May 21, 2008

DUMB IDEAS IN ANIMAL ACTIVISM - Case study

"Why don't you stay 2 weeks in The Animal Shelter (TAS)?" the animal activist raised his voice in reply as the lady across the dining table asked why there was no visitor's accommodation in TAS. We were having dinner on a fine evening on Saturday, April 26, 2008 and were having a happy conversation.

The lady had blurted out something like this: "My friend's son enjoyed his stay and experience in a monkey sanctuary in Brazil. He even helped to pick up the monkey pool. TAS ought to build a similar facility for visitors."

I thought a visitor's accommodation was an excellent idea to raise funds for TAS. I had mentioned this concept sometime ago. The animal activist patiently told me that TAS could be get sued if a dog bites the visitors. During one of my visits, a visitor got bitten in her leg by one of the free ranging dogs.

I had thought that this concept was an excellent way to provide a hands-on interaction between prospective donors and animals. It creates a contact point and market awareness of the good work done in caring for so many homeless and previously abused/abandoned dogs and cats that would otherwise be dead by euthanasia or killed.

Did this lady in her late forties raise dumb ideas to provoke such a reaction from the animal activist?  On the way back home in the car, I asked this lady to elaborate. 

She had the following opinions and feedback:

1. Tea parties and calendar sales will not raise the  funds needed. 
 
2. The TAS website has no new information.

3. Blogs and other network websites to inform prospective donors are important for the younger generation. Occasional newsletters cannot reach a wider audience.

4. A wealthy well connected person (name given) can be asked to provide funds to build the visitor's facility.

5. Patrons of the visitor's facility may be veterinarians. Now, I had never thought of that. "Veterinary undergraduates definitely will be interested in animal shelter medicine and surgery," I said. 

Some of the lady's suggestions seem out of reality.   

As for the construction of the visitor's facility, this needs a person to spend time dedicated to its construction besides fund raising. A formal and professional grant proposal needs to be written. One cannot just ask for money from wealthy and connected individuals or foundations nowadays.

I read this book "Three Cups of Tea". Greg Mortenson, an American humanitarian who had this concept of building schools for poor Pakistanis when he was in his late twenties. He wrote to around 500 wealthy people and organisations in the U.S. He got one reply and that US$12,000 grant from a wealthy individual enabled him to build the first schools to educate the poor children in Pakistan.

I could not find much info about the Brazil's monkey sanctuary but there is a 40-year-old chimp rehabilitation centre in Gambia. It is the  Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Trust. It took the some 40 years before the founder agreed to the building of Badi Mayo (4 safari tents, 8 visitors) in 2006. Visitors are not allowed to contact the chimpanzees but to observe them from a boat. 

As for TAS, dogs and cats will love human contact. Visitors given accommodation will have more them to bond with the animals.

It will be a two-way exchange of love and knowledge for the urban-raised children who have never gone near a chicken. One Myanmar travel agent once said to me: "When Singaporeans visit Myanmar, they get so excited when they see ducks and farm animals. Myanmar people grow up seeing them everywhere."    

As for veterinarians as patrons of the visitor's facilities, it may be possible to link with a University Veterinary Department in Australia. The University provides update information on shelter management and let their professors and students learn more about tropical canine and feline health and see practice in the TAS. There are some universities in the U.K. whose vets work closely with animal shelters in Africa. An example is the University of Liverpool helping the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust in the management of horses and donkeys and receiving important veterinary knowledge of the diseases of such animals.

Dumb ideas from some outsiders are precious feedback for a company to innovate and grow. The reality is often so much different but without dumb and difficult questions, most non-governmental organisation (NGO) will become fossilised as it continues its old practices. 

The reality is that the NGO needs funds from private individuals to sustain its growth over the years. Well connected wealthy individuals may be found to build the visitor's facility but some volunteers have to write and justify the grant and this takes time, follow up and motivation. Direct contact will be the best. Gerald Durrell personally got Princess Grace Kelly to be the patron of one of his zoo projects, according to his biography.

Dumb ideas are precious feedback but knowing which ones can be executed and benefit any organisation can make the difference between sustainable growth or bankruptcy of the NGO.
Yet this lady had lots of ideas to help TAS to raise funds. "Dumb ideas" are what leaders may need to sustain the growth of their venture but they can raise emotions to a very high level in passionate animal activists.   
 

I met the lady later. She suggested growing plants for sale to raise funds for the TAS. More ideas from her. The monkey reserve was actually not in Brazil but in Bolivia. I suggested that she execute her ideas rather than propose them as some of her ideas might not be practical and might stress out others.   

Once I had an idea of raising goats for sale to raise funds for the TAS as there were some grassland. Fence up an area and raise goats inside the fencing so as to protect them from being bitten by the free-ranging dogs. When the grass has been eaten by the goats, move the fences to another plot. Something like rotation farming.  Therefore grass cutters are not needed and a continued source of revenue for the TAS. Is it a dumb idea from an ivory-tower vet? 
 

Animal activism needs passionate hands-on volunteers who can execute their ideas to the final stage. Do "Arm-chair" critics have a place in animal activism? Are their contribution of dumb ideas from an outsider's point of view coming on too strong in some cases?

If they have the financial resources to execute their ideals, their dumb ideas may be more palatable in making the world a better place for homeless animals. But in the end, results count.

Passion, hands-on execution and performance are what count in being successful in animal activism.    

Note: TAS is a non-existent animal shelter in this case study.