SUMMER - SOMMERSUMMER - SOMMER

ESTATEESTATE

NINA RUGE + LUNA

NEWSLETTER2012

NEWSLETTER2012

STRAY DOGS ….Many years ago, while I was still studying, I had a non-spayed female dog. We lived in the middle of a small village in Bavaria. When Lola went on heat, we had visitors: Benny, a straggly haired small male dog from the neighbouring village (3,5 km away did he “smell” this?) and Nemis, a great Dane crossbreed from the other side of my village. Over the years I could control the “twice-yearly-event”, but once they got her: an unwanted litter; 8 puppies. They were offered in the newspaper and by the age of 2 months all of them found a home. One pregnancy per life and all went well…….Here in the south of Italy and probably even in other countries where there is a stray dog problem, only a few people control their dogs. They allow them to roam freely and certainly every female will have two litters per year. The owners try to re-home the puppies, but the market is saturated, the kennels over crowded. The puppies, unwanted dogs and/or especially sick animals are abandoned without any hesitation. If they survive, they will be eventually caught and taken to one of these kennels. From 1991 in Italy a “no kill” law was introduced and communities have to pay for lifelong accommodation of stray(ing) dogs. This fact mobilized not only animal protection organizations to start a thriving business, there are hundreds of commercial kennels offering their services to town councils. Only in the Region of Campania (density of population 429,25 inhabitants per square kilometre) over 40.000 dogs are recovered in such establishments. If we count only 1 Euro per day per dog (and sometimes they get up to 5 Euro daily per animal!), a million-Euro-business shows up. And naturally the business is flourishing if there are hundreds or thousands of dogs in one kennel.But mass-sheltering was already known before the no-kill law was launched, managed by animal protection organizations. 200, 300, 600 or more dogs cooped up in tiny enclosures, no room to run, no human contact, no proper dog food, no vet: a scene of horror. Those responsible are “doing their best”, sacrifice their lives for the animals. And there are more and more and more …..An uncontrolled female dog has a litter every six months. Small dogs produce fewer puppies on average per litter than big dogs, but there are once in a while 17 puppies in one. At the age of 5 months dogs can have their first heat cycle and proliferate. The pregnancy lasts only 2 months. Assuming only five puppies per litter and two litters per year and a life expectancy of 10 years there will be 100 puppies from only one female dog. And the female puppies have their first litter already in the first year of life. If we count all the puppies from the puppies and their puppies a tremendous number comes out: in fact there will be over 20 million puppies starting from one female over a period of 10 years.

I enjoy working with the kids in school when we elaborate these numbers. And dogs do not suffer from the menopause; they are proliferating until they die!It is very clear that this huge problem certainly cannot be resolved through kennelling and/or re-homing. There are simply too many. And often puppies grown up in a kennel or in the streets are not “socialized” and do not fit very well in a family. They only know their pack and its life that is (for a dog) very interesting even if often very dangerous. All over the world a stray problem is normally answered by catching and killing the animals. Without success it seems, because this tactic has been used for ages without ever reducing the total number of dogs in a territory on long term. After some of the animals have been caught, the “vacancy” is immediately occupied by a puppy or another dog that would continue to migrate or die. The total number of dogs is not increasing immeasurably; it is limited by three parameters: the offer of food, water and the possibility to be protected from climatic factors or natural enemies. This is the so-called “holding capacity”-The same happens if we catch dogs to recover them in kennels. Besides that a dog certainly prefers a lifelong human partner instead of being lifelong in prison, the problem never will be resolved. More and more kennels need to be built and the number inside those will increase constantly. So, what can we do? Increase the re-homing rate? Locally or in other countries? Often dogs in these mass kennels are not really healthy and the average future dog owner prefers to buy one from a breeder even if some of these dogs are known to have lots of problems. We need to change the mentality! Yes, this is very important, but a long-term project and it takes ten of years to see a change. Some Mayors ordered not to feed strays anymore. This is a pace in the right direction, but certainly inhumane: if you see a skinny creature rummaging through the rubbish for something to eat you automatically grab the tin opener!

But influencing the “holding capacity” (food, water, protection) would be a solution. For example Mayors could take better care of the rubbish that is lying around everywhere…What would you do if in your house if a tap would drip and drip and drip ….. You would dry under it (catching animals for killing or re-homing them)? You would place a bucket underneath (= kennels)? And if it is full? It is so clear that you should CLOSE THE TAP. Am I right?There should only be born the number of puppies that new owners are waiting for already. We have to “CLOSE THE TAP”, in other words: BIRTH CONTROL! Information and education is the first step forward. We need to work especially with the younger generation. There is a German saying: “if little John does not learn something, big John won't learn it anymore” and this is true. The television should inform regularly and correctly about having a pet in a family. And to avoid suffering, these animals should be spayed and neutered.It sounds so easy and logical, but many dog owners project their own human feelings on their four legged family members that it will last for ages until the problem of stray animals will be resolved all over the world.

