The Ark Has Landed

Dear Friends and Supporters of Zeus

In July 2012, I had to decide whether it made sense to retain the dogs at the shelter in Singapore or whether it would be much better for them to move to Johor.  

Whilst, it had been nice to have a shelter in Singapore as it was closer to home and therefore more accessible to both visitors and volunteers – the high operating costs that continued to rise due to inflation did not make sense. After every fund raising effort, most of the funds had to be used to cover rental, pet food, medical and operational costs with not much left for our rescue work.

As most of the dogs at the shelter were rescued by individual rescuers, I extended to them, the invitation to join me on the journey to Noah’s Ark.

After giving them time to consider, some decided to stay in Singapore and they are still trying to find a home for their rescued dogs.  Please note that Zeus Communications did not leave any dogs behind, except for the following dogs, *Mei Mei, Xiao Hei, Nokia, Jelly Bean and Big Bobby as these are the dogs that the volunteers requested custody of, feeling strongly that these dogs stood a high chance of being adopted.




Big Bobby - the sweetest and easy going Dude.



 



Xiao Hei



Nokia and Jelly Bean and sisters. The siblings are very close and they will stand by each other.



Mei Mei has been staying at the shelter for almost 3 years.
Every dog would love to have their forever home, we hope that someone will grant them
their Christmas wish.

*Note:
Mei Mei, Xiao Hei, Nokia, Jelly Bean and Big Bobby were rescued from the neighboring shelter at Ericsson Pet Farm, when the tenant could no longer afford to maintain her shelter and decided to call it quits.  If however these dogs do not find a forever home in time – I believe they will always be welcomed at Noah’s Ark where they will get freedom to run free and to be just a dog.

Two months have since passed and the dogs: Tiger, Lady, Emerald, Crystal, Friday and Angel have settled in well at Noah’s Ark.  If you can recall, Tiger –  when he left Singapore he weighed 35 kg, grossly overweight for a medium cross breed dog.  All that additional weight had taken a toll on his limbs.  Today, Tiger is getting all the TLC (tender loving care) and special treatment from Raymund – and he is staying near the clinic which had just been renovated.  But even better news!  Tiger has slimmed down and he is now able to run around with ease (he can even do the bunny hop now)  – I feel so happy for him as he is now able to lead a better life than to just lay down and sleep the entire day away .

From left: Friday, Tiger and Crystal.
Tiger no longer spends his days laying down - he is now walking about and playing with new friends.
As for Crystal, she now has her full coat and her skin problem has recovered,
she must be sun tanning at The Ark.

Visit to Noah's Ark by Rosina

Rosina giving Wayne,
 a Border Collie all the attention.

In September, Rosina was in town to teach Animal Communications.  Every time, when she has a rest day, she will take the opportunity to visit Noah's Ark.  Rosina has a special love for white horses and she will stop to visit Melody, the white pony who is almost 30 years old this year and still looks good for her age.  I wonder what is her secret to staying youthful.

After visiting the horses, Rosina will visit Jasmine, a cross breed who is the resident dog at the Wisma (the cat house).  Jasmine stays and gets along with 100 cats at the Wisma – All those who say dogs can't get along with the cats – Jasmine has proven all of them wrong! And she is not the only special dog.  I just found out that Max a Cross Rottie also gets along with the cats at the Wisma too - well done Max!

By the way, Jasmine appeared on the front cover of Noah's Ark 2013 Calendar a tribute to a loving nature - we are so excited that she has made it to the front page.

During Rosina’s visit to  the Wisma as she sits on the floor, about 20 cats will queue and take their turn to sit next to her – a really amazing sight, it is as if they are queuing to  see a doctor.  What was even nicer to know is that  they had no complaints - they are contented and looking forward to Rosina’s next visit in April 2013.


Before we left Noah's Ark, Rosina presented a gift to Raymund, a hand carved replica of Noah’s Ark, it felt like a home coming.  She had bought the Ark from a Catholic church in Hong Kong and personally  hand carried it to Singapore.  The Ark was assembled in Singapore by Clement and myself. 



Rosina presenting The Gift of Ark to Raymund
From left: Clement, Lynda, Angeline, Raymund, Rosina, Choo Yan and Yew Seng.

