Helping Animals in Tangier, Morocco at Le Sanctuaire de la Faune de Tanger

January 2017 saw me travel to Tangier in Morocco to work at Le Sanctuaire de la Faune de Tanger (The Wildlife Sanctuary of Tangier).

 

Having fun with a few of the hundreds of dogs at the sanctuary

This is a wonderful animal sanctuary started 4 years ago by Sally Kadoui, an English/ Moroccan lady who sold all her worldly goods to travel back to her native Tangier to help animals. Morocco is a poor country and animal welfare can often be low down on people’s priorities. From humble beginnings the sanctuary has grown to now accommodate hundreds and hundreds of cats, dogs and donkeys plus a few mules, sheep, macaque monkeys and storks amongst many others! All the animals have a name and their personalities are understood and adored. Sally is helped by her 2 staff members, Moustapha and Kaoultar, who work very hard for small wages. I was so impressed by their love and dedication to their animal family.

Some of the donkeys rescued from a life of burden and mistreatment

One of the storks rescued after he was found with a damaged wing which left him unable to fly.

Above is a film of one of the macaque monkeys in their care. Macaques are native to Morocco and are found in abundance in the mountains. Many, like this one, are captured and kept to entertain tourists. This lady had been tied up in a cafe all her life before she was rescued by SFT. She was assessed by a monkey expert who unsurprisingly said she would not survive if released in to the wild. So she will now live out the rest of her life at the sanctuary.

Sally is also taking her work in to the local community. Formerly, lack of knowledge or money may have meant the locals would ignore the suffering of an animal but now they know they can come to Sally for help when they see an animal in distress. Sally always appreciates this and makes lots of time for people who come to her for help as she sees this as a growing respect and love for animals.

These cute little boys all cycled up to the sanctuary to get advice and help for their puppies.

 

Sally's help was requested to help this por donkey who had been found with a terrible head injury. The vet confirmed the injury was man-made. The donkey was taken in the back of the car (yes very difficult getting her in and out) and expensive treatment was given to help her recover.

One of the disabled dogs with another rescue dog- Van Gogh. Van Gogh was rescued after he had been tortured and set on fire by his owner. He has survived and is such an incredibly sweet dog despite his horrible past. Thank God for SFT who took him in and paid for his vet care.

A good example of this community work happened on my first day at the sanctuary. A local man came to ask for help with his goat who had been in labour for 48 hours. Despite Sally having had no experience of matters like these, she rose to the challenge and set off to help. I was allowed to accompany her on this trip. We drove to the man’s house so it was interesting to see first hand how the local people lived. There were chickens running around, a dog tied to a tree and a barn made of stone where the goats lived. Sally and I tried to be midwife to the goat who had been in the 48 hour labour but even with our limited knowledge it was obvious she was not dilated enough and wasn’t having contractions. So, with no hesitations, Sally organised a vet to see to her even though it was an evening at the weekend, and we drove there with the goat in the back of the car. The goat, who we named Dorothy, was given a Caesarian section with only a local anaesthetic as general anaesthetics can kill goats. I held her head throughout the operation. Sadly, the baby kid was dead but we expected that might be the case under such traumatic circumstances. Dorothy came back to the sanctuary for a few days for a follow up course of antibiotic injections. Her owner was very happy and appreciative and asked how he could repay us. Sally said to him that the best repayment would be if he promised not to slaughter Dorothy and to not tie up his dog any more. He readily agreed to these conditions and Sally gave him advice on how to stop the dog chasing his chickens. A few days later Sally also took the dog for vaccinations and neutering- all in all a story with a very happy ending!

Dorothy the goat during her Caesarian Section operation. I had to hold her head as the operating table was too small to hold her.

AbdelMalik, the owner of Dorothy, with his dog who he agreed to stop tying up. He is so genuinely happy here after his dog received vaccinations and was neutered.

Dorothy was very keen to follow AbdelMalik home when he came to visit her. She just calmly followed him down the road to the gate even though there were loads of barking dogs around. A very cool goat!

The weather in Tangier in January is like a spring day in Britain- mainly cool with clear skies but the nights are very cold. A bonus of this time of year is that there are no flies! I stayed in a little room inside one of the cat houses. The cats were allowed in my room during the day but I had to chase them out at night. To most animal lovers it might seem utterly charming to sleep surrounded by 36 cats and kittens but when you are kept awake at night by kittens having rough and tumble on your throat the charms start to wane! Ha ha, so sadly at night times they had to go. One of my duties was to look after the cats in this cat house. General duties of feeding and cleaning but there was also a spell of respiratory infections going about so I had to administer antibiotics to all the infected cats- a very time-consuming job and I was glad I was able to take the burden of this task from the full-time workers.

