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DonateNowButton Dear HART Supporter,

The major festivals of Dashain and Diwali take place in October and November, as well as it being the peak trekking season and the most popular time for volunteers to visit.

This year these months were beautifully clear and sunny with stunnning views of the Himalayas from virtually everywhere in the country.

Please continue for an update on events during this extremely busy period.

2nd Annual Clinic in Illam and 1st in Bhadrapur

Dog handler Nem Shrestha At the request of the DLSO, (once again Mr Kumar Khatri), and the Municipality, the HART team returned to Illam in the east of Nepal for a second time. The opening ceremony included journalists and high ranking representatives of the Police, Army and Red Cross, and the Chief District Officer.

Local owners brought their dogs and cats, some walking 3 hours in order to do so, and the Nepal Army assisted with catching un-owned free roaming dogs. A total of 158 dogs and 7 cats were neutered, and more were waiting but time ran out.

The local authorities provided generous food and accommodation for the HART staff, who, feeling welcomed and knowing their work was valued, delivered an exemplary clinic.

Illam is in the far east of Nepal and is a renowned tea producing area Local children take a keen interest in HART's info poster

Immediately after Illam, the staff drove the 100 kilometers to the town of Bhadrapur in the much hotter Terai.

This was a pilot programme at the request of the Municipality and intended to stop the cull of dogs by poisoning that normally takes place before the festivals.

At the opening ceremony a journalist from Himshikar TV invited Khageshwaar and Mr Shrestha (Municipality Chief) on to his live TV programme. Here, Mr Shrestha committed himself not to carry out any future poisonings but to allocate a budget for dog sterilisation. He will though, require continued assistance from HART.

The TV programme sparked off a number of further requests from the public for neutering but the project had only time and resources enough for the 50 dogs originally planned.

Concentrating hard! After a very long day the HART crew and local helpers set off from the camp

The Municipality assigned two members of staff to assist HART. These are men who had previously carried out poisonings. They are now trained to humanely handle dogs and how to pre-medicate. A comment from one, Munna, shows his feelings at having to use poison:

" A thief will be caught and when we were out poisoning dogs I felt we would also be killed like the way we are killing dogs. One of my colleagues escaped death when he accidentally swallowed some portion of strychnine sulphate".


There is clearly enormous demand for these clinics and they will be repeated and expanded as resources permit.


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Farewell and Welcome

HART's senior vet, Dr Phuyal, has moved on into government service and his excellent surgical skills will be greatly missed. However, he will continue to be available as a consultant to HART so the connection will not be broken.

Dr Narayan Acharya, HART's new vet We have been joined by Dr Narayan Archarya (pictured right), a recently qualified vet from IAAS, who is fitting extremely well into the team, despite arriving at a time of maximum activity.

As there is very little scope for private practice for vets in Nepal (there are only a handful of practices in Kathmandu), most of the 60 or so vets qualifying annually tend to take up government posts. These posts offer security and are naturally an attractive career proposition.

Although HART is always sorry to see its vets move on, this progression means that over the years there will be a network of government vets well versed in the practices and ethos developed at HART.



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Survival in Pokhara

Two difficult cases were brought into the Pokhara clinic in November.

One was a dog which had inadvertently eaten poison and which seemed beyond help.

Dr Russell Lyon and Dr Frances Coles treat the white puppy The other was a very small white puppy which had fallen off a first floor balcony. Both dogs had devoted owners who did their utmost for their animals. The puppy had been bought and taken from its mother several weeks earlier that it should and then had been overdosed with antibiotics by a local pharmacy after its fall.

Despite all the odds, HART staff with the assistance of volunteer vets, Dr Russell Lyon and Dr Frances Cole, were able to save these animals.


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IAAS collaboration formalised

IAAS Dean, Professor Narendra Chaudhary, and HART Director Khageshwaar Sharma sign the MOU During a visit to the IAAS vet college by HART founders, B.Webb and J.Pearson, a formal Memorandum of Understanding between IAAS and HART was signed.

The photo shows the Dean of IAAS, Professor Narendra Chaudhary, and Khageshwaar Sharma signing the MOU.



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Joint Clinic with Animal Nepal

Following the joint clinic earlier in the year, HART and fellow animal welfare organisation, Animal Nepal, ran a neutering/vaccination and first aid clinic in Godavari.
The camp was set up on the outskirts of Godavari HART staff administer a pre-med injection

This is a beautiful area about 10 km south of Kathmandu surrounded by untouched forest.

A total of 118 dogs were neutered - 94 females spayed and 24 males castrated.
Red identification collars are fitted Dogs recovering from their sterilization operation



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Time to spare?
Time to spare?

We are actively seeking anyone who can help us with fund-raising. Any suggestions and contributions on this topic will be gratefully received.

Also,as Christmas approaches, please consider a gift to HART on behalf of an animal lover. This will not need any storage space but will provide the ongoing satisfaction of achieving real change for many animals in Nepal. Specific pictures of animals helped can be made available if required.


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Thanks

Barbara Webb presenting Chandra Rai, HART's Community Liaison Officer, with a copy of 'Rabid' on behalf of Olivia Stuart Olivia Stuart, a HART supporter from the USA, has very kindly donated a new copy of the book 'Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus'.

HART founder, Barbara Webb, is pictured here presenting it to Chandra Rai, HART's Community Liaison Officer.

This interesting book will help our staff understand the long history of the fight against rabies.

Thanks Olivia!


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Very many thanks for your continued support

www.hartnepal.org


If you would like more information about our work, please visit our website or contact our Director, Mr Khageshwaar Sharma, at k.sharma@hartnepal.org


© Himalayan Animal Rescue Trust 2012