Kirtipur Animal REscue

KARE is a two-person project that provides medical care to the street dogs in Kirtipur, Nepal. KARE provides rabies vaccinations, deworming for puppies, treatment for mange, spay/neutering, rescue/adoption, and other urgent medical care.

Dec 2007-Jan 2008 Fundraising Summary

We've raised $135.00 to date, so we're about half way to our semi-annual goal!

Thank you so much to the following donors! Your continued support, year after year, means so much!
  • Alice
  • Sandi
  • Prad & Sangina
  • Mercedes
  • Kay
For those of you who've been meaning to send in a donation, it's not too late! My goal is to raise $300 by early February. I hope to get the funds out to Bista-ji at least by then.

Annually, the project needs $700-800. My goal is to send $300-400 twice a year to keep the project going!

-Liz

In memory of my dear friend Apsana

Apsana was one of the most vibrant and intelligent person I have known. She was full of energy and that special spark that you find so rarely. It's hard to comprehend the depth of this loss.

Apsana was one of our students in the Cornell-Nepal Study program during the year that I served as the residential coordinator. She was brilliant, compassionate, quirky and charming. I remember her walking with me with a can of red paint, marking the dogs that we vaccinated with a bright red paint streak. She helped me carry plastic piles of food to feed the rescued pups, and doled out the meat-rice mixture to all the street dogs in Kirtipur on dog-puja day of Tihar.

http://kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=133190

Our Annual Rabies Vaccination Program!

December 3, 2007

Our annual rabies vaccination program! Here are the photos of Bista-ji travelling around the Kirtipur municipality vaccinating street dogs for rabies. This not only keeps the local dog population free of rabies, but also protects the local human population who come in contact with these dogs daily!

Oct 7, 2007

Liz, Namaste Today i sent 5 dogs photos .Liz, our festival dashain is comming soon so this week Iam going to my house gorkha. Dogs report
wound.............1
mange.............1
cough..............2


Bista-ji's e-mail from today (June 25, 2007)

Namste
I sent 1 puppy photo .This dog is suffer from mange. -Rajendra Bista





This puppy looks just like my Max! : ( -Liz

E-mail from Bista-ji (June 18, 2007)


"Namaste
i start to work today i treat 2 dogs one is wound and other is female female dog reproductive organ is wound.there is lot of wound worm."

Warning: Pictures below are pretty graphic!









Update on Bista-ji

Our volunteer vet Rajendra Bista-ji is not feeling well! He had to receive post-exposure rabies shots after handling a dog with rabies. He's staying at home and resting. Hopefully he'll be feeling like his old self again soon! Please wish our vet a quick recovery!

New DIGITAL Photos!



The digital camera finally made it to Nepal courtesy of a student from Cornell. I don't even know his/her name, but if you're reading this - THANK YOU!

Here are some of the pictures from our first batch of digital photos! Bista-ji, our vet, e-mailed them to me this morning!











Bista-ji takes a picture of each dog he treats, as a way to keep count of the number of animals treated and also for reference to track their progress. Unfortunately, there were no detailed descriptions accompanying the photos, but I will update them soon. I'm not sure what that group photo is above, but that's the vet standing up front in the blue shirt. It looks like they're holding a community education session. I'll find out more and make the updates soon!

February 2007 Report from Bista-ji

Here's the Februrary report e-mailed to me by our volunteer vet, Rajendra Bista-ji!

Liz namaste
In feb month I treated 13 dogs.Last monday I sent 13 photos.I hope you will recive.Since this year I make 2 copy photos. one copy is for my record and other is for your record.so if you dont get photos please inform me .
feb 2007
Mange.......13


I have gotten photos, and I promise I will start working on scanning them! soon!

January 2007 Report

Our volunteer vet, Rajendra, treated 26 dogs during January 2007. The breakdown is as follows:

Mange 21
Accident 2
wound 2
Reproductive organ infection 1
Total 26

We'll be posting monthly reports so please check for updates every month!

Fundraising results & updates!

You guys have donated a total of
$707.00
for KARE's 2007 budget!


This is absolutely incredible, and it has just far exceeded all expectations!

