Latest News
February
"GAR FIRST INTERNATIONAL MISSION A HUGE SUCCESS"
Azerbaijan, February 22,
Guerrilla Animal Rescue embarked on its first international responsive training mission last September
Allied with United Nations representative Kristine Herman, as well as veterinarians from Ireland, GAR educated and trained local vets of Baku and national vets of Azerbaijan how to sanitarily prep and spay felines, in addition to demonstrating a host of other veterinary procedures.
Shockingly, spaying and neutering techniques throughout much of the world are antiquated and extremely risky. Coupled with poor sanitary conditions, it is nearly impossible for healthy recoveries of the animals, and often times leads to their untimely death. Today, modern veterinary practice requires a simple out-patient procedure and the animals are able to return to their normal activities in one day with little risk involved.
Melanie Good, GAR founder and principal states, “When I found out that Azerbaijan, a country highly advanced in business and actively progressive in culture and politics was totally over run with domestic pets, it presented the perfect opportunity for GAR to get involved.”
The first step GAR made was a commitment to pay for 200 spay procedures. And while the local vets of Baku were capable of neutering male cats, logistically their efforts to date were hardly effective as it takes just one male to impregnate a large number of females. Clearly the answer was to spay, not neuter. As the spaying procedure was not as popular, or perhaps as easy, as neutering/castrating, local vets were not properly educated or equipped to handle the amount of daily procedures required to make a significant difference in the blatant imbalance.
Enter Baku PAWS, The Protection of Animal Welfare Society who have been working tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of companion animals in Baku since 2005. Facilitated by PAWS, GAR agreed to embark on an unprecedented and essential trip to teach as many Azerbaijan vets as possible how to do this simple procedure thereby reducing the stray population and of course making happier lives for indoor pets.
For six days and nights GAR’s lead vet Sheelagh O’Leary and her associate Yuliya Dmytriyeva personally spayed over two hundred animals, but more importantly they trained, educated and empowered more than a dozen veterinarians from all corners of Azerbaijan.
“The country’s government welcomed us with open arms and we felt like movie stars,” laughs Sheelagh. “But honestly, we were so grateful for the support, coordination, and the facility – they are rock stars to us and to the countless animals that were helped and to those that will be helped”.
It is the first of these missions for Guerrilla Animal Rescue but far from the last. End goal? “To save the world, one pet at a time” beams Ms. Good.
To help, please make a donation today by visiting guerrillaanimalrescue.com
