Click here to read the September 2024 Newsletter!
Click here to read the September 2024 Newsletter!
So here in Lagos, it´s hot, hot, hot and it´s not only our animals who need lots of shade and water! Huge thanks go to our collections and deliveries team who continue to maintain the essential service of getting donated furniture into our shop, committing to working even in this heat. Without them we would not be able to raise so many funds for abandoned animals. So a big shout out for them - thank you!
The summer months are always a difficult time for any charity in terms of staffing. I have to thank the fabulous Nandi team of shop volunteers who are all stepping up to cover holiday absences. If you have a friend who can spare a few hours a week, please let us know by dropping into one of our shops and talking to our volunteers or contacting us on info@nandicharity.com
This month it is the plight of abandoned kittens and puppies that, unfortunately, takes centre stage. This has been the worst year to date for despicable human acts of abuse carried out on animals. Finding abandoned puppies and kittens in sacks, lixu bins and carrier bags seems to have become a regular occurrence. We highlight some cases in this newsletter.
And once again, we need to encourage pet owners to sterilise - if they are on a low income, Nandi can help. Please spread the word. From 1st August instead of having to come into the shop, we are providing an online application service - just go to our website www.nandicharity.com and the ´services we provide´ to find the form which can be completed and submitted on line. More details will be given in our next newsletter when we will have trialled the new system for a month.
Finally, we have heard of stories of large numbers of cats being taken during the night from colonies around Lisbon. Nothing good can be coming from it. Please keep an extra eye open on your local colony - we now feed 500 cats so extra help is always welcomed. Just contact us on animalhelp@nandicharity.com
If ever we needed a reason to be a volunteer at Nandi, here´s a good one: Three weeks ago one of our cat feeders brought in a tiny kitten that had been passed to her - a worker in the Continente area of Chinicato had been giving out kittens to passers-by! Christina brought her into the shop asking for Nandi vet help. Kida, as she is now called, was hardly moving, covered in fleas, almost blind and emaciated, passing only long worms. We feared she would not live. We arranged Nandi vet care for her - and Christina sent us the pictures after only a couple of weeks´care. And the great news is that she has now been adopted!
Christina writes: "Thank you very much Nandi Charity for helping to give a new life opportunity! I was about to die, or go blind! With your help I'm fine. Thank you for giving me all the support in veterinary, food, etc.! Thanks to you, I'm healthy now The first photo, that's when I was very bad! Then in the second photo I'm happy and healthy!"
Two years after Nandi was established in 2006, another animal charity came into being - Cadela Carlota. Like Nandi, the charity took its name from the dog of its founder, Cecilia Paula. In 2008, Cecilia’s female Rhodesian mix, named Carlota, went missing. After searching high and low, Cecilia checked the Lagos Canil. She found Carlota but what she saw there shocked her and shortly after she founded the charity. Also like Nandi, the charity manages two shops, one in Lagos and one in Almadena which help raise money for the care and vet treatments of their animals. Over the years, Nandi has worked closely with the charity, assisting it with monthly food supplies, vet treatments, including sterilisations, and cash donations, as needed. A larger 5,000 euro donation was made last year to help it buy land for its dog shelter between Odiaxere and Mexilhoeira Grande.
Currently, Cadela Carlota volunteers care for around some 70 cats in its Lagos cat shelter and over 80 dogs. While they try very hard to find homes for the animals in the two shelters, its not always possible. Some are feral, some are too old and some are too sick. Hence, many of the animals will remain with the charity for the rest of their lives. The charity's aim is to fill their remaining days with love and attention.
After successfully raising the money to purchase the land for the dog shelter, the charity now faces another major challenge. The buildings housing the cat shelter stands are owned by the city of Lagos and they are now wanted back to make way for a new city project. The cats will have to move to a new home within the next year. Fortunately, there is enough room where the dog shelter is to accommodate both. The first phase, which is now underway, will house up to 100 cats and provide indoor and outdoor space for sick, injured or newly sterilised cats, as well as for mothers and kittens waiting to be adopted. This will cost around 75,000 euros. A second phase is planned for later on which includes a dedicated sanctuary for feral cats that cannot be returned to the wild because of injury or sickness. Fund raising for the first phase has begun in earnest and a donation page https://gofund.me/c21c4d6 has been established on the charity's website.
