The "muppies" and how it is working out...

At times I have really questioned my sanity as we have had close to 12 dogs here, wrestling in the yard and scaring the staff. In Afghanistan, Afghans are justifiable scared of dogs because the population is diseased and out of control. I took in 10 puppies and a very damaged mother dog and we have been caring for them. We have adopted 7 puppies out now-to Afghans-defying the notion that they do not care for animals, specifically dogs. Our puppies-well cared for- they love our staff who have given all of our puppies beautiful necklaces and they genuinely care for them and enjoy their presence during the day. I have been looking for a better solution than running a rescue operation out of my home.

When I was on survey our big fat "Pee Shoe", (cat) caught a virus and Norm managed to find an angel of a volunteer vet, Susan who was here to train vets at Kabul University who saved our cat. I met with her and she came back the next day and vaccinated my entire menagerie, but we cooked up a plan to start a puppy rescue operation at the Kabul University vet training center. Kabul U would provide the medical care and I want to start a training center for assistance dogs for the disabled.

She introduced me to James Hogan , in London, of the Mayhew Animal Care foundation who is supporting the training of vets in Kabul and we are now exchanging letters about how to develop programs that make sense to the Afghans.

PARSA's Director of Rehabilitation,Yasin, loves my puppies and has taken 5 home and is now working with his staff on how to train dogs. He is wonderful. I asked him if he would be interested in developing an assistants training program with dogs to assist his disabled patients and he is very enthusiastic about this.

James just responded to my inquiries about financial assistance and it seems that we may be able to get some assistance from his organization.

In Afghanistan, dogs are considered almost like rats in our culture, so to accomplish a change like this would be quite extraordinary. Not for the sentimentality for animals but the out-of-control situation here is truly a health hazard. Rabies is endemic and I am afraid to walk my dog in the streets because the dogs are dangerous.

From a personal point of view, as I learn from this experience of being here, the violence visited on the animals here is indicative of the level of violence tolerated toward children and women. I and Mahbouba, have decided that our training programs this year will be geared toward offsetting the result of the years of war-which is that violence needs to be stopped toward all.

This program is very personal and sweet. My dogs have transformed remarkably under my simple and loving care. I wish working with people was so simple. But I have a great faith in the Afghans. They are loving and gregarious in nature and by culture. We will see...here his what James wrote me. I am including because it is so educational particularly to the interconnectedness of our lives with all beings.

...." The assistance dogs idea is excellent and indeed we already support such a programme as part of our Russian work. If you log onto www.moscowanimals.org you will see the link to the guide dogs site. Assistance dogs are a great way to bring home to the Afghans the intrinsic benefits of dogs, will show them in a more positive light andwill surely go some way towards overcoming the prejudice of some Moslems against dogs.

4. The issue of controlling homeless animal populations throughout the developing world in a humane manner is a subject we have been giving some thought to recently and, as you are probably aware, there is no easy answer. However, the standard approach by municipalities to this is to fund the mass extermination of street animals, which never solves
the problem and indeed creates more problems. Rabies, as Susan told you, is endemic in Kabul but killing the dogs by poisoning them will not solve this problem and can actually contribute to spreading it because it causes far more movement of dog packs from one area to another, thereby spreading any diseases they carry over a far wider area. Even here in the UK, the government has only just discovered that culling badgers in certain locations to combat bovine TB has, in fact, caused
the disease to spread more widely because of the disruption it causes
to badger populations. The same principle applies with any group of animals. Apart from that practical consideration, organisations like the World Health Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health advise against relying on culling and state very specifically that vaccination should be the principle method of rabies control in animals. Of course, this would be a massive undertaking in Kabul but it is already costing the Kabul City Council a large sum to kill the
city's dogs, with the inevitable consequences just described. I don't know if
you have heard of trap/neuter/release programmes but that approach,accompanied by vaccination, is the only sure way to scientifically reduce both stray animal populations and endemic diseases such asrabies. There is more to it than that and we can cover this complex issue again but it suffices to say that I am at one with you about anything which can be done to end the current primitive methods of strayanimal control in Kabul.

I will leave it up to you as to what we should consider first. Perhaps getting some little shelter established as part of the clinic? It is more achievable and, as I said earlier, if you can get me costings onthat, I will put it to our trustees and hopefully I will be able to arrange some funding.

Let me conclude by wishing you a joyful Christmas and a happy New Year!

Kind regards,

James