*unfortunately, this past year dori passed away. we miss you big guy!
Dori's Story, from Egypt to Jefferson, Maine. (viewer discretion advised, graphic pics)
Andrea Adler was living with her husband in Egypt and drew my attention to a special case. She called me one nite asking me to please save him, that he found a special place in her heart, and of course i had to say yes!!!
I wanted to share this story with you, its sad but wonderful at the same time! Dori can be found in wonderful health at "PawZ". I put a link to the site in case anyone wants to donate or look into helping your own Dori...
Dori was found in Heliopolis area by Suraya an American Student who noticed children throwing stones at him. When Dori first arrived here at ESMA (The Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals) it was the worst case of mange we had ever seen, along with terrible open wounds stemming from an acidic liquid that someone had poured over him at one point. Dori has no tail. For the first couple of weeks, we would find Dori’s kennel covered with blood from his oozing wounds, even though we medicated and treated him several times daily. This poor soul was so miserable but yet friendly to all of us and giving us the biggest smile, much like a humans’, with his teeth showing. All we would have to do is call “Doriiiiii” and his little nub would wag in excitement, he would come running over giving you all the love he has in his big heart. It’s amazing to us, that he still trusts humans after all he has been through. He is so friendly and sweet and loving; loves his canine and human companions and is great at shaking hands. So we wonder: Has he always been a stray or did he belong to a family at an earlier stage in his life? Dori is making a great recovery as you can see from the “after” pictures. His hair is growing again; he takes medicated baths 3 times a week; takes his meds & vitamins and thinks that the ointment massages are the greatest thing in the world. We owe a lot to Suarya who comes to visit him as much as she can. And to our special friend Marie-Luise from Germany, who when she visited, sat with him for hours, brushing him with soft baby brushes, cuddling with him, talking with him in her soothing voice, which boosted his spirits and took his mind of his discomfort. Dori is very thankful to all his sponsors and caring people and we at ESMA are in deep gratitude for all the help we are getting for our courageous smiling survivor.
Dori was named after another miracle we had before which is our beloved Doris who is now already in Germany in her home
Here are recent photos of Dori, the hair is growing and his great character is growing too, he amazes me with his love to people and good spirit after all he had been through because of People, he is so playful and energetic, maybe we can neuter him next month when the vet confirms his full recovery, now he get his bath 3 times a week with the necessary medical washes and ointments and other medicines and he is still on his special diet and getting his vitamins . Dori is very thankful to all his sponsors and caring people and we at ESMA are in deep gratitude for all the help we got for Dori
Then months later.....
Hello all: So after a stay in Chicago I was put back on a plane, and yeah.. I was a little nervous, but once I landed there was a nice lady waiting for me. She introduced herself to me as Andrea and called me "Doriiiiii". Well, of course I had to show her my big smile which made her laugh. We walked from the airport to her car and she kept saying how well I pranced next to her on the leash! She offered me water but I wasn't sure where I was going or who she really was, so I just layed down in the car and went right to sleep. We then drove for 1 hour and when the car stopped I heard other doggies barking and making such a fuss. But 'Drea must've said something to them because they were quiet right away. She opened the car door, put a long leash on me and when I was invited out, there were 3 other pooches, little ones, waiting for me. 'Drea seemed to have the situation under total control because they just sat there and waited. One of them did get up and ran my way but she simply looked at him and he sat right back down again. Ok.. so I was a little unsure but felt comfortable and safe enough to follow 'Drea's direction and got out of the car. WOW!! The other 3 dogs were SO nice to me. Of course I wanted to play and because they didn't really know yet who I was, we had a little growling match and after a few seconds everything was fine. I did my "smiley" thing and that seemed to have won everyone over. Bouncing up and down like a little rabbit helped too because they saw that I was really a big goofy clown that just wants to have fun. I like my new daddy Stephen and my new mommy Jamie. They are so nice and calm and did I mention NICE? We all get the same amount of affection when we're all nice and relaxed. We don't get jealous or mad at each other because we feel equally treated. I scoped out the new land with my new friends and 'Drea leading me around and I love this place... it's SO green here!! My new home is surrounded by woods and we have plenty of space to run and play in. Gues what I figured out in the first hour I was there.. the doggie door!!! Yeah!! I know I'm smart but I surprised myself with this one! See, the other three doggies ran into the garage through this flap in the door and I of course needed to be part of my new pack and followed them right through!! The garage was HUGE and nice and cool and also the place where our food and water is.. and.. the CATS!!! WOOHOO!! 5 of them!! I just could not help myself and just HAD to go and sniff the first one I saw, but she hissed at me and then we became friends.. see.. it's that easy. My new pals told me that chasing the cats wasn't allowed and that I had to respect them too. Ok.. fine.. whatever. And then we get back outside and... oh my God!!! There out of nowhere came these 3 HUGE furry things they call Fainting Goats. Pretty creatures and I wanted to play with them since they were closer to my size than the doggies, but they didn't want to play the way I do.. their way of playing is by butting their heads together.. and YES! they tried it with me and OUCH! that hurt a little. I left them alone after that. I certainly want to keep my head intact and they are stronger than me anyway. My smiley face didn't work on them so well. :) Upstairs in the house is "Rico" the bird. He is a Samoyan Parrott and way fun! He talks to us!!! Yeah yeah.. I know already that I'm NOT supposed to eat him either so we became friends too. It's so great having someone tell me what I can and cannot do in a way where I don't get scared or angry. When we sat down for dinner, Rico sat on daddy's shoulder and ate spaghetti. That was funny to watch.. even 'Drea had to laugh while she was massaging my ear and chatting with Jamie and Stephen. I slept the first night in 'Drea's room and thanked her for it in the morning by jumping on the bed and kissing her to wake her up. I had to roll on my back so she could give me a good belly-rub.. oohhh.. that felt niiiiiiiice!!! The second night I spent with my new friends on the fluffy soft couches in the basement and what was nice about that was, that we could come and go through the doggie door as we pleased. If we needed to pee, we'd go out, then come back in and go back to bed. My new furry friends are teaching me a lot every moment of the day and I love it. So, as you can see.. I am happy, VERY happy to be here in my new home with my new big family. I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for what you have done for me. 'Drea will get messages to me from you and I hope we can all stay in touch. Take a look at the pictures!! Love you all and "arf" for now, your smiley boy "DORIIIIIIII"
Dear friends, old and new,
We at ESMA (The Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals) www.esmaegypt.org are currently in a crisis situation. Most of the other shelters have stopped admitting new cases, and as a consequence we are currently very overcrowded and overloaded financially. If anyone can please help even with one item on this list it will be much appreciated. We currently have 250 dogs and 168 cats under our care. Please help if you can. No gift is too small.