Another task was to put the wheels on to the disabled dogs and let them out for a run around. Wow- how fast they can go!! In between the busy periods we would spend time just sitting with the animals. I would sunbathe with the dogs or give the friendly donkeys a brush and a chin rub- so cute!

                              2 of the disabled dogs having a whale of a time. Still loving life!
       

 I adored Mattie before I had even heard about her story. She seemed like such a sweet girl who kept to herself and out of mischief. Then I found out she had been rescued from the streets. She had been found living under a truck, looking after a kitten and allowing the kitten to suckle on her! Both Mattie and the kitten were brought in to Le Sanctuaire de la Faune de Tanger where they live happily ever after. This film also shows a little of the countryside where the shelter is situated.


                                                Cats on my bed!!

Mummy Baa and Baby Baa! Baby Baa had to be bottle fed as his mum could not feed him. Even for the few days I was there his appetite grew tremendously. He will grow to be a big strong boy.

I have worked with rescued animals before where I have felt very sad for them and dearly wished a loving home for them. It was different here at Le Sanctuaire de la Faune de Tanger- this is the animals’ home and they are all very happy and seem to be having a great time. This is a genuinely happy place and I hope Sally can spread the message of animal care and love throughout Morocco. Morocco needs a hundred Sallys!

Them and Us- Judge Ourselves Before we Judge Koreans

There are often pictures in the media  from Eastern Asia of dog farms and dog eaters and dog butchers and all those kind of horrors that upset us so much. If the posts allow reader comments then these pictures will always be accompanied by words such as how barbaric that nationality or nation is.

I really do not want to make these judgements though. I am campaigning against the dog-meat trade but how can I expect a nation of people to like and respect my opinions if I don't even like and respect them? So, with this in mind I ventured off to Seoul in South Korea with the intention that I really wanted to like Korea and the Koreans and I am very happy to say, I did!

A Friendly Country and People

The Koreans can be very friendly and sweet. They often want to practice their English with you (though most of the time this is poor) and so are keen to chat and talk about your country.

Straight off the plane in Seoul I was met with taxi drivers touting for business. When I turned down their offers they gave me big smiles and asked where I was going and pointed me in the direction of the bus I should take. A big difference and happier alternative to cab drivers in most Western capital cities.

A few times in the city when I was lost and finally gave in and asked for help, Koreans would look at my map, get lost too (Seoul maps and directions are notorious) but then wander around with me for quite a long time until we found where I was looking for. I loved them for their patience and kindness.

I have campaigned with placards and flyers in the UK and Korea and I would say there are equal percentages of people who i) are embarrassed by you ii) ignore you iii) get angry with you iv) sympathise with your cause, so in this respect I found Koreans no more or less open to new ideas and charity than the British.

All Dogs are Equal, but Some are More Equal Than Others

I was pleased to hear that owning pets is on the increase and that 1 in 4 (25%) households in S. Korea now have a pet. This compares with 46% in the UK and 62% in the USA. But I was also saddened to hear that even pet owners still distinguish between meat dogs and pet dogs.

Nureongi- Yellow dogs are popular for meat

To me, a dog is a dog. No matter what kind of dog it is it doesn't deserve to be killed and eaten and that is what all Westerners think too- a dog is a dog and they all deserve equal rights. But is this correct? True, Westerners don't eat dogs but they do distinguish between different kinds of dogs- those that deserve lives as pets in a loving home and those that can be left to be killed in their millions. You don't agree with me? Admit the fact that practically every person you know who gets a new dog gets a pedigree and pays hundreds or thousands of pounds for the pleasure. These will all be puppies. Even a pedigree dog who has had a previous owner and is therefore a bit older is often considered 'second-hand' and no longer valuable. We continue to buy these infant pedigrees from breeders even though there are thousands of dogs in shelters and council run dog pounds who are unwanted and homeless. We know the homeless dogs are unhappy there. We know that most of them will be euthanised in the next few days or if they are 'lucky' will have found their way to a no-kill shelter but could likely be left to languish there for years. We don't give them a home or save them from death and instead would prefer to buy a 'new' pedigree.
No tale of a homeless dog can entice the majority of us to choose them over the breeders' pedigrees- their history of abuse, their amputated limbs, their loving personalities despite the trials they have endured, the fact that they are sweet young puppies and could have a whole life ahead of them or that they are old and frail and not much time left to receive the love they have never had.
We don't care because we set hugely different values between some dogs and others. This makes us like Koreans.

