1-30 June
June has been a very hectic month with some great highlights. Seven strays have found their new forever homes outside Georgia and thanks to a successful fundraiser, we brought two vets and set up a mobile clinic in Svaneti to sterilise 22 stray dogs and one stray cat. Throughout June, a total of 37 stray dogs and five stray cats were sterilised.
We have taken in six new foster dogs into our foster care families, which means there are new dogs looking for their forever home. Whilst in foster care, we prepare them for adoption (vaccine, ID, vet checks etc.). Don’t forget to check out our ‘Up for adoption’ section: https://www.zerostraysgeorgia.org/up-for-adoption/
If you’d like to know more, please email us on zerostraysgeorgia@gmail.com
Five strays found their forever overseas homes
June was a success in terms of overseas adoption. Fly, Piri, Meri, Fargo and Marisha flew off to their new forever homes.
Fly and Piri got adopted in Germany via our friend organisation Setter Help Europe. Fargo is a blind and deaf German shepherd who also found his new home in Germany.
Marisha got adopted in Germany via our friend organisation Hunderettung e.v. Marisha was the last remaining stray to be adopted from the group of eight strays taken into care during last summer’s Polish vet sterilisation campaign.
Meri flew off to Brussles to settle in with her new family, a couple who were visiting Georgia as tourists and found Meri in the streets of Kutaisi. Mariam spent two weeks locating Meri on the streets before she was vaccinated, ID’d, had a vet check and could move to Jurgen Augusteyenes and Ilde Cogen.
Sterilisation campaign in Svaneti
Svaneti is one of the more remote regions of Georgia and home to a lot of strays. There is no vet clinic operating in the region so we did an international fundraiser together with friends and family from across the globe to collect funds to sterilise as many strays as we could in Svaneti. Our Zugdidi vet friends George Tchurgulia and Emzar Chachua took on the task together with volunteer assistants, and managed to sterilise 22 stray dogs and one stray cat as a result. One of the stray patients also suffered from an eye injury and received both eye surgery and sterilisation.
Life in foster care
Our 52 foster dogs live with local village families in the area around Zugdidi. In an environment where poverty is adamant and animal welfare issues an every day occurrence, teaming up with local families to foster strays until they find their own forever home is a win-win for everyone involved. The foster dogs get to stay in a safe, rural environment and cared for by lovely locals who benefit from the foster fee the Zero Strays Team pay them every month. One month of foster care is 50 euro per dog and includes food, care, a wash every now and then and basic medical supplies (deworming etc.). That means we have to cover 2 150 euro per month in foster fees. Mariam spends most of her salary on this, and the rest of the team try to chip in with whatever they can every month. Any support towards covering this 2 150 euro expense is always much appreciated! Don’t forget to check out the lovely little strays who are looking for a new home to call their own!
Collecting medical supplies for strays
Our team member Jitka is currently running a medical supply campaign in Czech Republic to try to collect as many supplies as possible to donate to Zero Strays Georgia and the vets supporting the team. Do you want to run a similar campaign to support vets or sterilisations? Reach out to us on zerostraysgeorgia@gmail.com