TOLFA Newsletter 4 - June 2009
Welcome to the fourth newsletter from the Tree of Life for Animals
As the heat in India steadily increases and we prepare for the start of the Monsoon season, our rescue vehicle continues to run around at full pelt. At the moment we’re seeing a mange epidemic in Pushkar and Ajmer.
This can become extremely debilitating for the dogs who contract it, so we’re trying very hard to medicate as many as possible. Our vigilant animal assistants bring in the worst affected for the extra care that’s needed to treat it.
Treating dogs for mange
2009 sees TOLFA celebrate its 4th birthday this autumn. It’s hard to believe how many animals we’ve seen come through our doors and it’s incredibly moving to know how many have been helped by our ever-growing group of dedicated staff, volunteers and donors in India and the UK.
But there’s still an awful lot of work to do, and we hope you’ll stick along for the journey, as the Tree of Life for Animals grows bigger and stronger. After all, we couldn’t do it without you!
A view of our constantly growing hospital
Open Farm Sunday Event For TOLFA
This sunday sees the organic Overtown Farm in Gloucester open up its gates to the public. In collaboration with Open Farm Sunday and The National Trust, Overtown Farm is holding a fun filled day on it’s grounds.
Everyone is welcome, including dogs! You can explore the farm and local countryside, enjoy a picnic or take part in the Treasure Hunt or various other activities happening - you may be lucky enough to win some prizes too.
All monies raised will be donated to TOLFA India to be used towards food, vaccine and medicine for the animals we treat.
Let’s hope for some sunshine, but if we’re not so lucky there’re still plenty of activities going on under cover!
Pauhla who’ll be hosting the Open Farm Sunday fundraiser on her farm
Read more about the Open Farm Sunday Event
Our Project In Jaisalmer
Since TOLFA started in 2005, the shelter has managed to sterilise and vaccinate over 10,000 dogs. The combined animal birth control (ABC) and rabies vaccination programme in Ajmer and Pushkar has proven to be extremely effective. So much so that we were asked to run the same programme in the town of Jaisalmer.
Over the 3 month period we managed to neuter and rabies vaccinate 1,200 dogs, as well as treating the usual wounds, illnesses and infections we saw on a day to day basis.
Dogs we treated in Jaisalmer
Read more about our Jaisalmer project here: TOLFA’s project in Jaisalmer
Our Latest Volunteers
Our Project Raja Volunteer Scheme is approaching its second anniversary and remains very popular. April saw us welcome our first organised group volunteers. A lucky handful of Animal Management students from Chichester College, West Sussex got the opportunity to visit us and make a difference to the lives of the animals they encountered. They had such a fantastic time they’d love to come back next year.
Volunteers making a difference
Read more at: http://tolfa.org.uk/go/our-latest-volunteers-chichester-college-students
May saw the return of our devoted supporter, Bob. Bob has been following our progress and donating to us for some time now and he finally got the chance to visit us in December 2008. He was so moved by his stay, he’s just come back for seconds! This time round he has sponsored a fridge for our rabies vaccines, a power washer for cleaning the kennels and for some rustic shaded areas to be built. Thanks Bob, you’re one in a million.
Bob and his canine companion
Read more at: http://tolfa.org.uk/our-latest-volunteer-bob-crafer
Our New Staff Quarters
Thanks to a chance encounter in 2008, and two generous gentlemen who wanted to help our plight, we have made tremendous progress on our staff quarters.
Ross Quinn and his friend Uttam K. Nepal have donated the funds to top up the grant we received from The Animal Defence Trust that was needed to complete our staff quarters.
Staff Quarters Grand Opening
Ross visited the shelter again in November 2008 for the grand opening of the almost completed accommodation block.
Future Building Projects: From the money raised at TOLFA’s 2008 Charity Ball and a generous donation from the Betty and Bernard Davidson Charitable Trust, we now have the funding to start building our quarantine kennels. There’ll be more news to follow over the coming months on their progress.
Fundraising Events
We’ve had a whole variety of people raising money for us over the past few months. The most adventurous by far being Caitriona who rode her magnificent horse Chandra across the Rajasthani desert and raised over £500 for our Rural Development Project.
Caitriona and Chandra
Read more: http://tolfa.org.uk/caitrionas-rajasthani-ride
Read more about who we would like to Thank:
http://tolfa.org.uk/our-sponsors
Lots of past and future volunteers have been using JustGiving.com to set up fundraising pages on our behalf. See all our Justgiving fundraisers
Read more about the events taking place for 2009: http://tolfa.org.uk/events
Our 2009 Wish List
Getting enough funding to run our hospital each month is difficult, but we are extremely lucky to have so many valued supporters both in India and the UK. What can make all the difference is getting hold of medicines and equipment that is easily transportable to India.
It’ll save us using all our precious funds. Any donations are graciously accepted and mean we can spend our money on other important things like food and vaccinations for the animals.
Please email us at enquiries@tolfa.org.uk to let us know what you can donate and we can arrange the best way of getting it over to the shelter.
Read more: http://tolfa.org.uk/tolfas-wish-list
Our Latest Staff Member
Vishnu has now joined our happy family and is based in Pushkar, about 11km from our shelter. From here he will provide spot treatments for the injured animals we discover or are called to rescue each day.
Sponsored by Kamlesh, one of our Indian trustees, Vishnu has fitted into the team at TOLFA like a water buffalo to a river.
Vishnu and Kamlesh
Read more: http://tolfa.org.uk/vishnu-our-latest-animal-assistant
We will be emailing our newsletter approximately 3 times a year. If you don’t wish to receive future newsletters, please email the word “unsubscribe” to newsletter@tolfa.org.uk