 

Bronze and Cycle checking out the Ark.



The Ark sailed from Hong Kong to Singapore to be assembled before it finally “sailed” to Noah's Ark in Johor to its final destination.  And few weeks later – our dogs from Singapore arrived and made Noah’s Ark their home.

Mr Teo, 71 yrs old held two jobs to save Bobby Brown

 

Rescue work never ends here,and we do what we can within our limited resources.

A month ago, I received a call from a boarding house asking me if I could help Mr Teo, a 71 year old man who was ill and had been in and out of hospital a few times with respiratory problems. When I received the call that same week, Mr Teo had just called the boarding house asking them to send his dog Bobby to SPCA because Mr Teo wasn’t sure if he was going to recover – uncertain of his own health and if he would be able to work to upkeep Bobby.

I went to visit Bobby that same week, to check on his temperament and when I saw him there was sadness in his eyes because he knew that he was on death row.

To Mr Teo who has not had much formal education, SPCA was the alternative he knew for animal welfare issues so I decided to visit Mr Teo to find out more details about himself and his dog to see how we could assist him.  I felt that even though Mr Teo's health may be failing we would like to see what we could do to help Bobby have an alternative life even without Mr Teo’s upkeep of him.

I was told that Mr Teo rescued Bobby 5 years ago after the construction of the condo at Clementi was completed, feeling sorry for Bobby Mr Teo took the dog and housed it at a boarding house.  Mr Teo held 2 jobs to upkeep Bobby at the kennel, but with  Mr Teo's advanced age and ill  health he is aware that his days maybe numbered.

As such, we feel that the least we can do for both of them is take care of Bobby so that Mr Teo will no longer have to worry about Bobby’s welfare and need only concentrate on getting better.

With the support from Noah’s Ark, we took Bobby to the vet for a check-up and discovered that he had heartworm.  Bobby is now receiving treatment at Mount Pleasant (Bedok). To date, he has received 3 treatments and in a month’s time – Dr Chan will do another test in mid December to check if he has been cleared of heartworm.  After Bobby has recovered sufficiently , we will arrange to have him sterilized.

Bobby was unsure
of his fate when his
caregiver fell sick.

Sponsorship of Medical Aid for Bobby
The vet estimates Bobby’s vet bill to be about $800 , if you would like to support his medical costs, please write a cheque to Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Centre (Bedok) Pte Ltd and mail to: Noah’s Ark CARES, 42 Cairnhill Road #02-01 Singapore 229661.  Please indicate on the back of the cheque that it is to be used for "Bobby Brown".

Sponsorship of Bobby Brown Boarding
If you wish to help Mr Teo with Bobby’s boarding fees which is $374.50 a month please write a cheque to Noah’s Ark CARES or you can arrange a fund transfer.  Mr Teo has been unable to pay for Bobby's boarding fees for the last 3 months since he fell ill.

 

For more details about Bobby Brown please email to dogstalk@starhub.net.sg

Cookie, The Cocker Spaniel

Cookie was abandoned by a father and son 2 years ago but had been rescued by Yi Hao, a student who knew about Cookie's plight.  As such, Cookie has a behaviourial issue through no fault of his own. Sadly, these behaviourial issues are the result of owner’s bad treatment but with the pet suffering the aftermath.

One of the problems was that the family used to tease Cookie whilst he was sleeping by poking him and when they fed him, the children would try to annoy him by taking his food away. As a result  Cookie tends to display very aggravated and agitated behaviour  whenever he sleeps and eats.  A not too surprising outcome.

Suddenly, last week, Cookie lost his sight and we immediately sent him to the vet on Saturday afternoon to investigate. Dr Chan was worried that Cookie might be diabetic and therefore it was necessary to do a comprehensive blood test on him.

When the blood tests results were out – we have happy to hear that his kidney and liver blood counts were normal, both heartworm and tick fever were negative – but to our horror his red and white blood cells count were way below the normal count. His bone marrow is not producing enough red and white blood cells. 

Update on Cookie

On Monday, 26 Nov morning Cookie was rushed to Mount Pleasant (Redhill) and he had to be hospitalised because his left eye was bleeding.

