Whilst on holiday in Sri Lanka in August 2018 I was struck by the number of street dogs needing food and medical care. Although many Sri Lankans put food out for them many are scared of disease (including rabies) and don’t know how to deal with the sheer number of dogs.

I visited Sinharaja Forest where there were so many more desperate dogs than I had seen anywhere else. Stones were thrown at them and none of the locals wanted to get near them (although some put food out) and I was told the nearest vet was 30km away. Many had skin conditions, were starving and pups were dying.

So I decided to work with Embark (a registered charity in Sri Lanka) to try to initially raise £2000 to cover the vaccination, sterilization and emergency veterinary care for approximately 200 dogs in the Sinharaja area. This project has been named ‘Project Sinharaja’.

The included education program will help the locals to love and embrace the dogs into their community , whilst giving information on what to feed, where to get free vet care for injured animals, how to make up herbal remedies to treat skin conditions and reassurance that the dogs have been vaccinated against rabies so they are safe to approach.

Any very poorly dogs will be removed for treatment and re-homing in Sri Lanka when well.

Embark have made great inroads in helping 1000’s of street dogs in various communities around Sri Lanka. All funds will go to Embark for this and future projects.

It costs on average less than £10 per dog – money goes a long way in Sri Lanka!

For more information see www.embarkpassion.com or contact me on slstreetdogs@yahoo.com

We are grateful for all your help and support.

Thank you. Beverley Kinane