Animal Nepal honours ‘clean and green’ brick producer

Kathmandu, January 27, 2011 – Animal Nepal today honoured Mr Indra Tuladhar from Bungamati Itha Udyog for producing ‘clean and green’ bricks using Chinese technology. The animal welfare organization urges other brick producers to follow the example and eliminate environmental pollution as well as the exploitation of working children and equines. “The industry has the technology and the resources to stop the production of ‘blood bricks’; all it needs is the right kind of motivation,” said Krishna Singh, programme manager at Animal Nepal.

Animal Nepal’s gesture is supported by Dutch Party for the Animals member Martin Schoenmakers. Together with Animal Nepal Volunteer Director Lucia de Vries he offered a certificate and gifts to the clean bricks producer.  

The Bungamati brick factory in 2019 introduced Chinese automated brick making machinery. Instead of being seasonal the factory now produces bricks all year round and no longer employs migrant workers, children and donkeys. The bricks are transported by electric carts. Although the process is not yet completely environmentally friendly, there is a great reduction in emissions. Bungamati Itha Udyog is one of the three factories in Nepal using this technology.

Enterpreneur Tuladhar was motivated to clean up his factory when learning about the new technology. He says the brick industry suffers from labour problems, animal abuse and environmental pollution. The contracted workers at the improved kiln earn a fixed salary and no longer face hazardous work conditions.

Animal Nepal since 2008 reaches out to around 500 equines (mostly donkeys) working in brick kilns in Kathmandu Valley. There is relentless pressure to over-work and overload animals. Life expectancy for these animals is short and most donkeys suffer from serious health conditions problems.

In order to help make buyers make the rights choices, a network of NGOs active in environmental protection, children’s rights and animal welfare, including Animal Nepal, have joined hands to promote a responsible brick-making industry. They are introducing a certification system that will provide brick factories with a red, orange or green label.

Animal Nepal urges the brick industry to clean up its act and stop the production of ‘blood bricks’. “Brick kilns are the number one polluters in the Valley and employ countless children and donkeys to do the dirty work. Both issues can be addressed by introducing new technologies such as Vertical Shaft Brick Kilns or automated machinery,” says Krishna Singh. 

Mission (im)possible

“Our children are much less scared of dogs.”

“It is such a relief not to have all these puppies walking on the streets!”

“Please help the dogs to get rid of their skin problems!”

“Can I get my dog spayed too?”

These are some of the comments we got from local communities after we introduced our pilot Animal Birth Control/Anti Rabies (ABC/AR) programme. We called the programme ‘Patan Rescue” because it felt like a rescue mission. With over 35,000 stray dogs in the urban areas of Kathmandu Valley alone, and the majority of them suffering from malnutrition and disease such as skin problems, open sores, tumours, birthing complications and –last but not least- much feared rabies, our mission to create a smaller, healthier dog population seemed Mission Impossible.

With the help of a grant from HSI US and a matching grant from HSI Australia, we felt secure enough to take the first important steps: building a rehabilitation center, training our vets in spaying techniques and buy an ambulance. The local forest committee of Chobar, a beautiful historical village build on a hill on the outskirts of Kathmandu Valley, provided us with a plot of land. An architect friend designed an office building with operation theatre made entirely from renewable materials: unfired mud bricks, to be covered with cow dung.

Training our staff was a tough one, as virtually no vet in Nepal knows how to conduct the preferred sterilisation method, flank spaying. We were helped by the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Center (KAT) whose vets were trained by Help in Suffering India.

Our happiness knew no bounds when a grant from 30 Million d’Amis (France) enabled us to buy a Maruti Gypsy car, acting as Kathmandu’s first animal ambulance.

Even before the center was completed sick and injured dogs were dropped at our premises. Among the first residents was Toffee, a blind Labrador, abandoned by his owner. He was a handful in the beginning but once Toffee understood the parameters he became a very affectionate dog. A few months later Toffee was adopted by Volunteer Director Pramada Shah and travels with her wherever she goes. He regularly visits our office and his old home at the Chobar shelter!

Another early patient was Marky. Terrible malnourished, Marky suffered from rickets and a bone disorder. His condition is a painful one and apart from providing with nutritious food there was little we could do to ease his discomfort. Marky became close friends with Dutch volunteer Aicha Boele, who decided to take him to Holland. There he will receive physiotherapy and specialised care to ease his discomfort.

Yet another suffering creature staying at Chobar was Namuma, a hairless, extremely weak puppy. Namuna turned out to be a great character who loved to be cuddled but at the same time proved to be a good guard dog. When his hair grew back Namuna developed a shiny black coat with dots on his belly. An elderly lady adopted him; he now guards a large compound while keeping his ‘mummy’ company.

