2019 Sposorship Report for Animal Nepal Sanctuary
2019 was big year for Animal Nepal as this marked our 10 years as an NGO, which we celebrated through a photo exhibition chronicling our decade of work in the field of animal welfare in Nepal. This also marked the year when we finally bade farewell to Godawari and moved our donkey sanctuary to Dukuchhap, Lalitpur, which is 1.5 acres of land belonging to Animal Nepal. Although it was somewhat sad to leave Godawari after ten long years, it was exciting to finally have our own space, which would truly become a forever home for our rescued residents. The move itself was pretty uneventful and our equines were very good with the journey from Godawari to Dukuchhap but it was pretty tough for our resident dogs Bunu and Lucky who got very car sick! They have since all settled in very well and are enjoying the new bigger space. The sanctuary is still in the process of being built, the most crucial part being the wall, which is under construction with the help of our partners and individual sponsors. The building of the wall is critical to ensure the safety of our animals and our property.
In 2019, we also gained 4 new residents – a mule, a horse and two goats, but sadly we also had to say goodbye to some family members. Our dogs Lucky and Bunu had to be temporarily transferred to our dog treatment centre while we complete the building of the wall, and we lost our duck Bahan. The four new residents came to us at different times. They have all settled in well and established friendships with other residents. The two goats are Chhori (daughter) and Aasha (Hope). Chhori is almost a year old and she was bought by a family to be sacrificed for the annual Dashain feast in October but they decided to spare her life before the sacrifice. Similarly, Chhori was rescued by a group of animal rights activists from the Gadhimai festival which took place in December 2019, where every 5 years, thousands of animals are sacrificed.
None of our residents faced major health issues in 2019. BB and Maneka required the most care, mostly due to their advanced age. Our team was assisted by the final year vet students from the Himalayan College of Agriculture and Technology (HICAST) who carry out an internship with Animal Nepal to learn about equine welfare and management. Sadly, since writing this report, BB - one of our oldest donkeys - passed away from natural causes on 27 January 2020. She was buried inside our land and will be missed sorely, especially by her friend Maneka and newly made friend Jackie. Another exciting event that took place in 2019 was that we were invited to feature in a Thai documentary named Spirit of Asia and the crew came to film at the sanctuary in April. All our staff were very excited about this and made sure that our residents were all looking their best prior to filming! We are able to continue this much needed service for animals in need with help from Animal Aid Abroad and individual sponsors. The sanctuary is currently home to 20 equines and 3 goats. They don’t always get along with one another, but nevertheless it is still one big happy family.
You can read the full report here.
