Sri Lanka is a tough place to be a dog. The streets are filled with an ever-increasing number of strays, who live off of scraps and far too often lead short and painful lives due to a lack of access to food, shelter, and medical care. Additionally, the sheer prevalence of street dogs, coupled with the rapidly growing problem of rabies means that the relationship between local people and dogs can be, understandably, quite tense at times. The result is an even more difficult life for these strays.
I’m raising money for Bring Them Home, a new startup dog rescue project based near Ambalangoda, Sri Lanka. I’ve worked closely with this organization since October 2022, and it is a project very close to my heart. The local team and volunteers out here are working to get as many dogs as possible vaccinated, off the streets, and into safe and loving homes. We hope to decrease the number of stray dogs on the streets in and around Ambalangoda, and work to improve the human-animal interactions in a mutually beneficial way.
As the project is still relatively new, we have lots that needs to be done to help get things fully up and running. Thanks to our last couple waves of donations, we were able to address several of our major goals, including the construction of several more kennels, leveling the outdoor portion of the floor to help prevent flooding and improve hygiene conditions, hiring a part time worker to come check on the dogs when the volunteers are off shift, improving the puppy housing substantially to keep our tiniest escape artists safe, and even some planting and painting.
Still, there are currently around 30 dogs under the care of the shelter (including many young puppies), which about as many dogs as we presently have the resources to properly care for. Even with all the progress made recently, there's still a ton that needs to be done to further improve the quality of life for the dogs we already have, as well as giving us the bandwidth to take in more dogs, so we don't have to turn away any puppies in need.
Your donation will give us the support we need to follow through on various improvements to the way our project runs. One of our highest priority right now is to get running water and electricity to the shelter – a difficult task, as the shelter is in a relatively remote area. Since local attitudes towards dogs can be quite negative, laws in Sri Lanka strictly regulate any organization dealing with large numbers of dogs – one rule being that the shelter has to be far enough from the nearest residential area so that nobody can hear the pups barking, meaning that our shelter is in the middle of a cinnamon plantation, and that running power lines and water all the way there will cost somewhere around $2000 USD.
Our current second high-priority project is to construct even more kennels (used for feeding, baths, etc.) – which will enable us to make shelter life easier and more comfortable for the dogs we already have, as well as allowing us to properly quarantine new puppies who come in to prevent the spread of infectious disease, and hopefully freeing up space to get even more dogs off the streets and into proper care.
We’re in the process of getting an organization website up and running, but for now, go follow @bringthemhome_srilanka for updates on our project and life at the shelter. These dogs are such absolute sweethearts and I love them all with my whole heart – they deserve the best life has to offer. If you’re able to donate, your support goes a really long way in improving living conditions for these dogs and the many others we hope to rescue in the future. Please also consider sharing this fundraiser – every single dollar helps and we really appreciate the support <3