A full comprehensive test was done again and we discovered that Cookie had tick fever.  We started to contact friends to look for a blood donor that was positive blood type and we were thankful to Ms Leng for allowing her Cross Breed who is also named Cookie to donate his blood.

The blood transfusion took place on Tuesday morning and Cookie is recovering well.  When Cookie's blood count is stablise, Dr Heng will attend to his eye. We will update on Cookie's progress when we get more details from the vet.

Yi Hao is a student and he is doing his best to provide for Cookie, please see if you can find it in you to support Cookie’s medical aid which is now estimated to be $1,000.

Yi Hao would be most grateful. If you do wish to support this,  please write a cheque to Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Centre (Redhill) Pte Ltd and mail to: Noah’s Ark CARES, 42 Cairnhill Road #02-01 Singapore 229661.  Please indicate on the back of the cheque that it is to be used for "Cookie".

AVA Road Show 2012 with Noah’s Ark

 

Lawrence giving Happy (a Beagle) a Reiki treatment



For the first time, a group of Animal Communicators and Reiki Practitioners were at the AVA Road Show to help raise funds for Noah’s Ark.  We met new friends and we were happy to share and explain to them their animals’ feelings and emotions. The main concern pet owners had were the well being of their pets.

At the same time – we took the opportunity to educate first time pet owners on the importance of:

a) Micro Chipping – on how to register with Pet Call and AVA

b) Sterilisation

c) Raising a Puppy for the first time



Jacky and Tina - the Brindles
made a Special Appearance at the AVA Road Show

Jacky our Animal Comm. Mascot was a hot favourite at Noah’s Ark Booth, many visitors stopped to say "Hi", patted and took pictures of him.  We think he is just as popular as Jacky Chan but definitely a much younger and more handsome canine version J.

For the team, the roadshow was a great way to network and to spend quality time with the dogs at the show.

Lost & Found

Dazzle is now safe at home

Dazzle, a young puppy was missing from her home on 27 Oct, during that time, together with her rescuer and fosterer,  Angie and Clement our Animal Communicator tried to help find Dazzle.  The team was so committed that they searched for her everyday regardless of the weather despite the mailrain. The worst thing was that Dazzle was lost at Punggol Park Connector  - which is extremely challenging as there are no distinctive land marks with everything looked very much the same. One week before the newspaper article appeared, Dazzle was picked up by someone and a friend read the article and recognised Dazzle to inform his friend to return the the dog to its owners.  Dazzle was finally reunited with her mummy on 19 Nov.  We are so glad that a kind soul did the right thing by picking her up and taking care of her.

We do hope that they are more people like them who will help lost pets reunite with their owners.

Ms Winnie decided to go for a walk to get some peace

On 13 Nov, I received a call from Ruth that someone found a standard Poodle in Bukit Batok – thankfully the caller did the right thing by stopping to take the dog home so that we can find its owner.  The dog did not have an micro chip, but we knew it had an owner and we did all we could to find her owner back. Winnie’s owner pasted posters in her estate and residents who saw FB alerted the owner that the dog was with the finder.  We are very thankful that we were able to locate its owner in less than 24 hours and Winnie was reunited with her family the following day.

Buddy who went for an adventure

On 19 November, we received a call from Leonard, a medical student based at SGH, that he had found a Cocker Spaniel at Outram Road at about 5pm., He then called us for assistance to help him locate the dog's owner. With the help of Facebook we managed to retrieve some information about what had happened  Buddy earlier and how he ended up walking along Havelock Road and then Outram Roadf. Luckily with the help of SPCA we managed to locate Buddy's owner on Tuesday morning.

During his escapade, Buddy almost got knocked by a car because he wasnt very street smart but we are so thankful that nothing happened to Buddy.

Buddy finally went home on Wednesday evening and received a rousing welcome from all his relatives who came over just to wish him well

We would like to thank Leonard for doing a good deed by stopping to help Buddy and Lina for helping to house him for 2 days.

The importance of micro chipping and licensingOwners, micro chipping is a means to  identify your pet and you need to register it with Pet Call and have your dog licensed with AVA.  In the event that we find a lost dog, we are able to trace its owners should it possess a microchip .  For more details about micro chipping please visit Pet Call  and AVA for licensing.

