Together with a skilled team of local veterinarians, NFA conducts regular trap-neuter-release (TNR) programs. Credit: NFA/Daniel Snyders
NFA supports the Kenya Society for the Protection & Care of Animals (KSPCA)
Kenya
In Lamu East, Kenya, countless unwanted cats and kittens lead miserable lives of hunger, neglect and pain on the streets. With not a single shelter or veterinary clinic and no government help, street cats are left to breed unchecked, resulting in a deadly population boom and immense suffering for the animals. Together with a skilled team of local veterinarians, NFA conducts regular trap-neuter-release (TNR) programs to end the tragic cycle of birth, disease and death for Lamu East’s street cat population.
In Nairobi, Kenya, we support the Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (KSPCA), a shelter home to over 250 dogs. It is on the frontlines of emergency rescue, cruelty investigations and community-based animal welfare programs. We help cover the cost of pet food and vital veterinary care. Recently, we also provided critical funding for the mass sterilization, vaccination and general treatment of street dogs in impoverished slums in Nairobi.
After recent floods, we provided funds to help with the rise of abandoned dogs.
In Kenya, we exposed a slaughterhouse where 2,000 donkeys were killed for their skins every month, which were then exported to China. Thanks in part to our efforts to raise awareness about the situation, donkey slaughter has now been banned in Kenya. The global purchase of donkeys and donkey skins is a savage operation run by organized Chinese syndicates who show no mercy for animals, or for people who get in their way. They often descend on rural villages and steal donkeys, or force owners to sell at giveaway prices, then slaughter the animals in makeshift abattoirs.
Tanzania
In Tanzania, Network for Animals supports the Arusha Society for the Protection of Animals (ASPA), a small but dedicated organization working to improve the welfare of Tanzania’s street dog population. In addition to the frequent funding we provide for food and veterinary supplies, NFA helps finance emergency rescues, regular mobile clinics and educational outreach programs in Tanzania.
In 2024, we have conducted extensive spay neuter and vaccination and rabies programs.
ASPA also works to deworm, vaccinate, sterilize and provide veterinary treatment for as many street dogs in rural areas as possible. Through our donors’ generosity, we funded a fully-equipped mobile veterinary unit to provide care to these vulnerable animals in a secure and stress-free environment.
In late 2023, a crisis broke out in Mwanza, where the sickness of a single rabid dog sparked a dog-killing rampage. At least 32 dogs were brutally murdered with sticks and stones, despite there being no evidence that they had rabies, and we knew we had to step in. We were able to help rush the ASPA team to the area, where they worked with a local team to vaccinate almost 1,000 dogs across six villages in just three days, helping to stop the killing in its tracks.
An extensive undercover investigation by Network for Animals in June 2021 revealed the enormous scale and utter cruelty of the Chinese donkey skin trade in Africa. The Chinese use donkey skins to make a medicine called ejiao (pronounced “uh-jee-ow”), which has never been proven to work, and which kills millions of donkeys every year.
In Tanzania, we sent a team to investigate and chronicle illegal slaughtering practices at a Chinese-run donkey slaughterhouse in the north of the Shinyanga region. What we found directly opposed the regulations in place for animal welfare and humane slaughter. Tens of thousands of donkeys were being killed each month, and rather than giving them the compassion of a gentle, pain-free death, slaughterers were cruelly bludgeoning them with hammers.
Together with our partner, the Arusha Society for the Protection of Animals (ASPA), Network for Animals successfully lobbied the Tanzanian government to shut down the abattoir. This was a colossal victory for donkey welfare.
In 2022, ASPA alerted us to a dreadful situation at a market in a rural region called Mirongoine. Every week, more than 1,000 donkeys are forced to walk 10 miles (16 kilometers) in blistering heat while massively overladen, severely injured, hungry and without access to fresh drinking water. To give these donkeys some much-needed relief, we were able to construct a shaded area with built-in water troughs that can accommodate up to 200 donkeys. We laid pipes connected to the nearby municipal water supply and are pumping in an ample amount of water for thirsty donkeys. Our team regularly visits the market to treat the donkeys and monitor their welfare.
In the remote town of Geita in northwestern Tanzania, donkeys are used to haul backbreaking weights in an archaic method of gold mining, causing terrible suffering to these gentle creatures. With our support, ASPA began conducting monthly visits to the area to provide the donkeys with deworming medication, medical care and proper saddlebags so they cannot be overloaded.