Story
Stray & street companion animals, injured wildlife or any animal in desperate need of assistance, were already struggling for daily survival before the crisis of the COVID pandemic, but now with an economic downturn, travel restrictions and a HUGE reduction in charitable compassion and support, the situation of these animals is extremely dire!
Mission:
As the Founder of Furzaid, I am on a mission to make a difference (no matter how small) for these (and all) animals, any way I can. For:
One person does not have the power to change the world for every animal, but every person has the power to change one animal's world!
Your contributions will help support:
• The rescue, recovery and re-homing of Street Dogs and Stray Cats that we find sick, injured or in drastic need of assistance.
• The feeding of these poor animals.
• Allocation of donations and financial support to the shelters, organisations and volunteers that are suffering due to the evaporation of their usual support channels.
Our Action:
Instead of being locked down in the UK and feeling helpless within our own four walls, my wife and I decided to try to be part of the solution for animals in critical need, by travelling to Greece, Mexico and Central America to help. Being an extra pair of helping hands on the ground and a caring heart on the front line of animal rescue, we have self funded our travel to these places where the situations of the animals is most desperate.
Of course, this all costs money. And although we have budgeted more than enough to cover our own travel expenses and living costs, we do only have a limited amount of finances that we can spend on our Animal Assistance work and so far we have paid all of these expenses, for the animals that we have helped, out of our own pockets. However, to be able to help more animals and the organisations that rescue them, a greater pot of money to support our work would enable us to help even more animals, shelters and volunteers in desperate need.
My wife and I live by the principle that:
For any animal in need, there is no amount of our time or finances that could not be used, if it could make a difference or save that animal's life.
This is why I gratefully appreciate any and all support for this campaign.
The use of your donations:
Your donations towards this campaign will be used to pay towards the following:
• Funding our rescue endeavours. The costs incurred during the emergency rescue of sick or injured animals.
• Veterinary expenses. Helping to cover any vet bills that arise in the life saving of animals in need of any treatment.
• Shelter sponsorship. Donations towards the day-to-day running and operational costs of the shelters that we are visiting and working with. For some are in such desperate need of funds to feed their animals, that the volunteers and owners are often foregoing food themselves.
• Rehoming and travel arrangement costs. Funding towards the travel expenses to relocate companion animals to their new loving forever homes, often in the US and Canada.
• Funding towards the Research & Development of FurzAid. Serious investment will definitely be required to build and Beta test an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) of the FurzAid Animal Rescue App. Any money left over within this campaign may be used towards seeking and furthering this eventual goal.
With regular updates (both within this campaign and upon our social media platforms) I guarantee full transparency of all funds donated.
Our Story:
2010-2016: Moved from Australia to London and discovered the Stray Animal issues of some EU countries and began volunteering our time and help. Both at home in London and whilst on holiday.
2017: Created the foundation of FurzAid Animal Rescue App after several, heavily challenging and highly involved animal rescues. Discovering there was no existing platform to take action for animals in need, on the App market of this ambitious scope.
January 2020: My wife and I decided that we wanted to do a long term travel adventure to volunteer and help out animals & organisations in need in Central America.
March 2020: COVID19 rampages through Europe and shuts down most of the world.
September 2020: We packed up our lives in London in preparation of long term departure.
October 2020: We travelled to Kefalonia & Crete, Greece, where we stayed for six weeks. We performed TNR & rescue and visited & volunteered at cat and dog shelters, across these islands. This is a country where help for animals can be very hard to find and abandonment & cruelty is often rampant. Witnessing first hand the intentional poisoning of animals, horrible disposal of puppies & kittens, purposeful 'running over' of dogs & cats and the general disdain towards the plight of the 'pets' and the stray & street animals of Greece, is devastatingly heartbreaking. However, our small successes that have helped to make a difference are:
• The creation and promotion of a crowdfunding campaign to save Hectors House Crete from forced closure. Helping them to raise over £14,000 (so far) to buy their own plot of land to construct a new and modern shelter upon. This whilst volunteering at their amazing shelter for three weeks.
• Our visit to Takis Shelter. To support and learn about the amazing work of this courageous man and his fabulous volunteers, for what they do for the animals of Crete that they rescue and re-home.
• Working with Kefalonia Animals Trust (KATs) and VOCAL (Voice of the Cats Alliance) by trapping, sterilisation and release of almost twenty colony stray cats.
• The rescue, foster and future rehoming of almost ten kittens.
• The emergency vet treatment of several other stray companion animals found in need.
• The visitation and support of multiple shelters and organisations across Greece.
November 2020: Travelling onto Mexico. We have journeyed around this amazing and diversely beautiful country for over two months. My wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed the warmth and hospitality of the people and have been heartened by the unexpected compassion we have witnessed towards the animals, in a society that has a contrastingly disproportionate wealth distribution. Although Mexico has a MASSIVE Street & Stray Dog population (and cats are not much better), food is often shared with these animals, as much as the local people have means to do so.
