The Precious Cornerstone Academy in Nairobi began teaching the Guardians of the Forest Youth Rangers Program to their Youth Rangers Club in August. Precious Cornerstone is a mixed day and boarding school in Ruiru.Their Youth Rangers Club, which is currently running our Guardians of the Forest Youth Rangers Program, is just one of their extra curricular activities, and aims at educating the students on matters of animal welfare and nature conservation. Their instructor, Mary Kabz is inspired to train children and youth, so we can raise a generation that is ready to protect and take care of the environment, animals and wildlife.
Sessions have been very physical and fun, using drama, music and song in the learning. The children were very quick to learn to use the instruments in their sessions. They’ve been litter picking, and placing increased numbers of rubbish bins around their school; making notebooks and eco bricks out of recycled materials, and have then began using their notebooks in later sessions and excursions.
The students were eager to continue during their school break, so were even making eco bricks at home.
Of course, they’ve also been learning the fundamentals of what it means to be a ranger, with sessions on ‘The Role of a Ranger’ and ‘Safety in the Forest’. Very important sessions, as in September they went on the first of their excursions: a visit to Nairobi Safari Walk to spend the day with the rangers there!
The Safari walk is part of Nairobi National Park, alongside the Animal Orphanage, with examples of native wildlife in a setting that mimics their natural environment. The park is home to rare bongo, white rhino and albino zebra as well as big cats, antelopes, primates and 150 species of local trees.
Our Youth Rangers from Precious Cornerstone really made the most of their time with the rangers, learning from them more about the importance of wildlife care and conservation in their local area, and students left the sanctuary with a renewed passion for protecting their environment, and hopefully the start of a rewarding partnership with local rangers!
This is just their first excursion, the next, planned for November will be to the only public animal rescue and shelter in Kenya, so our youth rangers can learn more compassion for animals, and how to care for domestic animals.
Over the past months, we have been able to continue to send regular donations to partners around the world. Thanks to the continued generosity of our donors, we have been making a great impact in Tanzania and Brazil.
In Tanzania, as well as continuing his frequent rescues, Ismael has been able to get vaccinations and sterilisation to a group of neighborhood dogs in the past month.
In Brazil, Paula also continues with her adorable rescues. The donation sent in August has provided food and, again, much needed vaccinations to the rescued pups.
To be able to continue to support these amazing people, helping these amazing animals, we do rely on donations for you wonderful people, so we would like to say thank you for your contribution too!
We look forward to sharing more exciting stories soon!
After successful completion of the training program in July, our partners in Africa were eager to get underway and pass their new knowledge and skills on to their own students.
The Precious Cornerstone Academy in Nairobi has been running the program with their students throughout August and have been making amazing progress.
The sessions have been very physical and fun, using drama and music in the learning. They’ve been litter picking, making notebooks and eco bricks out of recycled materials, and of course, learning the fundamentals of what it means to be a ranger.
It’s been absolutely brilliant seeing the children working together and seeing them so committed to the program. They will soon be paired with rangers from the national park so they can learn more about the importance of protecting their natural environment! We can’t wait to share more of their progress! They look like they’re having so much fun!
Earlier this year, we were excited to announce our new partnerships in Kenya and Zimbabwe.
The three amazing organisations we are working with have, over the course of the last month, been training with our Community Developer, Sarah, in implementing our Youth Rangers Programme. Just this week, the directors and teams at each of the organisations have completed the training programme and are now ready to start teaching Youth Rangers in their communities.
The Guardians of the Forest Youth Rangers programme is designed to support and enable young people to learn about the importance of environment, conservation and animal welfare, empowering them to be champion’s. It increases employability skills and community engagement.
Applying a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the course has been incredibly well received, despite the set back of being delivered virtually. We’ve seen a number of physical activities taking place including group drumming sessions, recycling projects, tree hugging, drama and urban gardening.
We asked the directors what motivated them:
‘My major motivation was my love for animals and nature.
Also being a veterinary professional, I realized most of the people don’t value animals especially wild animals nor do they take care of the environment .