Animal Communication Workshops
Rosina will be back in April 2013 to teach Animal Communication in Singapore and July 2013 in Malaysia.

What is exciting for us in 2013, Rosina will be leading a group of volunteers from Singapore to help at the Elephant Sanctuary in Chiangmai. The trip will take place in April - programme and details will be available soon, if you are keen to join us, send us an email and we will be in touch with you.

Jasmine putting her paw on a cat and giving comfort.

A Big Thank You

I would like to say a Big Thank You to our supporters and friends for purchasing Noah’s Ark 2013 calendars.  Your support will help towards the purchase of food and medical for the following residence at Noah’s Ark: 

(a)  600 Dogs
(b)  400 Cats
(c)  Melody, Apache, Whatsmore and Bloomerlake (the 4 horses)
(d)  Latte and Starbucks (Marques)
(e)  Huggy Boy (Gibbon)
(f)   Rabbits

I will be here to continue my work for the animal kingdom and 2013 is going to be a fun year for all of us.

Once again, thank you for your support and contribution towards my work for the animals.
Best wishes and season’s greetings.



Lost & Found: A Cross Breed Found Along Old Airport Road

A Cross Breed was found on Sunday, 25 March '11 wondering along Old Airport Road.

He is young and friendly, if you recognise him and you know who his owner is, please inform his owner to contact us at:

Hp: 9199 6662

SMS: 9199 6247 or

Email: dogstalk@starhub.net.sg

Meanwhile, while waiting for his owner to response, we have named him "ïDog".

Thank you.
Zeus Comms.

Lost & Found: Cross Breed

Lost & Found: Cross Breed

Dear All

Thank you for your help to circulate our poster on the missing dog Sporty. 

We are pleased to inform you that a kind soul has found Sporty at 10pm last night and alerted the SPCA to pick him up.  The person who found Sporty did the right thing by calling for help.  We are very grateful for his kind deed.

On behalf of Sporty and his Caregivers - many thanks.

Lynda

3 Nov 2011

Its Time for Changes for Our Street Dogs

Dear Friends,

The following article was sent to the Straits Times, Forum.

We would like to share with you that a group of passionate people who are involved in animal welfare are voicing their views from their hearts on behalf of the dogs who have shared this universe with us. 

We are hoping that the authorities will hear their views and it's time to make changes to our system.

We want more compassion for the animals; do not cull the dogs and cats that have been sterilised. Caregivers have spent thousands of dollars to have them sterilised, so why should our hard earned money go down the drain?  Sterilisation is the only key to reduce unwanted dogs and cats on the streets.  In no time - these sterilised animals will eventually pass away one day from old age and the number of dogs will eventually be reduced.

Abandonment is the reason we find strays living on the streets. Is this how we treat our animals who were once part of our family members? Just because their owners are sick of them and dispose them, we kind souls end up feeling sorry and bring them home?  Abandoning their pets will only create bad karma for them and they will have to live with guilt for life! 

That said, how many of these abandoned pets can we actually rescue? How many can be kept alive?  A pet is a lifetime commitment and even though AVA keeps promoting Responsible Pet Ownership, there isn't much improvement. So what has gone wrong with our system?  I have come to the conclusion that we need not educate and convert responsible pet owners, but instead it should be the non-pet owners who should be fully educated.

Every year, animal welfare groups have been appealing to AVA and HDB to let Mongrels be HDB approved.  Years have passed and we still see no change in the system.  If pet owners are responsible, why can't we keep Mongrels in our HDB apartments?  I have seen some Mongrels staying in HDB flats and they are just as well behaved and obedient as purebreds. Fearing neighbours' complaints, these owners have to take their dogs out in the middle of the night just to play safe. The fear resembles sneaking a mistress into the house! Why should we live in fear?  What we want is change - we want HDB to relook into the system and to allow responsible pet owners to keep a Mongrel in their apartment. 

Many people do not mind adopting Mongrels, however they do have one concern and that is - "Mongrels are not allowed in HDB flats." Majority of us Singaporeans are HDB dwellers, so can you imagine how many of our special breeds would have a home today if they were finally HDB approved? 

