As the situation in the Middle East looks set to further devolve with the latest showdown between Iran and Saudi Arabia, I thought this week would be a good time to find out more about what happens to animals in war zones. Professor Google led me to this article, which is both interesting and inspiring and highly recommended to read.
Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel of Syria sounds like an amazing man 🙂
“I regard animals and humans in the same light,” he says. “All of them suffer pain, and all of them deserve compassion.” I have written to him to see if it is possible to donate, and will post details in a later week if I find out how.
In the meantime, I will dedicate this week to another worthy organisation also featured in the article.
Nowzad, named after Now Zad, a war torn town in Afghanistan, was started by a caring Royal Marine, after he personally intervened to stop an orchestrated dog fight. One of the spared dogs ‘adopted him’ and he went through a huge process to adopt the dog, whom he named ‘Nowzad’.
Fortunately he didn’t stop there and went on to create a charity of the same name.
They run the only official animal shelter in Afghanistan;
they train local people, including women, in veterinary skills;
they trap, neuter, vaccinate and release stray dogs to help control rabies and unwanted animals, this is of great benefit to both the human and animal populations;
they facilitate adoption of animals into local homes and also help reunite returned service men and women with the animals they befriended whilst on their tour of duty;
they are expanding their care to help rescue donkeys and horses from their lives of misery.
What a great charity to discover and it’s only week 2!
52 charities - 52 weeks 