So you find a lot of injured or killed animals mostly wild animals as they are considered dangerous and harmful.
Also there is a lot of cutting down of trees either for timber or to develop/ farm in forest areas, this is why the wildlife animals and the forests are declining at a higher rate causing imbalance in the nature/ecosystem.
So I realised that if we can bring up the children who are conscious of taking care of animals and the environment we can save/protect the nature in the coming years.
My vision is to train the children and youth when they are still young so that we can raise a generation that is ready to protect and take care of the environment and animals including wildlife.’. -Mary
‘We are motivated by the negative impacts that we are seeing on our environment. With all this happening no one is taking the first step to involve children and youth to cultivate empathy and responsibility over nature, animals and human kind.
We envisage a biodiverse, animal friendly, empathetic and humane community that sees all living beings as equals.’. -Alfred
We can’t wait to share more from our amazing new partners, so keep watching over coming weeks! We will definitely be seeing more of them soon!
Things may be quiet around the world, but behind the scenes we’re as busy as ever. As you all know, we’re expanding our partnerships in Africa. After months of organising and online meetings, it’s time to share with you some of our new collaborations. This week: Pwani Animal Welfare (PAW) in Kenya. https://pawmombasa.co.ke/home/
Pwani Animal Welfare Organisation (PAW) was founded by Nusrat Mohammed along with a few friends passionate about animal welfare in July 2019. Nusrat has homed rescued cats since she was 7 years old and is now focused on humane dog/cat population control in Mombasa county; accessibility of rabies vaccinations and awareness in low income communities.
The community-based organisation addresses the welfare of all domestic animals and emphasises conservation of local ecosystems. Not only do they do amazing work rescuing and re-homing animals (mainly cats up to this point) but they also work very strongly in their rabies vaccination campaigns; working to vaccinate animals and educate their local communities.
Educating and empowering the youth of their community on animal welfare, conservation and awareness is an important part of their mission and we at Darwin Animal Doctors are excited to work with them on their Youth Rangers Program (aka PAW Patrol).
The Youth Rangers Program will be part of their outreach community activities, providing an opportunity to learn about the importance of animal welfare and protection of the environment whilst developing employability skills and a sense of ownership, belonging, and the eagerness to help and support their local environment.
“Keeping the environment safe for people and all kinds of wildlife is the most important part of a ranger’s job. Educating the public on their conduct with companion animals in their areas and how to conduct themselves in wildlife areas helps accomplish this. The participants will take part in a variety of activities from litter pick up and how to be safe when encountering stray animals in [their] communities and being safe and responsible when encountering wildlife. They will learn physical activities like restoring habitats and litter pick up. As part of the monitoring process, youth will learn about endangered species. Participants will have the chance to develop a simple community survey to identify the needs of the local community and how communities can also support the work of rangers. Participants will learn about trees and plant them in specific areas to help revitalize the area.”
In all, we’re very excited for this new partnership, and whilst we can’t yet be there in person, our team will be delivering interactive online training until the borders open and we can work face to face again.
Until then, PAW’s mission statement is a very positive message to work towards: ‘Creating a one health community: Happy People Happy Animals!’
We’ve spent the last week looking at the work of our Brazilian partners, Protectors Without Borders (https://www.facebook.com/protetoresemfronteiras/) have been doing. It’s an incredibly busy time for them, with Covid leading to more abandoned pets, and increased numbers of pups to save on the streets each day.
Their aim is to reduce the amount of strays on the streets; giving the rescued dogs the medical care they need, and new and loving homes. Additionally, they continue to campaign for increased humane and animal rights within their country.
Whilst many of their rescues, like these two adorable puppies, are quickly adopted, this week has seen 3 cases we’ll continue to watch.
This first dog has undergone an amazing transformation since being rescued by our partners. Thanks to a local donor, he has been groomed and is looking much better. He has been carefully nursed and is now able to undergo surgery to remove his tumour!!!
This second street dog was brought to our partners after a passer by took pity on her. She had been hit by a vehicle, and severely injured.
