3. Animal activism - fund raising & creating awareness

"Boy, which do you want? The book or the calendar?" the mother asked her son who was about 6 years old and before he could reply, she said: "Take the book. It has many coloured pictures of dogs and horses!"

The boy thumbed through the thin maroon hardcover book with a title in gold letters. I checked out this book too.

I doubted most mother would buy this book owing to its high selling price of $80.00.
The boy was indecisive. The mother opted for the book. "How much is it?" she asked the volunteer. The volunteer asked another lady and said: "It is $80.00"

"Well, boy," the mother looked at her son. "I will buy the calendar for you." The calendar costs $10.00.

I write this to educagte fund raisers a valuable lesson if they
want to do good deeds to raise funds to help the disadvantaged by selling books. To educate the public about their organisation.

Never produce hardcover books as the cost of production will be much higher. The "affordable price" to get most well wishers in Singapore to part with their monies for a publication seem to be around $10.00.

Produce the book in a magazine-like format instead. Find out which printer will print a small book of around 80 pages at $4.00 per book. It will take time to do so but there are such publishers. I know because I am proactive in looking for such a printer. Sell the book at $10.00 will then not be at a loss. Many books will be sold if they are at these price. Revenue is then generated for the disadvantaged. The contents of the book will also be important but well, if it is $10.00 and full of pictures, many well-wishers will buy one. Did the mother buy it?

Well, the lady bought the calendar.


Book sales: An educational lesson for fund-raisers

I was present at this Dog Walk as a volunteer veterinarian from 5pm to 6 pm this Saturday to stand by, in case any walking dog falls sick. Ms Lynda Goh had text-messaged me on Friday and I was having my Saturday off. I could spare some time on this hot and humid afternoon to help out.

"Where is your medicine?" Ms Goh asked me across the path when she saw me. I snapped a picture of her hard at work. A prime mover in her organisation.

She probably expected me to carry the traditional black doctor's bag instead of holding a camera. I pointed to my backpack. It is a custom-made camera-carrying backpack and has 2 big compartments to carry the necessary medicine and drip set. It frees me from having to carry it by hand.

Books are a good way to raise funds for the organisation. Unfortunately, the volunteers usually are not aware of the marketing forces and produce beautiful books which do not sell well. Volunteers need to be aware of the art of marketing too if they want to maximise the amount in fund-raising at public events.

Did I buy the book? No. I bought one calendar to support the organisation. You may consider me a cheapskate but spare money is limited as expenses are high for everybody in times of recession.

2. The lady who cared for the green-eyed cat

"Be careful," the slim tanned woman warned. "This is a stray cat will claw and escape. She roams the street and will go up the apartment block to get fed by a family. I had great difficulty catching her and caging her."

The abnormally large dew claw on the left fore paw of this green-eyed cat grew and grew, digging deep into her flesh. This woman looked as if she was in a hurry too, in my view of her body language.

"Put the cage on the table," I said as she tried to coax the cat out of the cage put on the floor. "It is hard to get her out and if she escapes, it will be harder to get her."

My assistant managed to get the cat out by gripping her scruff of the neck. He held her hind paws. She looked frightened and did not fight back yet. I could just snip off the ingrown nail. However, her ears were all black with dirt and possibly ear mites.

"Are you in a hurry?" I asked as her restless body language and looking out of the surgery indicated a woman in a hurry.

"Yes," she said. "I rented a car."

"Why would you be in a hurry? The car has been rented for the day." I forgot that cars can be rented by the hour nowadays.

"I rent the car by the hour. It is $9.00 per hour."

Probably more than 30 minutes had passed while she waited her turn and while we tried to catch the cat.

"Your niece does have a some resemblance to you," I referred to an animal activist I met and whom we had a common grounds for conversation.

"She ought to," the lady said. "She is my brother's daughter."



I changed the subject.

"You know, I can't locate the Brazilian monkey reserve in the internet you spoke about during the dinner," I reminded her. She had said that her friend's son loved staying in a visitor's facility in Brazil and even picked up monkey poo, at a dinner where she and her animal-activist niece and others were present.

"Oh, it is in Bolivia," she said. "Check the internet."

She had many ideas for her niece as to revenue generation to sustain the operation to take care of stray dogs and cats. Giving back to the community was important to her. Vets ought to provide free service for all the street dogs and cats too as part of the giving back to the community. She told me of her ideas for her animal-activist niece.

"Do you really know the challenges of animal welfare work faced by your niece? Your ideas may not be acceptable or practical. Do you really know the details of her work?"

She did not reply.

"Why don't you put your ideas to work by starting your own (animal welfare)project?. I can help out whenever possible."

"Singapore has no land," she said.

"Well," I said. "If you really want to give back to the animal community, you will find a way."

She had a brainwave as she told me about a prospective benefactor and location. If this brainwave works, it will be good. As for her cat, she was kind enough to pay for the cat to be treated.

As she was in a hurry, I kept the cat for a day as I needed time to clean the ears and bathe the cat. I hope she would make it in time to return the rental car before the hour is up and be successful in the execution of her ideas. The success of any project is in the execution.

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.