And because this is so much more than I had hoped for, I have been able to purchase a simple digital camera to send to Nepal. I put a picture here of the camera.
It's a Kodak Easyshare C433 complete with rechargeable batteries, a camera case, and a 1 gig memory card ($145 total cost). This will enable our vet to e-mail me the pictures which is a heck of a lot faster than sending pictures in the mail and hopefully better picture quality. which should mean lots of photos (at almost real-time) to be posted! : )
I am sending the first batch of funds ($400) for the project and the digital camera to Nepal this week. Prof. Holmberg who is going to Kirtipur at the end of the month has agreed to be the mule!
The second batch of funds will be sent in August 2007. It would be great if I could raise an additional $238 by then ($162 left in the KARE funds now + $238 = $400 for the second half of 2007) so if you're still thinking about sending in a donation, it is not too late!
Follow-up (Feb 27, 2007): So, I missed the Professor! He had already left for Nepal by the time my package (camera) got to his address. Now we'll just have to wait until someone else goes to Nepal. Worst case-scenario would be to send it in August when the Cornell-Nepal-Study-Program starts up for the fall semester. I'll keep ya'll posted. : (
Follow-up (March 23, 2007): Margaret L donated $100 to the project, bringing our total raised to...
Follow-up (March 30, 2007): Gina L donated $50 to the project, bringing up our new total to...
$857.00

Special Thanks to our Donors!

I want to thank all of you who've made a donation to KARE this year and those of you who are planning to make a donation.



  • Roger
  • Trina
  • Donna
  • Mike
  • Joy
  • Lori
  • Jennifer, in memory of her dog
  • Omar, in memory of his parents
  • Kay, in memory of Miss Ebony
  • Jamie Lynn, in memory of Lois T.
  • Alison, in honor of Erin & Scott
  • Alice, in honor of the K family
  • Paul, in honor of Mary B.
  • CHESS team at University of Wisconsin
  • Sandi, in honor of her grandmother
  • Warner, in honor of Brandon & Ryan
  • Tatum, in honor of Emma (my favorite niece)
  • Helene
  • Steve & Nicole C.
  • Margaret L.
  • Gina L.


This is the longest list of donors I’ve had so far. I can’t express how wonderful it is to know that I have the support of so many friends for my project.

Thank you so much!
Happy Holidays!

Our donor list keeps growing longer! I am grateful beyond expression!!!

Why Are We Here?

During the first week of my stay in Kirtipur in 2004, I had trouble sleeping after seeing a street dog with a 6-inch gash on his hind leg and maggots crawling around the wound. Clearly, the dog was in great pain and needed medical attention.

I started inquiring about a veterinarian and, after three days of asking and hiking around the area, found Rajendra Bista, the municipal veterinarian two villages away. I didn’t realize how far my few dollars would go in a place like Nepal until I started working with Bista-ji on providing medical attention to these animals.

Our program has worked to help over 100 street dogs in Kirtipur with medical help as well as adoption to local families! We’ll be posting updates from the clinic and photos of the dogs we’ve helped (including some that sadly didn’t make it) to help show how this program works.

Our Strategy

To reach our ultimate goal of curbing the population growth of stray dogs in the local (Kirtipur) area and to minimize their suffering, we have outlined the following strategy:

  • Obtain the approximate baseline population number of stray dogs in the area to assess need.
  • Treat urgent cases of badly injured / sick dogs.
  • Vaccinate, tag, and track dogs for rabies.
  • To ensure all dogs are vaccinated prior to spay-neutering.
  • Treat dogs for mange and other communicable diseases to ensure that infestations / diseases will not spread among spay-neutered dogs during their recovery period in the post-operative care compound, which we are hoping to build.
  • To target pups/young dogs for spay-neutering given that they have the longest reproductive life ahead.

The Cost of Care

The approximate cost of providing treatment for one badly manged dog (3 injections, 1 week apart) is less than $3 (US). The cost of rabies vaccinations is about $2 (US) and the ost of spay-neutering is between $8 to $12 (US).

Our estimated costs are very low even by local Nepali standards thanks to Dr. Bista who is donating his time and skills. However, before we can start our spay-neutering program, we have to rent and maintain a sterile operating space as well as a recovery space for the dogs where they can be looked after for about a week while they heal. This poses a financial challenge to our two-person project, and thus, we are turning to our friends and fellow-animal lovers for assistance.

Any donation you make will go towards:

  • Purchase of rabies vaccines and antibiotics
  • medical supplies such as latex gloves, syringes, suturing materials
  • Building a post-operative recovery compound
  • Purchase of a table for operations
  • Rent for work space (room for surgery and recovery area) at approximately $20/month
  • Food for the dogs