Protectors Without Borders runs as a group of dedicated individuals, each contributing what they can to the collective group; resources, experience, medication. In the case of this poor, injured dog, each of the group has contributed to her care, and, with some additional donations, she has been able to have surgery for her injuries.
While it was touch and go for a while, her condition has stabilized, she is eating well now and is on the way to recovery.
The third case this week is the saddest of the three. This dog has suffered abuse at the hands of a human, something our friends, even this week are campaigning against. Her condition remains serious, but she has been adopted by a loving family whilst continuing to receive veterinary care.
Thanks to your generosity, we have been able to start the year with a campaign to help these rescues. Necessary medical care, food and some creature comforts are just some of the supplies funded.
Protectors Without Borders continues to campaign, even now, for more stringent laws on animal rights, and we hope to be able to share some of their progress soon.
We’ve looked here: http://darwinanimaldoctors.org/brazil-protectors-without-borders/ at the amazing work, taking in strays that the dedicated group at Protectors Without Borders do. Paula, the creator, has been caring for the strays in her community for 25 years!
During normal times, the number of animals needing either temporary or permanent rehoming can be up to 150 a month but that number has increased significantly due to Covid- families are abandoning their pets during the pandemic.
Protectors Without Borders are doing everything they can to accommodate all these poor abandoned pets: providing food, veterinary care, vaccinations and homes for as many as possible.
And, here at DAD, we want to do everything we can to help, so we are funding the next month of rescues. We hope to do as much as possible to help our friends and partners in Brazil and their lovely animal companions, and we hope to have stories to share with you all!
If you would like to contribute, please follow the link below to our paypal.
Over the past 10 months, Sarah, our Community Development Manager; and Joe, our web designer, have been working with a new organisation in Sumatra, Seed of Change Expeditions (www.seedofchangeexpeditions.org)
The Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra is home to Tigers, Rhinos, Elephants and Orangutans, as well as a number of our partners including ISCP (Indonesian Species Conservation Project), Stay Wild, Bukit Lawang Trust, and Sapo Zuma Zuma School.
It is a biodiversity hotspot, home to an estimated 10,000 different plant species, almost 600 bird species, 200 mammal species and close to 100 species of amphibians and reptiles, many of which are endemic: found only there! Seed of Change Expeditions is a locally created organisation which aims to teach visitors from around the world about the wonders of this unique ecosystem, inspiring people everywhere to become champions of the rainforest, support wildlife and enable local communities to thrive.
Throughout the lockdowns, Sarah and Joe, along with Shamanthi Jayawardena, a Marketing Expert who has volunteered her time, have worked with Ruddy and the Seed of Change team to create their designs, logos, and brand, setting up a business plan with health and safety protocols including Covid tracing, and done the amazing job of designing and building the website.
Our goal is to support the development of Seed of Change Expeditions. The local team running the trekking have been working on conservation projects in the local area for a number of years, and have been able to incorporate these ideas in their programmes. Their plan is to create a positive impact on the jungle, wildlife, and jungle communities around Batu Katak; making a lasting contribution to the jungle; helping to rebuild the rainforest (they plan to plant 1000 trees a year!!!!); and supporting local people and tourists to gain a better understanding of the jungle and how to protect it. We will, in time run a specially designed programme with the guides including: ranger activities, customer services, first aid and health and safety to continue their development.
Safe practices are important to us, and them. They are ensuring they’re treks follow the UNESCO Safe Practices guide (https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187099), and encourage visitors to learn about local culture, creating the safest, most enjoyable environments, not only for their guests but for the animals too!!!
Not only that, but they’re working towards Sustainable Development Goals, providing personal and professional development skills that local guides and employees can use to support their communities; and offering local experiences that provide an income to people within the community. They are encouraging visitors to connect with others to create a change through their Community Eco Trek Club.
Partners at Stay Wild are also providing support by loaning camera traps to monitor wildlife, and visitors will have the opportunity to connect with programmes and other projects within the area, allowing visiting children to experience even more of this amazing environment and inspiring young people to take joy in nature and the natural wonders of the world!