Korean Jindo

Eating our National Treasures

The Jindo is South Korea's national dog but I found it strange that this breed was also a popular dog to be killed for meat. At first I was disturbed to find out how Korea's national treasure could so easily be consigned to the dinner plate- what a nation of twisted personalities the Koreans must be, I thought. Until, I considered my own country. In Scotland we love our Highland cows. They are incredibly cute, big, shaggy cattle mainly in a very fetching ginger colour that can be found in our countryside. We proudly show them off on calendars, posters, mug coasters, you name it; where there is a Scottish tourism shop you will find these cows in pictures and as stuffed toys and ornaments. We love them. Yet, these animals still meet the fate of all other farmed animals in Britain- stunned (probably inefficiently), hoisted by 1 leg in to the air, their throats cut and then bled to death. This is what Scottish people allow to be done to their own national treasure. Which, in my mind makes us no better than Koreans in the way we can mix cute and cruelty when it suits us.

Cute Highland Cow calendar- hang this up in your kitchen while cookimg your beef dinner.

More Highland Cow nonsense- lets people think they are an animal lover

Helping Animals/ Loving Humans 

If you want to do your best to help animals, you have to be a great communicator with humans. To do this you need to  develop a relationship with them and a good way to do this is to find some common ground. It's difficult to find common ground or to even want to find common ground if you think they are a subspecies with no morals or heart. Yes, they may do things that we find repugnant but to be reminded of our own imperfections and the excuses we make for these may aid us in finding a way to debate and negotiate with these people in a better and more acceptable manner. Be nice- it will help animals so much more!

Milky- the Brave Korean Puppy

During our campaign against the dog-meat industry in Seoul, this little fellow was our mascot. His name is Milky and he is a 5 month old pup who has been through hell, but has survived due to love.

A woman who lived near Seoul contacted Nami Kim and told her she had seen angry men chasing 2 puppies in her village. One of the pups had been thrown in to a boiling pot of water to be cooked but had miraculously managed to climb out and escape. His brother, who was to share the same fate, and he ran off together. So, Milky managed to save his brother's life too. At this time they were about 2 months old. The woman went searching for the pups but she could not find them until the next day when she found the 2 brothers sheltering together. The healthy pup never left his sick brother's side. The kind lady got word to dog saviour, Nami Kim, who said she would take the dogs and provide critical medical attention.


This is a film of Milky when he arrived at the vet's. His eyes were badly burned and infection had set in to his legs so an amputation of a leg and blindness were thought possible.

Milky was shivering all the way but quiet, this little good boy is taking the pain in silence. As usual, such experience makes me look at dogs enlightened beings, not animal. Thank you all for the supports, encouraging word, we may not be able to search every corner of Korea but this happens still, often in rural areas, there must be many many Milky out there gone into the boiling hot pots being boiled alive.Please sign and share this petition: https://www.change.org/p/president-geun-hye-park-south-korea-stop-boiling-puppies-alive-ban-the-puppy-and-kitten-consumption-now
Posted by Nami Kim on Monday, 1 June 2015

A few days later the brothers were reunited at the vet and comforted each other. Milky had to have surgery on his damaged eyes. His brother, now named Snowy, was checked and declared healthy, thank goodness.

Update - Milky A little reunion, Milky's brother Snowy visited his brother this afternoon. Milky was licking his brother. It is 8 pm now (Korea time) Milky is undergoing eye surgery right now. According to the eye specialist, nothing is certain at this moment as the cornea is badly damaged. The infection on the right foot seems under control, no amputation.Had the vet checked on Snowy, very healthy, he is with me and will visit his brother often to cheer him up.Will update on the two pups on weekly, thank you all for your concern.
Posted by Nami Kim on Thursday, 4 June 2015

Today, 3 months later, Milky is very healthy and well. He is a miracle dog. Thank you to his wonderful veterinary care and to Nami Kim and her team for finding the way to pay for this and for providing lots of love and compassion. I was thrilled to meet this little hero when I arrived in Seoul. As I said, he is the current mascot of the campaign. We had a billboard of pictures of his injuries alongside Milky himself. This shocked some people and made them sad but it made them think about what is happening in their own country.

Below is a film of Milky greeting Nami home- what a loving little Angel he is. How can he like humans after all he has been through? But that is dogs for you- forgiving and loving.

Snowy now lives in a wonderful and happy home in the USA. Milky will find a similarly fabulous home too. Nami will ensure this. He is calm with other dogs and is loving to humans but growls or barks when he sees an older man, probably because they remind him of his tormentors. I did a few minutes training with him and he responded very quickly so I think the growling at older men thing can be trained out of him easily.
All films and photos are ©Nami Kim and ©savekoreandogs