We hope that you will take time to read Anita's letter to the forum.  And let's start referring to our Singapore Specials as "Cross Breeds" instead of "Mongrels", for they are special in their own ways and have their own inner beauty which we can appreciate.

Yours sincerely

Lynda Goh

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Letter to the Forum by Anita

Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)

We are a small group of friends who have been actively feeding and rescuing  stray dogs  at different locations in Singapore for many years.  I am writing in to highlight the plight of these dogs.

Due to the recent development of the Lorong Halus Wetland, many of these harmless dogs have been trapped and culled. Some of us have been working tirelessly to rescue as many dogs as we can. But to do so, requires a long period, effort and finances on our part. To date, we have managed to rescue more than 20 dogs in the last 4yrs, a very small number, as compared to the hundreds that have been trapped and culled indiscriminately by the authorities.

All those dogs that had been rescued, were treated by the vet, sterilised and vaccinated, some have been successfully adopted. For those that aren't so lucky, are housed in various boarding kennels or released back to where their original habitat were. These unfortunate dogs (due to no fault of theirs) have faced insurmountable odds to survive. Hundreds of these dogs have been culled through the years, to make way for the fast growing expansion and development in this nation. Most are trapped inhumanely, suffering horrific injuries before they are culled. We implore the MND to intervene. Stop the culling of these harmless dogs. AVA (the government agency  ~ AGRICULTURE and VETERINARY Authority) charges a hefty sum of S$400 +, for each dog to be released to volunteers like us. VET and boarding are a astronimical cost to us. We would like to make a request to AVA to waive this fee. The waiver of this fee will be a reflection of AVA's true commitment towards animal welfare and humane practices.

Here are some of our thoughts on how the government can be more pro active in controlling the stray dogs population.

Finding homes for these dogs are mired by a huge obstacle, one being, that a large population of Singapore live in HDB flats. We implore the HDB to review it's current policy and allow these dogs to be adopted into HDB homes. Non-profit organisation like The Singapore Kennel Club can help. The SKC provides a wide range of courses, including obedience classes for dogs. These classes are essential tools to help rehabilitate and train these dogs to better intergrate and co-exist in our society.  

A big contributing factor to the stray population is irresponsible pet ownership. The government should legislate compulsory micro chipping and licensing and advocate sterilisation of pets. Heavier penalties should be meted out to owners if they are  proven to have abused or abandoned their pets.

If the above measures, are taken into consideration, we are convinced that there will be significant and visible results in the stray dogs (and cats) population. We strongly urge for the government to initiate change in our nation and strive towards a more compassionate and humane society. May I quote BG TAN, (Minister Of State for Ministry of National Developement)  6^th Aug from the online portal ~ "people must acknowledge that pets and strays are inevitably part of the living environment and should find ways to best live alongside them".

We would like to salute the founders of the various animal welfare groups, Ricky (ASD ~ Action For S'pore Dogs), Ms Cathy Strong (ALL ~ Animals Lovers League), Raymond Wee (Noah's Ark CARES), Lynda Goh ( Zeus Communications ).  Many thanks to Mr Ong, Mr Han and Mohan for rescuing a stray dog (named Xiao Hei) that had lost mobility on his right leg, and giving him a chance to live instead of putting him down; to Alysha and Tara who donated all their birthday 'ang pow' collections to Zeus Communications (animal shelter); and to the many other volunteers island wide who have dedicated their whole lives to saving our street dogs.

Let's note that ~ "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated"  ~ Mahatma Gandhi 



Xiao Hei was rescued by Mr & Mrs Ong and Uncle Han who have been feeding strays for the last 5 years with the help from Mohan of Animal Lovers League .  Xiao Hei disappeared for 2 days, the caregivers were so worried that they did not give up and kept looking for him.
Xiao Hei fell into the canal that was almost 5ft deep.  Mrs Ong in her 60s used her heart to search for Xiao Hei by sliding into 5ft deep canal - she did not even think of her safety or danger by doing what she did.  We are thankful that it did not rain when Xiao Hei was stuck in the canal. Stay tune for Xiao Hei's story...
(Picture was taken before Xiao Hei's surgery, his right front leg had to be amputated)



Dr Teo attending to Xiao Hei's wound.  Part of his bone could be seen.  Xiao Hei was in great pain and frustration for days.