A Brief Newsround - Week Ending 02/05/21

Every day this past week, on top of the routine jobs involved in caring for our rescued animals at LIFE, we've worked towards a meeting with Roma owners of dogs and horse we're holding on Orthodox Easter Monday here, 3rd May. One aim of the meeting is to treat as many dogs and horses as we can against parasites carrying killer diseases, so we need to attract a good turn out. To this end, Ilia and I, during our usual trips to stock up on animal foods and meds, have added small packs of cat food to hand out for children with kittens at home and prizes for lucky dip entry tickets. As well as treats, flour and sunflower oil, both of which have recently sky- rocketed in price, have been included as lucky dip surprises. Experience suggests such useful basics are often more welcome than fancy soap or chocolates. For families we know to be on very low or no regular incomes, we've made pre-Easter deliveries of  ingredients for festive bread and a few family meals. 

While the key aim of the meeting is to treat lots of horses and dogs against ticks, we'll also treat minor injuries on the spot and note down any more serious medical problems encountered for veterinary attention. More anti-parasite treatments are still needed if anyone would like to help us buy them, you can donate here.


Delivery of a care package to one family took us back to where, last year, we reached out to a young girl, Totka, who'd found a puppy she wanted to keep. Having previously rescued two dogs from her well- meaning but disorganized family, some of whom have learning difficulties, we offered support to Totka and her pretty pup, Yovka, by providing a kennel and finding a kind sponsor to fund puppy food, and we visited at least twice a week to ensure the pup was being cleaned up after and fed and watered regularly. All was going well, Totka lavishing affection on the pup who we planned to vaccinate when she was stronger,   when tragedy struck.  Yovka became ill but the family didn't alert until it was too late. She'd contracted the often fatal puppy disease, parvo virus, a scourge in villages here. It was with great sadness that I acknowledged we could do nothing to help her at that late stage. All we could do when she died was try to protect other pups from catching the highly contagious disease by burning her kennel. Everyone at LIFE was sad for the girl, too. We'd had high hopes that with her naturally kind attitude, she'd be a fine example to other young dog owners. 

Then her own life changed significantly. As is the custom here, Totka was betrothed to a young man from a family approved of by her parents and uncles. It's not uncommon here for girls to be betrothed at under 15. LIFE's Roma under manager's wife was 14 when she got married, and his mother younger still when she met his father and was promised as a bride. In the Outer Solomon Islands where I once lived with my two younger sons, one family invited my then 11 year old son to meet  a girl the same age they wanted to be promised to him.

Two of my sons during our year spent in the Outer Solomon islands

Totka has now been taken by her fiancee's family to live with them in Germany, where they work. There'll be a wedding after some months. Meantime, her own family have acquired two new puppies. We can only pray the parvo virus present in their yard was erased when the kennel used by the pup that died was burned. We did explain that it was unwise to take in any more unvaccinated pups but it was hard for them to understand how long viruses can stay around as hazards to new innocents.

On the equine front at LIFE, we won a battle to rescue an ageing donkey from being made into dried sausage. His body told the story of a hard life of relentless work for uncaring masters. I'm happy to report that Christo is now at a wonderful new home where he has all he can eat and a beautiful older horse for company. All at LIFE are delighted with the success of our 2 recent donkey rehomings. 

He's now companion to a gorgeous mare.

 In other news, we finally persuaded an owner to allow us to arrange for a gorgeous granny dog to be spayed. She'd had countless litters with many deaths among her babies. She can now look forward to a peaceful retirement from breeding. 

Now that's a reason to smile!

Next week's blog will feature how we fared at the Orthodox Easter Monday event we're preparing for now. Meantime, you can follow daily updates about life at LIFE, and you can help us in our rescue work with dogs, cats, donkeys and horses, by donating and supporting our work. 

With my best wishes and thanks for your interest, to all our friends and supporters, 

Lucy