The International Companion Animal Welfare Conference draws pioneers in the humane movement from around the globe.
By Ted BrewerAt the ongoing International Companion Animal Welfare Conference in Berlin, attendees have arrived from 40 countries, from Japan to Macedonia, the United States to Finland. Many of the attendees represent countries which have no cultural tradition of animal welfare, or of keeping pets, which makes their efforts monumentally challenging, pioneering even. These particular people have come to the conference hoping to learn from the experts how to create a humane movement in their respective countries.
The Balkans is one such region which only recently began developing animal welfare, and the region is well represented at the conference, with dozens of attendees from organizations and institutions in Romania, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia. Several are veterinarians, including Dr. Plamen Trojacanec, a professor of veterinary medicine at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia. He says that Skopje is struggling to establish a feasible plan of action for dealing humanely with the enormous population of homeless dogs the city has, a problem he says stems from the lack of responsibility caregivers have for their animals. Few have their dogs and cats spayed or neutered. Should their animals reproduce, many of the puppies or kittens end up on the streets. For his own part, Plamen wants to install a humane education component in his students’ curriculum. “I want to influence my students to incorporate animal welfare into their profession,” he told me, “so they volunteer their services when they are needed.”
Compassionate Fräuleins soaking in the conferenceThroughout the former Yugoslavia, the situation is much the same as in Macedonia, with very few municipalities able or willing to provide for their homeless animals. In Bosnia, the war left thousands of family pets on the streets, their caregivers unable to take the animals along when the war forced them to flee their homes. While the homeless pet situation isn’t as bad as it was in the years following the war, Bosnia still has a long ways to go before the country even nears implementing a humane solution for reducing the countless number of homeless dogs and feral cats. Thankfully, there are a handful of Bosnians aiming to provide a humane solution, fortunately a few of whom are working for the city governments. One is Danira Pipic, an attendee at the conference who works for the city of Banja Luka. She is involved in the planning of a new municipal shelter. “We want to be sure we do this right,” she told me, “and that’s why I’ve come to Berlin—to get good ideas.”
Other pioneers attending the conference are three brave women from Japan. But they are not Japanese. All of them are natives of English-speaking countries, and for one reason or another, went to Japan to work in sectors completely unrelated to animal care. They were all astounded to find, in a country as wealthy as Japan, a lack, sometimes an absence, of care for homeless animals. They decided to take action. One of these women, American Susan Roberts, went to Japan to work as an English teacher, and now she dedicates much of her salary and time providing care for feral cats through an organization she founded, called Japan Cat Network.
“The Japanese think I’m crazy, and a little dangerous, for rescuing cats,” Susan says. “I’ve had to develop a rather thick skin since starting this work.”
New Zealander Briar Simpson has had much the same experience as animal rescuer. She works as a translator for a civil engineering firm, but volunteers for Animal Refuge Kansai (ARK), which operates the largest shelter in Japan, located in Osaka. “It took ten years for ARK to find a location that would allow a shelter,” she says, “mainly because of how difficult it was for officials to understand what we were doing.”
“It’s like being a missionary,” Susan says of helping animals in Japan. “You spend a lot of time feeling alone and isolated. But if it wasn’t for us, there would be no one.”
photos by Ted Brewer