Dear ESMA friends:
Finally our latest newsletter is out. We hope you will take five minutes to read through it and open the links. We have some amazing animal stories to share:
Land Situation:
Many of you know about and have supported our fundraising to purchase our own land. This project is currently on hold-the global financial crisis has made lenders unwilling to make the loans we were counting on. The funds we raised for this are in a special account and hopefully in a few months we will be able to return to this important search for our permanent home.
Achievements:
97 cats and dogs adopted out in 2008 to permanent homes
We performed 569 sterilisation operations in 2008, including not only the animals at ESMA but also many for people who care for strays in their neighborhoods. With a better equipped clinic and surgical equipment we could have performed far more and we aim for at least double this number in 2009.
Our Treasurer Mona Khalil hosted a series of TV programs on the Egyptian Satellite Channel called Vaccination and Sterilization are the Signs of Responsible Pet Ownership. She interviewed several local vets and one of our dogs (marking the first time a dog was allowed to enter the Egyptian Television Station) to talk about important issues such as the abuses of breeders and misconceptions about cats and miscarriages. Viewers called in to ask questions and Mona and her veterinarian guests had the chance to educate people on the benefits of adopting rather than buying from breeders.
Many articles describing our work and spreading our message, such as in the magazine from the large animal shelter PAWS in Chicago, Angel Tales.
After many years of pressure, the management at the Cairo Zoo is finally willing to work with animal welfare groups. ESMA recently participated in an event at the zoo to raise awareness of the needs of the animals housed there and to improve their living conditions. We donated hammocks for the chimps and helped to enrich the enclosures for the bears and felines.
We started a workers' recognition program at ESMA. We believe strongly in providing the best possible environment for our workers. We have currently only 9 workers and 2 vets to care for our 250 dogs and 168 cats. Obviously they have to work very hard and their pay is unfortunately very low (due to our tight budget) but we provide incentives and rewards as we can. Starting in February we had a worker of the month celebration, with a small party, framed certificate and a small gift for the winner of the worker of the month.
Happy ever after stories:
Dori
Dori arrived at ESMA with the worst case of mange we had ever seen along with terrible wounds from some kind of acidic substance we think kids had thrown on him. Despite his horrible physical condition, Dori was friendly and sweet, and when his tail wagged he looked like he was actually smiling. Read about Dori's story and his ultimate adoption in Jefferson, Maine, U.S. at: PawZ
Pharoah and Tee
Tee arrived at ESMA as a very skinny and malnourished dog. We nursed her into perfect health, and now she and her best friend Pharoah were adopted together by a German family.
Tee upon arrival at ESMA
Tee and friend in adopted home
Catty
Catty's arrival with her crew of little ones shocked us all, and we though we had seen everything. Mona stopped to investigate a dog in the middle of a dangerous traffic circle and found not just a dog but also a group of kittens that this dog had "adopted." We imagine that the kittens lost their mother, perhaps to a car accident since the traffic was very busy. Separately, the dog (who we had to name Catty) must have lost her puppies in a similar way. The kittens somehow found this dog with milk, and she provided it to them. They are all now safely together at ESMA.
Now the not so good news and how you can help:
Unfortunately due to most other shelters not accepting new admissions, we have found ourselves the proud caretakers of 250 dogs and 168 cats. As you can imagine this has put a tremendous pressure on the infrastructure of our very basic no kill shelter facility.
We are proud of what has been achieved in such a short time (ESMA only came into being in 2007), and we do not want to be in a position that we also may have to turn away those urgent cases of injured/abused/tiny kittens and puppies found without mothers or cases of poisoning or shooting.
To be able to sustain what we have been able to do, we kindly ask our supporters and friends to help in any way you can, and nothing is too small. We are in critical need of financial and material pledges and donations, as well as permanent homes/foster homes/volunteers. All the Management of ESMA are board/founding members and non-salaried.
Our accomplishments can only be as big as your support. Many of you reading this are dear and loyal donors, and we thank you for your commitment to us. We would be grateful if you could pass this email on so we can expand the ESMA support network. We know that economic times are difficult, but every bit counts and we make the most of every single penny we receive.
Kindly go to our website for our detailed list of urgently needed items and different kinds of pledges and sponsorships that will enable our shelter and society to survive this financial crisis.
We appreciate your time in reading this to completion and thank you on behalf of the animals of Egypt.
Sincerely,
Mona Khalil
Susie Nassar
Kristen Stilt
Bahra Fahmy
Noha el-Sharkawi
Andrea Adler
Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals