1. Animal Activism: Dumb Ideas from outsiders are precious feedback

Sunday May 3, 2008

DUMB IDEAS ARE NOT THAT DUMB

"Why don't you stay 2 weeks in the animal sanctuary (TAS)?" the caregiver raised his voice in reply as the lady across the dining table asked why there was no visitor's facility and accommodation in TAS. I was sitting to the caregiver's right in the restaurant in the a small town on Saturday, April 26, 2008. Blood pressure shot upwards from his neck to his forehead, flooding his mildly sun-tanned face a reddish brown tinge.

The lady had blurted out something like this: "My friend's son enjoyed his stay and experience in a monkey sanctuary in Brazil. He helped to pick up monkey poo and did not mind. Why don't NANAS build a similar facility for visitors?"

I thought a visitor's facility was an excellent idea and had mentioned this concept to the caregiver sometime ago. He had said that there were legal implications such as being sued if a dog bites the visitors.

I had thought, as an ivory-towered vet who had not lived in TAS for one night, that this concept was an excellent way to provide a hands-on interaction between prospective donors and create market awareness of the good work done in housing the 1,000 homeless and previously abused/abandoned dogs and cats that would otherwise be dead by lethal injections or killed. Ultimately this was one interactive way to raise funds for NANAS and permit real animal lovers to donate to sustain the work of this animal sanctuary.

This lady had shot me a hard question across the table too: "Why don't you do sterilisation for TAS?"

I had replied: "Animal welfare volunteers wants cheap and good veterinary services. After spaying, they will release the female dog out into the streets. If the dog licks her wound which became infected, the stitches would break down. The gut falls out and she dies of infection a few days later. The volunteer will bad mouth the vet saying that his surgery is bad and has killed the dog. This is one of the reasons I don't want to damage my hard-earned reputation by being involved in this aspect."

The caregiver commented: "The vets charge hospitalisation of the spayed dogs." I assume he expected free after surgery services from the vets who had kindly provided cheap services.

Back to this lady. Did she raise dumb ideas to provoke such a reaction from the caregiver? The guests were all shell-shocked.

Yet this lady had ideas to help TAS to raise funds. "Dumb ideas" are what leaders should want to innovate and bring their business or ventures to a sustainable level. I guess the timing was not right but then when is timing ever right for volunteers and outsiders to express their feedback?

On the way back to Singapore, I asked her for more ideas as I mentioned that I had proposed a visitor's facility to Mr Wee some time ago. She was frank and these were some of her ideas:

1. Tea parties and calendar sales will not raise much funds.
2. The TAS website has no new information.
3. Blogs and other network websites to inform prospective donors about the animals and the on-going work of TAS are important.
4. A wealthy well connected person (name give) can be asked to provide funds to build the visitor's facility.
5. Patrons of the visitor's facility may be veterinarians. Now, I had never thought of that.

Well, such feedback from an animal lover was very valuable and quite applicable in my practice too. As far as I know, TAS has an electronic newsletter and would be re-publishing its printed newsletter. A blog has just been set up by a volunteer.

As for the construction of the visitor's facility, this needs funds. I could not find much info about the Brazil's monkey sanctuary but there is a 20-year-old chimp rehabilitation centre in Gambia which has a visitor's facility set up by the founder (veterinarian) recently. Visitors cannot interact with the chimps but can see them from afar. As for TAS dogs and cats, they will really love human contact and visitors, but there is the possibility of being sued for dog bites. Human beings are unpredictable.

As for veterinarians as customers, it is an excellent idea but will they come with the families? Going one step further, there is one possibility of linking with a University with a veterinary faculty. A two-way exchange of knowledge. The University provides update information on shelter management and let their students learn more about canine and feline health by seeing practice in NANAS.

Dumb ideas from some outsiders are precious feedback. This dinner after a visit TAS was explosive but very useful.