One Saturday morning in early September the Embark field team (Ishan Fernando, Nilusha Samarasinghe, Shashine Dullewe, Eranga Jaywardane and me) set off from Odel in the hope of making a difference. Under Saving the Injured campaign we would be in charge of improving a dilapidated animal shelter run by just one man for around 48 dogs and 20 cats. The project was estimated to last 2 days.
Day 1: when we arrived at the shelter we truly grasped the extent of the degradation. Suffice it to say, we had never seen that much – for lack of a better word – doo in the same place at the same time. The smell was overwhelming; even the CMC cleaners were apprehensive at the sight. Most of the dogs were further inside, but a few lingered near the entrance. Their mangy fur crawled with enough fleas for a miniature version of Cirque du Soleil (on a world tour) and all we could do was feel sorry for them. The dogs held their own against us strangers, though, guarding the shelter and its inhabitants (cats, dogs and humans) from the intruders, and for that our hearts warmed.
The dogs were moved to a quarantine area in the compound and the workers started clearing out the mess. Meanwhile, like true middle-to-upper-class Sri Lankans, we strapped on our gloves, safety masks and uber-cool embark work vests and went inside to have a drink.
That day we learned a number of things; for one, the place hadn’t always been like this – in better days when there was a steady income and fewer dogs, the shelter would have been quite acceptable, but as people brought in more and more stray dogs with nowhere else to go the owner lost the ability to care for them all. We also found out that he had a family – a wife, a son, a daughter-in-law and their little girl who couldn’t have been more than 3 years old, and they all lived in a tiny section of the area. We couldn’t help but be astonished. Surely one must help oneself before trying to help others? We also came across a dog that had lived on a table ever since she was born and refused to get down, but let’s not get into the details.
Day 2: the mayhem at the Kelaniya animal shelter continued as we brought in a bulldozer to scrape out the rest of the soil. Later they dropped in the clean (a.k.a. odour-free) red soil and we spent the rest of the day helping to spread it over the ground. After a few more hours of good hard labour on empty stomachs (fear not – our budget for lunch was well-spent on a hilariously complicated trishaw ride to get one of our volunteers home), we managed to get most of it in place. However there was still work to do – the gate needed to be erected, walls fixed and lessons taught to the owner. Ishan and Eranga started on the latter, though the owner was not one to co-operate easily, but a third day was needed to finish the project.
In total the Kelaniya project required more than Rs. 100,000, and we only hope that the work we did can be maintained. Personally, I worked harder on those two days than I ever have for any biology assignment or paid job, because I knew that we’d be improving the lives of animals that mattered just as much as any pampered pedigree pooch. Although I didn’t see the end product and later heard that the doo was piling back up, I got a glimpse of the fruits of our labour, when, on the second day a dog sniffed happily at the new earth and gave it a short prod of satisfaction. And that was enough to make my day.
Embark
All animals have the same rights as humans. Embark wants to share this with you all and we would like if you could make our surrounding better for animals and humans. All animals have the right of:
- Freedom from Hunger and thirst
- Freedom from Discomfort
- Freedom from pain, injury & disease
- Freedom from Fear & Distress
- Freedom to Express Natural Behavior
- We believe in what we do for the betterment of stray dogs in Sri Lanka.
It’s time we listen to them… |
