First some sad news, the other day a coworker's cat got run over by a car. It was originally a scrawny stray that she started feeding and it soon won her heart, within a month she was taking it to the vet for checkups, got it a collar, and let it come into her condo. The cat gained weight, stopped being scared of people, and turend out to be a nice, friendly, happy cat. But one evening it climbed over a wall and went out to the street where a car hit it. My coworker was devastated. She takes some solace in that at least the cat's last few months were happy ones.
Coincidentally the next morning the Qatar Natural History Group, of which I'm a member, did a trip to the Qatar Animal Welfare Society (www.qaws.org) where we helped walk the many dogs they had at the shelter. I was surprised that there would be many dogs given that Muslims consider dogs unclean and tend not to have them as pets, but there were about 20 of them. Most of them were Salukis or Saluki-crosses, Salukis being one of the only breeds of dog that Arabs use. One of the people at the shelter told me that medium or large dogs are hard to find homes for since most foreigners live in apartments or condos. Small dogs usually get adopted within a few days. QAWS also has cats, a donkey (?) and a castrated bull (?!?). I get the feeling that the bull will be there for a while.
So if you want something to cheer you up, go to www.qaws.org click on Adopt, then Success Stories, for letters from people who adopted animals from the shelter and found themselves with a wonderful pet.
If you're thinking of getting a pet, please adopt one from an animal shelter rather than a pet store. And if you live in Qatar, please consider adopting one of their wonderful dogs or cats.
3 comments:
Hi, just thought I would let you know that QAWS website is no longer up and running. If you wish to help and adopt or foster an animal in need here in Qatar, please visit: www.qatarpets.org
blessings,
Qatar Pets
My school (Doha College) is now raising money for QAWS and my form is going to raise money for a dog enabling it to have the medical treatment that it needs and provide the food and water for it. I have just moved to Qatar and had never heard of QAWS before but i think it is really nice what they are doing!
I'm a muslim and love dogs so i went to volunteer. They were so rude. Everytime i wanted to walk a dog, they gave me death glares. The old lady is the rudest of them all. Everytime I wld ask to walk a dog, they say "no, they already walked" and wld totally ignore me. I'm so furious. If they hate muslims, then they shld get the hell out of qatar. I'm never going there again. If they want ppl to help the animals out, they shld first respect the muslims that visit the shelter.
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