On October 17 we celebrated Kukur Tihar, or national dog worship day, by officially opening the Chobar Animal Sanctuary. In the next two months time 35 dogs were treated and rehabilitated. On December 28 our vets Surendra and Sudeep spayed and vaccinated the first batch of stray dogs. On April 13 we spayed and vaccinated Putali, a lovely black dog from Taudaha village, the 100^th dog.

By now we feel confident that we can make a lasting change in the situation of stray dogs in Kathmandu Valley. We have launched a 2-year programme called “Kathmandu Rescue” in which we hope to treat and/or spay and vaccinate 1250 dogs. We also hope to educate and work closely together with the different communities from where the dogs are taken. The two municipalities involved will gradually increase its involvement by providing staff and finances. We will teach children in local schools about animal welfare and encourage them to be involved.

Making a lasting difference means we need to prepare the next generation. They need to develop a different relationship with stray dogs. Not one based on fear, but based on trust, love and care. We are set to make it happen!

Lucia de Vries

Volunteer Director Animal Nepal

Over 1000 signatures against donkey misery!

Animal Nepal together with the Animal Welfare Network Nepal (AWNN) on May 19, 2009 handed over a petition signed by over one thousand people from all over the world to stop donkey abuse to the Joint Secretary at the Ministry for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Dr Hari Dahal.

The petition titled 'Stop donkey misery in Nepal' was signed by 1036 people from countries like Nepal, India, US, UK, Italy, Australia, France, Germany, Norway, Mexico, Canada, South Africa, Netherlands, Belgium and others. The purpose of the signature campaign is to raise awareness to stop cruelty on working animals like donkeys. The petition demands concerned authorities and donkey owners to introduce a care system for these animals that suffer from malnutrition, open sores, lacerations, and general neglect.

AN/AWNN also urged the Joint Secretary to implement the Animal Transportation Act and wished to participate in drafting of the Animal Welfare Act. Mr Dahal was positive about these concerns and expressed commitment to take initiative on monitoring the execution of the Animal Transportation Act or the Pasu Dhuwani Mapdanda 2064.

AN Director Pramada Shah, after handing over the petition hoped that the ministry would cooperate in raising animal welfare issues and that the Animal Welfare Act would soon be finalised and send to the Parliament.

Schmiegel - A Tough Little Survivor

One of the first cats I saw in Nepal was a dead one. It was a beautiful mature white cat and it was lying by the side of a busy road in Thapathali. I walked over and asked a nearby guard what had happened.

"Someone killed it with a stone", he said.

"But why?"I asked, shocked.

"It ran across the street and this guy was the first to pass," the guard said.

That was how I learned that many Nepalese believe that someone will die when a cat (or rat, or mouse) crosses the road in front of their vehicle. The best solution is to simply wait by the side till someone else has passed the cursed 'line' (and send Death to someone else...). This happens all the time. I often travelled in busses that would suddenly halt by the side of the highway. "A rat just crossed," the driver will explain, and the passengers patiently sit back in their seats until another vehicle has passed. However, impatient drivers simply kill the innocent animal to 'undo' the curse.

Since then I have a soft spot for Nepalese cats. There are not many though. Not only those crossing roads tend to be killed, but also black ones in general as they are associated with black magic. Unfortunately most Nepalese cats happen to be black..... Unwanted kittens, like puppies, are often thrown in the river, alive.

When a tiny kitten walked into our compound, Ganga, our didi, immediately warned me. She loves all animals and is always happy when I add a desperate case to my growing stray population.

We took the kitten in, dewormed it, fed it lactogen (surrogate milk) with a syringe, made it sleep in a tiny sleeping bag next to a hot water bottle, and soon it seemed to be doing well. The cat was adopted by Putali, my female dog, who recently got spayed. She is the one to lick the kitten, in order to make it pee and clean it up after dinner time. She also carries the kitten by its neck in her mouth, like moter cats do.

I called it Schmiegel, after the somewhat greedy creature in Lord of the Rings. Schmiegel wanted milk every 3, 4 hours! And when I didn't wake up in time, Putali, her surrogate mum, made sure I did.

When I recently left for a 3-month break, Martin and Miriam, my animal loving Dutch friends, offered to take care of both Putali and Schmiegel. Only then we did some research on Schmiegel's age. Looking at her development she was now 4 weeks, This meant that when she arrived at our house Schmiegel was only......around 10 days old! Such a tough little survivor!

Schmiegel is now at Miriam's, who makes sure she is spoiled to bits. She now drinks from a baby bottle... that sure is progress!

We hope she will survive. Nepalese cats deserve lots of extra attention. And just for the record: a cat crossing a road means good luck. I'm talking from experience here.