WriLoLo: animals

Recently I paid a visit Furry Friends Farm, an animal sanctuary for 500 dogs and cats in Kundang, Selangor. I had heard about this place for a long time but only decided to visit now as they recently were in a major predicament that needed urgent funding. I decided to try and help by creating awareness of their plight on my blog. But being someone who doesn't endorse anything I haven't experienced myself and also knowing how some self-proclaimed animal rescuers aren't all they claim to be, I had to check the place out for myself. The good news is that just a day before I visited, the folks running the place got good news that their predicament was pretty much resolved, which they told me when I did my visit. Since they haven't made an official announcement about it yet, I'm not going to steal their thunder by spilling the beans on my blog. However, they still need help in terms of regular funding as their running costs comes up to RM40,000 a month, and hence I'm helping that cause instead.

The residents of Furry Friends Farm (FFF) are primarily made up of 350 dogs and 150 cats that were strays, abandoned or injured, but they also have a goat named Rajoo who thinks he's a dog, FFF is a no-kill shelther, except for severely ill or injured animals where keeping them alive would only prolong their suffering. They also do not harm other animals that run in and out of the place, like the rats and lizards. The farm, which started up in October 2006 by the founder, Sabrina Yeap, is now run full-time by two lovely ladies, Georgie Gisborne (who was originally from England and now permanently here) and Myza Nordin, with the help of 4 workers and occasional volunteers. Legend has it that Sabrina single-handedly ran the entire farm until she passed on in July 2012. The design of the farm was her idea and truly was a special design, as the farm is really unlike most shelters where they keep their animals in cramped cages. Here, all animals are kept in several wide spaced enclosures, usually in packs except for those few that prefer to stay by themselves, and even so they still have ample space to run around and play with each other.

When I arrived, I was welcomed by a single friendly brown and white dog just outside the entrance of the farm, which I thought was a stray that just happened to be there. After I met Georgie and Myza, they told me the dog was one of theirs and they let him run around outside as he didn't like being inside. As I sat down to chat with them and a couple of other dogs there to keep us company, a rat or two scurried by, a testament to their policy that they do not harm any animals there.

The tour around the farm started with the doggy 'hospital' room where they have about 20 dogs that are disabled or were injured and have been treated.

A dog with disabled hind legs

A doggy missing his front left leg which was amputated. Oh what a big mouth you have!

Another disabled but happy furkid

A resident of the hospital room that has conquered the table

Next was a visit to the dog enclosures, of which I'm guessing there were at about 7 or 8 enclosures separated by fencing, each with a pack of dogs well socialized with each other.

Big area for many doggies

One fella resting in the drain. Because he can!

"Look at all that space behind me! WOooHOooOOo!"

"Visitor! Do you have treeaaats?"

This doggy got his own special wooden hut as his home.

The dog enclosures are all connected to a big garden where at certains times, each pack gets a chance to run around in the garden before heading back and letting the other packs have their turn to run.

Spot the doggies running around the big ol' garden

Lots and lots of greenery for them to pee on :P

As impressive as the whole set up is, the place is almost 10 years old now, so parts of the roof are leaking when it rains and the structure is generally starting to fall apart. They really need funds to get it back in good order and keep the dogs happy, coz wet and cold dogs aren't happy dogs!

Part of the old roofing that needs to be replaced

If you think the dog enclosures are a fantastic place for the dogs, you would even be more amazed with the cat enclosures, which is like a big playground/gym for the cats. There are shelves all along the walls, coffee tables, hanging structures, bookcases, and basically a lot of knick knacks for cats to climb on, curl into, scratch on and basically enjoy doing what cats do...go all over the place and snooze.

Welcome to the cat gym!

"What up?"

Putting her best foot forward

Shelves make great snooze spots

So do shoe stands!

The indoor cat enclosures are even connected to the outdoor enclosures by cat tunnels which they can walk through. There are also separate enclosures for healthy cats and those that were diagnosed with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), the kitty version of HIV.

The light at the end of tunnel being blocked by.... kitty butt

Here's a couple more pics of the happy looking, somewhat lazy and occasionally demanding cats.