A Happy New Year to you all. As we welcome in the new year, we’re going to take a moment to look back at 2020.
It’s certainly been a year of ups and downs, from heart breaking losses, to amazing shows of support and community. Despite everything, we have achieved so much this year, with your help.
Our biggest announcement this year was the heart-breaking announcement of Piggy’s passing in May. Despite the amazing hard work of his vets, and the determination of Tod and friends, Piggy lost his fight with cancer, but his work continues, and the work that the team at DAD has been able to achieve this year shows just how much Piggy’s spirit of determination lives on.
The effects of COVID-19 have undoubtedly had a significant impact on our projects this year with many of our plans temporarily postponed and many others focusing mostly on fighting the effects of the virus.
RAPAD-Maroc, in Morocco was one of our new partnerships at the beginning of the year, focusing on re-building and reclaiming habitats for wildlife, including the building of wells to supply water to animals and communities alike, but as the pandemic hit, they launched their ‘Street Shepherds’ Campaign, caring for all the newly abandoned farm and domestic animals on the streets of Morocco. With the hundreds of dogs, sheep, donkeys and other animals they were caring for, they even made it into local media. They truly are superheroes!
The team at ISCP- Indonesian Species Conservation Program, in Sumatra have been incredibly busy this year. They really hit the ground running as, unfortunately the year started with horrendous forest fires in the rainforests in Sumatra and Borneo. It was a dramatic start to the year but definitely had a happy ending as the slow loris’s the team rescued were successfully rehabilitated and safely released back into the wild.
This was just the start of their rescue, rehab and release for the year with approximately 30 slow loris being released this year, and their total nearing 100 slow loris, over 1000 songbirds and raptors, as well as gibbons, leopard cats, macaques, binturongs, sun bears and other wildlife. Rudi’s team at ISCP, have even championed International Slow Loris Day on September 13th this year.
Not only have they been working hard on their slow loris rescue, but back in February, the generosity of IFAW allowed them to expand and help save sun bears from the illegal wildlife trade too, and we were able follow the story of one little sun bear on his path to rehabilitation.
Later in the year, they were able to expand again and a gibbon enclosure joined the Conservation Program with two Siamang Gibbons being rehabilitated at the rescue centre.
ISCP has suffered their own set-backs this year, with their director, founder and leader being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma in November, but with your generosity on Giving Tuesday, and the dedication of the team, they have continued their hard work, as they did through the summer: delivering care packages of bags of rice, hand sanitiser, pet food, soap and face masks.
While they’ve been restricted in their operations for the most of the year, our partners in Brazil, Protectors Without Borders, started the year off with a natural disaster of their own, as their region was deluged in constant storms and flooding. Not only were they caring for a lot more animals, but also continuing to campaign to pass the first humane laws in the region. They’ve had a busy year, there’s always animals that need help, including these adorable pups.
Along with RAPAD-Maroc, another new partnership early this year were the amazing community rangers of the Rafiki Wildlife Foundation, in Tanzania. Whilst their operations were hit quite hard through the summer, as the year progressed, they were able to re-commence their patrols, with the hope of limiting the human/ wildlife conflict in the Burunge Wildlife Management Area.
Another of our partners we’ve seen a lot of this year is the wonderful Ismael and his rescue centre in Tanzania. Your amazing generosity towards Piggy’s Birthday Fundraiser in November has allowed the shelter to expand, building new kennels in order to rescue more of the stray pups off of the streets. New pups receive medical treatment and are looked after at this wonderful shelter until they can be adopted.
We can’t look back on the year without mentioning the global pandemic a bit. So many of our partners have been unable to operate. Schools and education programs around the world have been at a standstill, including many of our partners in Indonesia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and others. Our project in Madagascar has had to be postponed, though we did see an amazing presentation in May, given by Dr. Tara Clarke on Madagascar, the Vanishing 8th Continent.
Our project in Madagascar is Saving Madagascar Together: Community Youth Environmental Program. The program will use the Youth Rangers program, and has been selected to teach environmental conservation and animal welfare topics for students and community members whose overall interaction with their ecosystem, conservation and natural forest is somewhat limited. But that’s something to look forward to.
