HART Logo

In and around HART

This pup is marked with red powder to celebrate the Dashain festival but is lost and suffering from mange.
Street-dog
This poor animal, like many other street-dogs, has a severe skin condition
The puppy, nicknamed Badger, after treatment
Lactating female drinking from a muddy puddle
Neutered dogs are given an ear notch for easy identification
This street-dog looks in fairly good condition but is suffering from mange
Street-dog

... please click on photos to enlarge

Street Dogs

The term street dogs is widely used to describe the animals seen on the streets on many developing countries. It encompasses a variety of dogs which range from those which are owned and allowed out for some or all of the time to those whose contact with humans is occasional and often hostile. A further complexity to the term is that some dogs are permanently taken from the streets and kept inside compounds or houses.

Click to enlarge
Competing with the traffic
Click to enlarge
A small group of street dogs at play

In Nepal most of a neighbourhood’s inhabitants will recognise the individual dogs that live among them even if they choose to do no more than regard them as part of the street furniture.

Some residents will take a more active role towards the animals in their midst and will feed and play with them and even seek veterinary care if it is available.

It is these well intentioned but often under informed people that HART seeks out and encourages. Currently information on animal care is not widely available and animal sentience is not well recognised, and so even well meaning people can inadvertently cause their companion animals to suffer.

Working in different areas in Nepal, HART has found that some communities, such as in Pokhara and Kopan, welcome the opportunity to improve the lives of their street dogs. However in other areas the creatures are still widely regarded as nuisances and poisoning as the only sensible solution to keeping them manageable.

The normal life span of a street dog is estimated to be around three years and the hazards of street life ensure that most puppies do not survive.

Animal Sacrifice


This is still widely practised throughout Nepal, both at festivals and to mark notable occasions, and it is carried out publicly.

A particularly distressing festival is held in the south of Nepal every four years and called the Gadhimai.

More information on this event and the campaign to mitigate, or even stop it altogether, is available at STOP Animal Sacrifice

Cats


Click to enlarge
This crush cage is used to safely immobilise the cat in order to receive sedation

There are far fewer cats than dogs in Nepal although every town appears to have a colony. As with the street dogs some well intentioned individuals take responsibility for one or more cats, though again, as with the street dogs, this does not guarantee the animals a good life. HART neuters as many cats as possible both in the towns and in the camps.

Data


The information gathered from household surveys, from the dog censuses, and from our mass anti-rabies vaccination, neutering and treatment programmes has been passed to Dr Jenny Stavisky and Dr Martin Downes at the University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Science and Medicine.

In due course we hope to use their insights into improving our programmes and targeting our resources more effectively and we are most grateful for their expert assistance.