Civil Activists Help to Improve Living Conditions of Vulnerable Animals
On November 4, the Kiwi Vegan Café on 6 Machabeli Street hosted a special meeting for animal-lovers.
Within the framework of the meeting, citizens collected food, warm blankets and medicines for cats and dogs to send to specific people in Tbilisi and the regions who are caring for dozens of animals in their homes.
Within the framework of the ‘Feed the Vulnerable Animals’ event, citizens also donated money to contribute to the cost of the medication Bravecto, the latest generation of drugs that successfully treat tick and flea infestations and various skin diseases. Treatment with a single dose of Bravecto has a visible effect within 10 days. One of the main purposes of the meeting was to collect as much of the above-mentioned medicine as possible and treat suffering dogs throughout Georgia. The price of this medication varies from 75 to 80 GEL.
At the event, veterinary clinic ‘Lucky Fou’ veterinarians talked about the most problematic diseases found among homeless animals in Georgia and ways to combat them.
The meeting was organized by a group of young people who have been working to help unprotected and vulnerable animals for five years already. They do not represent an organization, but a group of kind people who care about our four-footed friends without any financial benefits.
At the end of the meeting, a discussion between animal-lovers was held about the issues of homeless animals and ways to solve these problems. The organizers of the meeting introduced their activities and future plans to the audience. As they told GEORGIA TODAY, the discussion was yet another opportunity to exchange experience and find new ways to save vulnerable animals throughout the country and assist the local population who unselfishly care for them.
According to the organizers of ‘Feed the Vulnerable Animals,’ they are going to continue their kind initiative through various campaigns and activities in future to help the gentlest, friendliest and at the same time, most unprotected creatures around us.
“Thank you for your help. You are amazing people. This week, we will carry out our activities in the various cities of Georgia with your help, namely in Gori, Kaspi, Samtredia, Batumi, Brotseula, and Tbilisi. We have no words to express our gratitude and we are very proud,” the organizers of the event wrote on the Facebook page ‘ცხოველთა გადარჩენის სახალხო ფრონტი’.
One of the organizers of the event, social activist Tiko Kvaliashvili, elaborated on their activities and expressed her gratitude to the people who unselfishly helped stray animals within the framework of the event.
“I have been trying my best to help unprotected animals and bring animal-lovers together for five years already. Exactly 5 years ago. I created the Facebook page ‘ცხოველთა გადარჩენის სახალხო ფრონტი,’ which now has approximately 44,000 followers. Thanks to this page, we have already saved many animals and found shelter for them. As for the campaign itself, we have been conducting the ‘Feed the Vulnerable Animals’ event for two years. Last year’s event was also held at Kiwi Café. Previously, we held the event outside, near Rustaveli Metro, but as the winter is coming and it is getting cold on the streets, Kiwi Vegan Café kindly gave us its space and we are very thankful for it. I want to express my deep gratitude towards the people who came here today and brought food, warm blankets, medicines and money to buy the essential medication for stray dogs. Thanks to the kind people who participated in today’s event, we will collect money, buy Bravecto and cure homeless animals who are suffering from various skin diseases,” Tiko elaborated.
According to one of the organizers of the event, Levan Lomtadze, the main purpose and motivation of his activities is to do a kind deed and contribute to improving vulnerable animals’ lives. Levan also noted that there is a much more complicated situation in the regions of Georgia in terms of caring for stray animals, and one of the main purposes of their activities is to raise public awareness about this problem there.
“I wanted to improve the living conditions of stray animals, so I contacted Tiko and we started working on this issue together. Within the framework of today’s event, we will collect food, blankets, and medicines for homeless animals. During the next days, we will visit the regions of Georgia and deliver them to the people who care for unprotected animals. There, the situation is much more difficult than in Tbilisi, and we need to raise public awareness of the issue there. It is our civic duty. For instance, some people shelter about 40-50 cats and dogs in their home, and find themselves severely criticized by the neighbors who complain that it might lead to the spreading of various diseases. Some of them say that it is a big discomfort for them. Due to the bad economic conditions, people are irritated and express their aggression towards the innocent animals. This is why we work to visit the regions countrywide and raise awareness about this problem,” he said.
Levan also stressed the importance of exchanging ideas and experience between animal-lovers. He said one of the main purposes of the meeting was to bring together people who care about animals and discuss new ways to help them.
“Today’s event brought together people who care about animals. We will share our experience with each other and find new ways and opportunities to help our four-footed friends. We are not an organization, we are a group of ordinary citizens, and it is our civic responsibility to take the initiative and try to solve the existing problems throughout the country,” he added.
By Ana Dumbadze