Instead we’ve asked you to come together this year and help our partners to adapt and overcome the severe complications that the pandemic has thrown at them. Your generosity in our COVID Campaign not only helped ISCP in Sumatra, Ismael and the Rangers in Tanzania but also our seamstresses in the US making masks for all!
But we started and end the year with exciting news on our Youth Ranger’s Program. Way back in January, we launched our very first campaign of the year. Our community developer, Sarah, went to Sumatra to work with schools, NGO’s, Rangers, and communities from all over Indonesia.
She taught her Youth Ranger program to hundreds of teachers and students and at the beginning of March we were able to see some of the effects of this. Stay Wild in Sumatra continued to teach the program and we were able to report the joyous celebrations as the children graduated from phase 1, well on their way to becoming defenders of their rainforest home.
Sarah has continued to work hard on the program, and not only is phase 3 ready to roll, but, thanks to honour we had in February of becoming full constituent members of the UN Stakeholder Group for Education and Academia, she was able to talk at the 4th annual African Animal Welfare Conference. The conference provides a platform for different organisations, like us, who are animal welfare stakeholders in Africa to discuss developments in, and hopefully encourage further development and planning to realise animal welfare.
Following on from her amazing presentation, and after a lot of talks, we were delighted to announce, just a few weeks ago that we are now developing the Guardians of the Forest, Youth Ranger Program for new partners in Zimbabwe and Kenya!
Overall, despite the hardships this year has thrown at us, we really have achieved a lot worldwide. None of our work would be possible without your generous support and we are looking forward to an exciting New Year.
Last week we told you all about now Piggy’s Birthday fundraiser had been helping the wonderful Ismael (https://www.facebook.com/AnimalRescueTz) expand and improve his shelter in Tanzania, giving hope to many street pups, including the four new adorable ones, being housed in the brand new kennels.
By now you’ve probably learned that Ismaels shelter, the first in mainland Tanzania, is just one of the amazing projects we’re working with in Africa.
We have our partners at Rafiki Wildlife Foundation, in Tanzania who, together with the District Game Officer and the Management of Burunge WMA patrol the local area to help minimise the human animal conflicts in the region. The Babati District is rich in wildlife with the patrols frequently encountering a number of wildebeest, elephants, impala, zebra and waterbuck, as well as giraffes and buffalo.
In Morocco, earlier this year we started another wildlife habitat restoration and school rebuilding program with local Moroccan partner and fellow UN animal group RAPAD-Maroc. (https://rapad-maroc.org/), who have spent the year tirelessly sheltering and caring for the well-being of hundreds of abandoned animals on the streets, as well as attempting to educate the local communities.
Working on one of our most recent projects Saving Madagascar Together: Community Youth Environmental Program. Using the brilliant Youth Rangers program to provide an immersive course, supplementing the environmental education program run by Association Mitsinjo, in the Andasibe National Park. (http://associationmitsinjo.wordpress.com)
We are currently working towards partnerships with local schools across Madagascar and in the Arusha community in Tanzania to implement our Youth Rangers Programme and Piggy’s humane education.
But we’re not stopping there!!!!
In September Sarah, our Community Development Manager, gave an amazing talk at the Africa Animal Welfare Conference about the Guardians of the Forest Youth Ranger programme she created for us at Darwin Animal Doctors to implement around the world. (http://darwinanimaldoctors.org/2020/09/)
Since then, the team has been in talks with organisations in Kenya and Zimbabwe, discussing the Youth Rangers Program and how it can be developed for communities there. Pwani Animal Welfare in Kenya is just one of the organisations we are looking to work with in 2021! (https://pawmombasa.co.ke/blog/)
So Sarah has been working flat out to develop the program, not only for the new partners in Kenya and Zimbabwe but also for existing partners, with Phase 3 now nearing completion where the main part of the program is for youth rangers to create their own community conservation projects, with support from the rangers/teachers.
So 2021 will be a year of Africa: developing Morocco, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe. Exciting times are ahead!!!!
I
