Naturewatch Foundation
Naturewatch Foundation - Advancing Animal Welfare
You may remember that last year’s World Animal Day grant winners were Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), who were awarded the money to purchase a van and build an ambulance to rescue and transport animals in Indonesia.
As coordinators of World Animal Day, Naturewatch Foundation offer an annual grant, open only to World Animal Day ambassadors, of £10,000. This money is awarded to assist ambassadors and the organisations they work for, in completing animal welfare projects. We often receive lots of applications, all for worthy causes, which can make it very hard to choose one winner, and last year we awarded three organisations with the money, but JAAN was the main winner.
JAAN is a very busy non-profit, campaigning against issues such as cruelty against primates and illegal wildlife trafficking, whilst also carrying out wildlife rescues and rehabilitation at their centres and running spay and neuter projects for stray animals. Naturewatch Foundation chose JAAN as the 2023 grant winners as their plans to convert a van into a much-needed ambulance for their organisation would help both domestic and wild animals across the country.
There was a long waiting list for the van conversion specialist that JAAN needed to work with, but finally the van was completed in March, and has already been used extensively to help animals in need. The World Animal Day grant was increased to £10,000 in 2023 and so the awarded amount was able to cover the cost of the van and the specialist conversion, including all of the general anaesthetic and veterinary equipment that JAAN’s veterinary teams would need to carry out neutering and rescue work on the road.
Our World Animal Day ambassador, Femke, did not waste any time whilst awaiting the van build and ensured that the anaesthetic machine and veterinary equipment was in frequent use, with JAAN’s busy team carrying out dog and cat neuters, abscess treatments and dealing with emergencies, such as saving a choking dog. During just the first two months of this year, JAAN’s team helped 91 animals, including macaques, sea turtles, dogs, cats, and ducks!
Now that the van is on the road, rescues and transportation between JAAN’s rescue centres will be much easier and the charity has reported that they have been able to deliver rabies vaccinations to stray animals, carry out veterinary checks on confiscated sea turtles and save animals like Bambi, a stray dog with a chain embedded into his mouth.
As the van has only been on the road for less than two months, we know that JAAN will soon have even more stories for us about how the 2023 World Animal Day grant has been used to save and improve the lives of animals on the other side of the world!
The post An update from Jakarta Animal Aid Network, our 2023 grant winners! first appeared on Naturewatch Foundation and is written by Morwenna.