Dorothea Friz, DVMwww.legaproanimale.org

….. you aresimply

wonderful !!!!!

JULIE AND STEVE ……

Above: at the Queen of England's Summer Ball (doesn't she look like a princess?)Small picture: to raise money for the work of LEGA PRO ANIMALE Julie and Steve walked 46 miles in one day. They collected over £1.000,00 and AISPA doubled the sum. Nearly 100 animals will be spayed/neutered with this fabulous donation avoiding thousands of unwanted puppies and kittens. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

The Persian cat Luna from the Tremiti Islands found a wonderful home with Nina Ruge (a German TV journalist). She is helping a lot and lately she published an article about our work here in southern Italy in a German dog magazine (DOGS, July/August, pages 64-71). THANK YOU VERY MUCH DEAR NINA!!!

HOW CAN YOU HELP US??

- with a donation- adopting an animal

- with an adoption from a distance of our “oldies” (including one of the buffaloes)

- telling all your relatives and friends about us- helping actively on site, maybe in the Summer

Holidays or at Weekends (gardening, repair works, painting, administration or simply

playing with the dogs and cats)- taking a dog (or several) to Germany to its

new owner- sponsor a spay or neuter, or eventually a

neuter course for a vet

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP ITALIAN ANIMALS FOREVER? ASK YOUR LAWYER HOW TO LEAVE A SUM FOR THIS PURPOSE IN YOUR WILL.

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DANKE GRAZIE THANKS DANKE GRAZIE THANKS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!Mrs. Rosolino and the Rass family from Germany renounced on birthday presents and asked for a donation for the work of LEGA PRO ANIMALE instead. A SUPER IDEA - HUNDREDS OF ANIMALS WILL BE “RESCUED” THROUGH SPAYING AND NEUTERING!!

BUSY GIRLS ….

Left to right: Erika, Fabiana, Antonella, Claudia and Amelie: Lupa loves it to be groomed and all LPA-animals are very thankful for this “new” attention!

BUSY HELPERS!Michelnangelo (left, he volunteers in our centre nearly every Sunday) and Cinzia (right) are treating the wood round the flowers. Thanks for this wonderful help!!!

Christian Much, German General Consol of Naples and the south of Italy together with his press officer,

Mrs. Weber pay an official visit to LEGA PRO ANIMALE. You can find a report on this on the

facebook page of the consulate: www.facebook.com/ConsolatoGermaniaNapoli.

A heartfelt thanks for this fantastic help. Maybe the “police and co” will stay away from us in future.

Susanne and Werner from Germany come to LPA nearly every year to spend their holidays with us to help. This time they whitewashed the entire dog kennels and produced a scratch board for the buffaloes from heavy brooms. Emilio has a look at the new equipment and thinks that it is wonderful. Now he can have a brush massage after his daily bath in the buffalo pool . Thank you so much!

Do you like animals, especially dogs and cats? We are looking for a volunteer, economically/financially independent, to live in our centre. In exchange we offer free stay in furnished accomodation (2 small rooms, kitchen, shower/WC and central heating) for taking care of the property. Our financial situation does not allow us to offer a salary.

Angela and Kristie deliver a donation of $ 700 from the American Country Store to Dorothea to finance the spaying/neutering of all these stray cats on the American Base. SUPER THANKS!!!

Thanks to all sponsors all over the world who donate small and big amounts of money to enable us to work.

Special thanks to DEUTSCHER TIERSCHUTZBUND e.V. in Bonn/Germany for suggesting us to the transmission in television “Martin Ruetter hilft”. Super thanks to Martin Ruetter and Nina Ruge great performance! And naturally thanks to all the donors! A big THANK YOU to Dr. Lambracht and staff of Deutscher Tierschutzbund e.V. and the co workers of Mina TV for handing over this fabulous donation - this will be the first time in nearly 30 years that I can cover all the expenses without attacking my private account!!! SUPER THANKS!!!Many thanks to AISPA in the UK; to Julia in Germany (we are all waiting for the results of your PhD on early spaying and neutering); to Gazan Foundation, Elisabeth Rentschler Foundation, Mrs. Wechsler, Rosanna, Tierambulanz-Verein and Messerli Foundation in Switzerland; super thanks to the American organizations “Friends of Roman Cats” and “Humane Society International”. Special thanks to our Italian sponsors, especially Mrs. Maria Lessona Fasano, Mrs. Rosolino and Mrs. Troise. We are all very grateful for the untiring work of Andrea and Claudi who manage our home pages in three languages and help whenever I ask for. And naturally a special thank to all staff members of LEGA PRO ANIMALE: Isabella, Giovanni (we all hope that you will be healthy soon!), Margherita ; to the vets Gigi, Lorenzo and Giuliano and to the dedicated volunteers Michelangelo, Teresa, Dora, Rosa and all the others who give us a hand that we reach our goal:

EACH DOG AND CAT HAS A CARING OWNER!No more dogs and cats living permanently in the streets or in overcrowded kennels!