Mina Sharpe, I heard that name before. Shame no-one took over her operation when she left (or…?), goodwill, momentum and all that. BUT, we can do it again! (Mina rehomed 1,000 dogs!)
Here’s a 2006 interview with Mina: timeforkids.com/TFK/specials … 69,00.html
A 2007 article has a link to a t-aarf website, but it’s a dead link. Googling t-aarf brings up an old site last updated in March 2004 (Animals Taiwan(AT)'s web site also links to this site). But it details 2 US shelters Mina used to (?) work with and their sites are up-to-date. There’s also an e-mail address for Mina.
I’ll get in touch with them. I’ll also get in touch with the Taiwanese dog rescue organization that flies dogs to SF. I have a lot of questions about logistics and finances.
“How do you decide which dogs go abroad”.
At this point I’d say any dog that turns out to be friendly, has been rehabilitated, or has the potential to be rehabilitated (prior to being rehomed of course), to live with a family (of any size, including 1 of course). Ideally, we can work out something with Sean to have candidates live in one of his packs if they need rehab before they can be rehomed. In return of course we’d rehome AT’s dogs, if this works out. And I do think, we need to begin by rehoming one of AT’s dogs to get this show on the road (AT can determine the order). But keep reading.
“How do you account for the funds”
There is more money sitting in more foundations that are willing to spend it on something I’m envisioning here, than you’d think. Marloes and I just tapped into one in the Netherlands. If we can get funds to come in (and we already do, both for AT and for our own operation), and are successful at rehoming dogs abroad, than maybe our cooperation with AT, who already have many things in place, are an institution, and are about to go official, could be more extensive (or we could ‘be AT’). We should use what’s already there.
I think Marloes and I can get the funds to get started. I’m imagining this sort of scenario (and I am thinking out loud):
A dog is rescued with or without Sean’s help and taken to the vet (we need to discuss which vet; I’d like to know which vet gave Mina a room to keep rescued dogs in). The finder/‘we’ keep in touch with the vet to discuss treatment options, and release date if observation is necessary. ‘We’ pay the vet bill (or AT could pay the bills as well as receive the funds, which should at least even out). Upon release the dog is placed with AT. (Do you get the feeling I need to talk to Sean??? IOW this has not been discussed with Sean yet at all , although we have already carried out this scenario once or twice, minus the rehoming abroad. But AT is FULL and so we’ve had to ‘swap’ dogs with AT instead of adding to the number of dogs there.) Ideally, at this point the dog has been vaccinated and de-sexed, but in many cases rescued dogs are too sick or weak for either vaccinations or de-sexing. (So more often than not we’d be adding to AT’s workload with trips to the vet and administering meds.) The dog remains with AT until it is healthy and rehabilitated and can be added to the list of emigrants, so to speak (or is adopted here by one of the many visitors/potential adopters AT gets).
In the meantime, we work relentlessly with organizations in the US, the Netherlands, and any other country any of you has connections in, to place dogs that are good to go. AT’s dogs as well as the ones we find ‘on the side’. We need to discuss how we are going to assess a foreign home. Working through shelters or animal welfare foundations in the target countries could be the answer here.
When a dog is ready to go and a place abroad has been secured for him or her, the dog is prepared (paperwork and more vets visits) by ‘us’ and transported to the airport by ‘us’. Either ‘we’ fly with a bunch of dogs (more expensive option), or we find people who are prepared to take a dog as excess luggage. Cost to be paid out of ‘our’ funds and/or by the adopter. Dog to be picked up abroad by someone ‘we’ have arranged.
Who will be ‘us’ (t-aarf two)? Who has any suggestions that will improve above scenario (I’ll alert Sean to it)? Who has connections or knows of organizations abroad we could approach for placement of dogs and/or funds? Just shoot, as I did…
If any of this does not seem to make sense, I’ll let you in on my mitigating circumstances: I slept (or should I say stayed up) with 5 newly de-sexed kittens last night. And keep your minds out of the gutter, thanks.
And one last remark: yes, CNR is the end-solution, but if in the meantime we can rehome some of the dogs we pick up, we are also contributing to ending the miserable stray animal situation in Taiwan. I see both methods as complimentary, not mutually exclusive.
MO (Marjan)