Several thousand euros have been pledged to date. Ruth Gomez, the Cadela Carlota´s President, said: "It's quite a challenge raising so much money, but I am sure we can do it with the help our wonderful supporters and organisations like Nandi". But the challenges don’t stop there. The charity is also urgently in need of a quarantine area in their dog shelter to ensure diseases do not enter. They have the space but work will cost them another 46,000 euros. Nandi’s President, Helen Mattacott said: ”We wish Cadela Carlota all the best in their fundraising efforts and in the future, we hope Nandi and Cadela Carlota will forge even closer bonds and look for more ways of collaborating”.
Pat Banks writes: These five little puppies pictured below were found dumped in the street not even 24 hours after they were born. Sadly, this is happening more and more with puppies and newborn kittens thrown into fields and lixu bins all over the Algarve. Usually it’s too late to save them by the time they are found. But for these five puppies, luck and a lot of love was on their side. They were taken to Clinica Veterinaria do Ferrel and with round the clock care from the vet and her staff they have all survived. Even better news, all have been found their forever homes.
This is the second litter of puppies saved by the clinic in a matter of weeks. Six other newborn puppies dumped in a lixu bin survived and were also found homes. Nandi has helped with the costs for both litters and was thanked both times by the vet and her team. Helen Mattacott, Nandi’s President said: “The cruel dumping of kittens and puppies only serves to underline the urgent need for sterilisations of dogs and cats. Owners who don’t have the funds to pay for this can contact us and we will be happy to help”.
Pat Banks writes: Caring for five newborn babies with round the clock feeding and all that goes with it would be daunting to the youngest of women. But to our Sandra, newly in her eighties, it’s a challenge she can’t say no to. So when these five newborn kittens arrived on her doorstep a few days ago, she took them in. After five days of bottle feeding and sleepless nights, the kittens’ eyes opened and they were thriving. Very sadly we have now heard that despite all of Sandra´s efforts, three have now died.
Sandra, a volunteer in Nandi’s clothes shop and a cat feeder, has already saved and reared more than 126 kittens and rehomed all of them. Not to mention she is still caring for four cats abandoned, or left with her supposedly on a temporary basis, and two of her own.
Sandra, we salute you.
Normally it is to celebrate a happy occasion when our Nandi volunteers get together. But last week it was to mark a very sad event. We said goodbye to our senior Vet Liaison Officer, Annette Brown, who has been with us for nearly 14 years. Annette will be returning to her home country, the UK, and has handed over her duties to new volunteer, Sandra Thompson (see separate story about Sandra).
Annette settled in Portugal in 2008 with her husband and the two dogs she brought with her. Since then, she has collected and cared for a variety of abandoned dogs and strays, including some feral cats that wandered in off the street. Annette started off with Nandi as a volunteer working in the shops and feeding the ferry cats. She became Nandi’s Secretary in 2014 and after her three-year stint as Secretary, she was appointed Vet Liaison Officer.
Her job was to handle requests for help with sterilisations and vet treatments, and to make sure our vets were paid on time. She also played a major role in alerting Nandi management to the needs of other charities caring for animals in desperate circumstances and individual animals needing urgent vet treatments over and above what Nandi would normally pay. Annette has also been instrumental in raising money for us, organising quizzes, Christmas Fairs and raffles. Volunteers who know her well gathered in late July to wish her well, volunteers made food and Nani baked the amazing cake.
We will miss you, Annette.
From 1st August Sandra Thompson will be heading up all of our animal help services including communications with vets, sanctuaries and cat feeders.
Sandra has been coming to Portugal for more than 20 years and settled here permanently 4 years ago with her husband, Keith. She worked as a Civil Servant in the UK for 38 years before retiring to Lagos. Latterly, she co-ordinated teams of people in the development and management of government websites.
Sandra is keen to work with our community and the Nandi family to better help our abandoned and sick animals. Nandi has already made great use of her skills by developing a digitalised service available from 1st August for sterilisations and vet care, making the whole system much simpler to use.
We are so lucky to have her join us!
We are also lucky that her husband has joined our team! Keith Thompson will also be seen in the shops as he will be using his skills to help with our DIY etc. Not only that, he has bravely joined our collections and deliveries teams. And, he still finds time to walk dogs for the Canil and for Cadela Carlota.
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