However, there is almost no capacity for veterinary treatment and very little sterilisation occurs. Especially once outside the large commercial centres. Due to the overpopulation of Stray Dogs (especially in Central Mexico), there are thousands of hungry, sick and injured dogs wandering along the sides of dangerous highways and around rural towns and villages. As you can probably appreciate, the amount of dogs killed and injured in vehicle strikes is horrendous, with hundreds of bodies lining these highways. Due to the plight of these animals and the lack of veterinary treatment, how could we not try to help out as much as we can?!? These are our success stories here and the actions we have taken to bring assistance:
• The rescue of Annabella. We found this sweet, medium sized, 18 month old black and white dog on the side of a main national motorway near Pachuca (Hidalgo), searching for food and wandering dangerously close to traffic. Covered in mange and sick from infection and malnutrition, we scooped her up, drove her the couple of hours back to Mexico City and thus started her rescue journey. We named her Annabella after the lovely vet that helped treat her.
• The rescue of Benito. This little 2 year old pup, we found laying on the road on the traffic side of a parked car in the town of Loretto (Baja California). He was bleeding from the hind legs and had great difficulty standing. At first we thought he had been hit by a car and was paralysed, but it turned out that his injuries were the result of a very violent dog attack. After a difficult rescue, we secured his vet treatment and then his foster care in an amazing local shelter, now he is just waiting for a loving family to adopt him into his deserving forever home. We named him Benito Juarez after the street we found him on.
• The rescue of Blanca. Whilst out feeding the street dogs of Playa del Carmen (Quintana Roo), we discovered this 6 year old, terribly emaciated, sick and quite frightened little girl wandering off the street and into a basic dwelling in the much less affluent part of town. After several days of conversations, efforts and negotiations with her owners, they readily agreed to let us get her veterinary treatment & testing and a month’s worth of food to improve her diet. Her situation was not one of intentional cruelty and neglect, but that of a loving family that barely has the means to support their own basic needs, let alone care for a dog that was dumped upon them. After initial treatment and care, we have arranged for the ongoing sponsorship of Blanca to nurse her back to full health and beyond. So she can live happily and be loved, as she deserves.
• Helping the dire situation of P.A.W. (Protecting Animal Welfare) Cat Sanctuary & Humane Society. After losing her Hostel Business (and main income stream) to the cessation of travel due to the pandemic, Madi Perez has been desperately struggling to feed the animals within her shelter (including 17 dogs & 60 cats) and the street colonies she supports within the southern city of Chetumal (Quintana Roo). Often spending what little money she has on food for these animals, over buying food for herself. And yet she still works tirelessly on her spay and neutering efforts for the local community animals in Chetumal and continuously tries to rehome cats and dogs into loving forever homes in the US and Canada. Finding her in such a desperate situation, we donated a large sum of money to help her to feed her animals (and herself), are arranging to help her move on some of her rehoming animals north and are trying to bring her more support through donations and sponsorship (both from external and our own resources).
• Shelter Dog Walking and volunteering for Voluntarios Perrunos. We donated a morning of our time (whilst staying in Playa del Carmen) to volunteer to walk and exercise the local Municipal Shelter dogs. Giving them the much needed exercise and socialisation that they crave, away from the confines of shelter life, whilst they await their adoptions.
• The continuous feeding of stray and street animals. Everywhere we journeyed across Mexico, we always carried food on us and actively searched out these animals to provide a meal to. In every city, every town, highway, beach or rural community, we fed hundreds of these poor hungry animals. Any time of the day or night and anywhere that we found them. This is just part of who we are and something that we will always do.
Along with these rescue successes and large & small actions for animals, we also visited, supported and/or helped out the following organisations:
• Fundacion Corazon Animal de Guanajuato
• Humane Society of Cozumel Island
• Along with many other local volunteers and small operations that are helping out animals in need, in any way they can.
Our journey next:
We have now moved onto Guatemala, to visit and volunteer to help out shelters in this country, as well as continuing our own stray animal feeding and assistance. After travelling this country for 4 weeks, we will be moving onto Costa Rica for two weeks, Nicaragua for 3-4 weeks and then back to Mexico, taking more action for animals in need and the organisations that support them, in all of these locations.
As stated above, we have paid for all of these rescues, costs, donations and animal support, out of our own savings, and will continue to do so whilst any animal needs our help. However, by you contributing to this campaign, gives us the capacity to help even more animals in need and support more organisations, we greatly appreciate your donations towards our mission & animal actions and your sharing of our story to all your friends, family and followers.
Thank you kindly for your support and please keep taking action for animal rescue, however you can.
Warmest regards.
Adam Ilko.
