are going out every day, caring for the animals as best they can, to prevent them from dying in droves on the streets, and from becoming too aggressive as they begin to starve.

   They are working with media and the government,

   

   

   As well as teaching directly on the streets, to inform communities exactly how COVID-19 is spread, and how the communities can help.

   

   We need help giving them the resources to save these thousands of animals who had homes until very recently, and to spread the word all throughout Morocco to stop even more animals from getting dumped in droves!

   Alongside our COVID-19 fundraiser (https://darwinanimal.bsd.net/page/contribute/global-covid-19-campaign),

   You can now also donate directly to our Morocco campaign. https://darwinanimal.bsd.net/page/contribute/morocco-covid-19-campaign

   These animals really do need you now, more than ever!

   

   -Tod and Piggy, Presidents, Darwin Animal Doctors

    

   Cute Piggy image of the week:

   
   

   Leave a Comment

4. Masks Campaign – COVID 19

   April 8, 2020

   Our COVID-19 campaign has started! Unfortunately, because of these unprecedented times, all our events and planned field work this summer have been canceled. Our team around the world is currently pulling together to use all their time and resources to help in all the ways they can.

   Our seamstresses have switched from making Piggy’s plush toy merch (http://piggytale.storenvy.com/) to making masks to send to hospitals, clinics, and people sick with COVID-19 who are running out of masks. Many of the masks in use around the world are single use, so having these amazing, washable and reusable masks not only benefits the people we’re helping, but continues to do that little bit to help the environment too.

   Our seamstress Gina (https://www.supersoxshop.com/), just finished making mask number 200:

   

    

   And, this is just one of the hospitals to which we are sending masks for nurses. This is Wake Med hospital in Raleigh where tents are housing COVID-19 patients:

   

    

   This week, we are also sending masks to hospitals in Atlanta, hospitals in NYC, and to clinic nurses and COVID-19 patients everywhere who are running out of masks.

   

    

   If anyone wants to donate online, now really is the best time! The link below will take you to the page where you can donate to our entire COVID-19 campaign, including the making of these masks: https://darwinanimal.bsd.net/page/contribute/global-covid-19-campaign

   Or if you want to donate towards just the masks in the US: https://www.gofundme.com/f/make-masks-for-donation

   

    

   

    

   Please help us! Without you, none of this amazing work would be possible, so now, more than ever we want to give you an enormous thank you! And stay safe wherever you are.

    

   -Tod and Piggy, Presidents, Darwin Animal Doctors

    

   Cute Piggy image of the week:

   Leave a Comment

5. Global COVID-19 Campaign

   April 1, 2020

   We are all very much aware of the global crisis affecting us all currently. Many of us are in isolation or lockdown, and not one of us could have escaped hearing news of the life-changing impacts of COVID-19.

   But all over the world our local partners are working tirelessly to combat the damage of COVID-19, stop it’s spread, and stop the spread of other zoonotic diseases.

   We’re launching the DAD Global COVID-19 Campaign! Helping to fight the fight to save countless lives.

   https://darwinanimal.bsd.net/page/contribute/global-covid-19-campaign

   So what are our partners doing?

   In Morocco, RAPAD-Maroc are doing an incredible job taking care of abandoned farm animals. Their new campaign ‘Sheep Shepherds’ are looking after newly abandoned sheep, which were being attacked in the streets by newly abandoned dogs as people feared catching the virus from their domestic animals.

   

    

   In Indonesia, ISCP helps fight the spread of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 by stopping the illegal wildlife market and wildlife trafficking, limiting the human contact with these wild animals. We need their work now more than ever.

   

    

   In Ecuador, our amazing vets will be giving a free webinar on April 9th about COVID-19.

   

    

   In the USA, our amazing seamstress and plush toy maker is making stylish face masks to donate to healthcare workers in the Northwest!

   

    

   So here’s that link again where you can support our local partners in their fight against this global pandemic:

   https://darwinanimal.bsd.net/page/contribute/global-covid-19-campaign

   Without you, none of this amazing work would be possible, so now, more than ever we want to give you an enormous thank you! Thank you so much! And stay safe wherever you are.

    

   -Tod and Piggy, Presidents, Darwin Animal Doctors

    

   And, of course, Cute Piggy image of the week:

   
   

   Leave a Comment