Wednesday, April 21, 2010

VISAKHA SOCIETY for Protection and Care of Animals (VSPCA,India)

Greetings friends,

Can we share some dreams together — for a better future? Pradeep Nath, President and Founder of the VSPCA has a vision. A formal writ petition has been given to the High Court and the Forest and Pollution ministries to ban all plastic bags in our state of Andhra Pradesh — for reasons of harm to animals and the environment. Please read more about the state's plastic bag problem at bottom of this email.

We have so much to share with you including:

Watch a new dramatic short video of the VSPCA cows rushing out for their special feed. Watch on YouTube.
Read an interview about VSPCA, including some Buddhist insights, on Little Lotus Hearts' Shelter Spotlight.

Ongoing rescues
Exhausted, scared, starved — this poor deer was rescued by the VSPCA team after the police rang us up. She was so thirsty she had gone down to the sea to try and quench her thirst — a sure sign of drought and climate change. She belongs in the hills and forest, not at the beach! She is being treated with fluids, rest and restored to help for eventual release.
These puppies need your help! If we receive more funding we can pick up more sweet guys like this! Please make a donation or consider sponsoring one of our shelter animals!
This pup was found with injuries by the side of the road, since this photo was taken he has recovered well and is up for adoption. We named him Tumkapalli after the village we picked him up from.
Another pup up for adoption — he was abandoned by the railroad station. Because of his brave spirit we named him Bheem after one of the heroes in the Mahabharat (an Indian epic).
Our vegan feeding programme for the poorest of the poor people in our region continues. These beggars also have compassion for our street dogs so we want to help them as well. Our target is twenty to forty people per day for three days a week. We deliver the food packets by auto rickhaw (shown at left).

Times are tough but we can keep helping our animals and our programs with friends like you from across the world. We very much appreciate all who have helped us in the past and presently. We have no endowment or cushion of funds. We don't want to turn away needy animals — kindly consider donating to help us.

Why VSPCA is petitioning for a plastic bag ban
Plastic bags are now littered all over our state — caught in the trees and floating in the rivers. They clog the gutters and contribute to floods. They are especially hard on wildlife on land and water leading to numerous animal deaths. Free roaming cows routinely eat them along with the rest of the garbage on the street.

Further compounding the problem is that in India there is little trash and recycling pickup. It seems an impossible task to ban the bags due to their increasing ubiquitous use but in the year 2000 Pradeep succeeded in banning the colored plastic bags in the city of Visakhapatnam. (Colored bags are more of a risk as the cows are attracted to them more and try and eat them.) While it was only a ruling it was a start and now VSPCA is going after a ban for the white plastic bags ones as well! Several other Indian states have already done this — so there is hope. Please help support us in this mission!


On behalf of all at VSPCA,
Eileen Weintraub
VSPCA Global Outreach volunteer

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In memory of our dearly beloved and "life of the party" shelter dog, Johnny (shown here with VSPCA Secretary Mallika Buddhiraju). We mourn the one who was with us for over 13 years but left us much too soon.
Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals
26-15-200 Main Road, Visakhapatnam
Andhra Pradesh 530001, India
Tel: 91-891-2716124 (office) 2001046 (shelter)
http://vspca.org

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