"What we gonna do today, guys?"
"Errr...sleep?"
"Sounds like a plan"

"I want my catnip!" says orange middle cat

Wait, didn't I mention there was a goat? Oh yes, here's Rajoo the goat who thinks he's a dog. He was rescued while on the way to a slaughterhouse by the late Sabrina when he was a kid (literally) and now has grown to a happy roly-poly sized goat. He apparently likes to eat dog food (which is really bad for his health so Georgie and Myza don't let him) and his 'wife' is a dog and they both adore each other.

"Beh-ehh! Beh-eh-eh! I mean, woof woof! I mean, woooo, beh-behhhh!"

"That's wifey at the back. Let her know I've been good so I can get a doggy treat. Please?"

How you can help?

1) Sponsor a Furkid/ Make a Donation
If you like what you see going on at Furry Friends Farm and you're like many folks who would love to give a furry friend a loving home but have difficulties doing so because of time, lack of space, etc, help by sponsoring a furkid for only RM120 a month! Every dog and cat here has a story and name. You are welcome to pay a visit and choose a furkid or two to sponsor. You can also of course make one-off donations to assist with shelther repairs, medications and treatment of sick or injured animals, supplies, etc.

Donation Details:
Account name: Furry Friends Farm Society registration no: PPM-027-10-14082012 (14Aug12) Email: treasurer@furryfriendsfarm.org.my.

Donations can be made via:
1) Cash deposit/transfer/intergiro to PUBLIC BANK BERHAD: 3178842626
2) Paypal account: treasurer@furryfriendsfarm.org.my. Transaction fees (charged to FFF): 3.4% + RM2 per donation/transaction
3) Cheques payable to: Furry Friends Farm Foreign cheques bank commission (charged to FFF): 0.1% (min Rm20, max Rm100)

Kindly notify Furry Friends Farm via email (treasurer@furryfriendsfarm.org.my) once you've made your donation.

2) Adopt a furkid
Adopters are also welcome, but be warned that Georgie and Myza will only give away furkids to people who they are convinced will be good and loving adopters. That means no nonsense like keeping pets in cages most of the time. Dogs needs plenty of space to run, and cats needs space to climb around!

3) Volunteer
Taking care of 500 animals isn't a easy feat, so any extra hands are welcome.

If you're interested to adopt or volunteer, please contact Myza (016 371 7692) or Georgie (016 379 3478). Please contact them and make an appointment prior to making any visits.

For more info on Furry Friends farm and updates on their latest fund-raising activities, visit their website or Facebook page.

Today was probably one of the most interesting milestones for animal lovers in Malaysia, as Malaysians from all walks of life came together at One Utama for the "I Want to Touch a Dog" event. What's most interesting about this event , and personally make me really interested to go, was that it was founded by a Muslim man who love animals but has a fear of dogs and wanted an avenue to overcome that fear. Of course, it does not help that there is a lot of stigma among Muslims about touching dogs in Malaysia due to their religious beliefs , which has led to many Malay Muslims avoiding dogs, not because they don't like the animal, but because they are afraid of being labeled as social outcasts by their fellow Muslim friends and family.

Personally, I've also had negative experiences with some people, mostly Malays but also non-Malays, who did not like dogs and even tried to abuse my dogs. I believe that this is due to lack of education and awareness on what their religion actually teaches them about dogs. So I thought this was a great event to help educate people to appreciate dogs instead of fearing or abusing them.

To me, the biggest beauty of this event was being able to watch Muslims have a chance to come and enjoy being with their canine friends without any fear of being judged or reprimanded. And another wonderful thing was being knowing everyone there, irregardless of race and religion, was united in a single passion, i.e. Love for dogs, and everyone was really enjoying themselves, mingling and getting to know each other. This is especially heart warming considering that there have been a lot of racial and religious issues brought up the local news lately, which is quite depressing. Reading Malaysian news these days could make one thing that there's a lot of racial division in the country, but this is a van with a reminder that Malaysians are actually still a pretty harmonious bunch.

I'm really thankful to the organiser for coming up with this idea. Hopefully it'll happen more often in the future so that future generations can continue to be educated on how to handle dogs with love and kindness.

So enough blabbering, here are more pictures from the event!

Here were some of the good looking furkids that came.

The Muslims cleansing themselves after touching the dogs, in accordance with the Muslim cleansing ritual called 'sertu', with a 'sertu' coach guiding them.