ICAWC 2015 - The Full Monty - Harry Eckman (Change For Animals Foundation) & Maria Pinto Teixeira (Animais de Rua)
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Running a Comprehensive, Community Based Dog and Cat Welfare Project in Praia de Faro
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ICAWC 2015 - The Full Monty - Harry Eckman (Change For Animals Foundation) & Maria Pinto Teixeira (Animais de Rua)
- 1. ANIMAISDERUA Running a comprehensive, community based dog and cat welfare project in Praia de Faro Harry Eckman: Co-Founder/Programmes Director - Change For Animals Foundation Maria Pinto Teixeira: President - Animais de Rua
- 2. ANIMAISDERUA Why this isn’t simply a CNVR project • Capturing information and data • Showing effectiveness and impact • Engaging communities, municipalities, governments and grant funders
- 3. • Natural Peninsula • 4.5km x 750m • Isolated animal population • Seasonal human population • Local fishing community Praia de Faro - location ANIMAISDERUA
- 4. ANIMAISDERUA What the location meant from the perspective of a project • Unique geography • Isolated animal community • No natural migration of animals • Manageable project area
- 5. • Feral colonies • Roaming dogs • Approx 200 cats • Approx 150 dogs • Widespread welfare concerns Praia de Faro - animals ANIMAISDERUA
- 6. ANIMAISDERUA How the project developed • Need for project data • Methods of capturing data • Animal - population dynamics, geographical diversity, health and welfare • People – knowledge, attitudes and behaviour • Input from expert partners • Sharing data • Supporting the wider animal welfare community
- 7. ANIMAISDERUA The project is divided into 3 stages Assessments Finding out about everything before we do stuff CNVR and wider welfare interventions Doing stuff Monitoring and evaluation Seeing if the stuff we did made any difference
- 8. ANIMAISDERUA Assessment stage November/December 2013 • Conduct animal population census • Conduct community survey August 2014 • Repeat population census and community survey
- 9. ANIMAISDERUA Mobile phone app • GPS location of animals • Male/female, neutered/unneutered, unknown, lactating, puppy/kitten • Body condition score • Signs of sickness • Signs of injury • Signs of ownership • Animal seen within property boundary
- 10. ANIMAISDERUA Community survey • 150 surveys (20-25% of population) • 20 questions • Ownership behaviour • How and where animals kept • Reason for ownership • Level of knowledge regarding basic care • Barriers to providing adequate care • “Problems" with animals • Perception of “stray” animals • Tolerance for street animals
- 11. ANIMAISDERUA Census results • Initial discussions suggested 40-50 dogs and 200-600 cats • 130-150 dogs • 180-220 cats • Dogs: 75% male - 25% female • Cats: 48% male - 52% female • Dogs: 89% good body condition • Cats: 91% good body condition • 5% of dogs and cats displayed signs of sickness
- 12. ANIMAISDERUA Survey results • 150 interviews • 60% owned one or more animals • 75% owned dogs male – 25% female • 40% owned cats male – 60% female • 47% of owned animals allowed to roam • 19% of owned animals sterilised • 45% of owners thought stray animals a problem • 65% of non-owners thought stray animals a problem
- 13. ANIMAISDERUA Implementation stage - cats October 2014 • Initial two-week CNVR campaign • Vaccinate • Sterilise • Provide anti-parasitics • Other treatments
- 14. ANIMAISDERUA • Lusofona University • Blood sampling • Faecal sampling • Skin scrapes • Ear tip collection • Reproductive organ collection Implementation stage - cats
- 15. ANIMAISDERUA • Initial 2 week campaign • 161 cats: 89 males - 72 females • 74% of the cat population • More accurate assessment of the population • Community engagement Implementation stage - cats
- 16. ANIMAISDERUA • Follow-up CNVR • 202 cats sterilised • 98% of the cat population • Community reports new cats • First published data: eye parasite Onchocerca Lupi - identified for the first time in cats in Portugal Implementation stage - cats
- 17. ANIMAISDERUA Revising the dog implementation stage • Initial assessment suggested many unowned dogs • Ongoing assessment shows no unowned dogs • Many dogs previously abandoned and taken on by current owner
- 18. ANIMAISDERUA Revising the dog implementation stage • Dog population a result of abandonment not breeding • Sterlisation serves health and welfare role not population control • Encouraging responsible ownership • Most dogs never seen vet
- 19. ANIMAISDERUA Implementation stage - dogs June 2015 • Collaboration between CFAF, AdR, 3 local veterinary practices and the local municipality • 107 dogs reached • 71 sterilisations: 44 male - 27 female • Additional 36 dogs reached through community outreach • 67% of the dog population
- 20. ANIMAISDERUA • Challenging from veterinary perspective • Dogs aged from 1 to 15 years • Size ranged from 4 to 42 kilos • Wide variety of health and welfare issues Implementation stage - dogs
- 21. ANIMAISDERUA • Problems with owner compliance • Some owners initially against sterilisation • Accepted when vaccinations and anti parasitics offered • Could not reach every dog Implementation stage - dogs
- 22. ANIMAISDERUA Implementation stage - dogs
- 23. ANIMAISDERUA Implementation stage - dogs
- 24. ANIMAISDERUA Implementation stage - dogs
- 25. ANIMAISDERUA Implementation stage - dogs
- 26. ANIMAISDERUA • Several dogs have spent their lives chained or enclosed • Now allowed some freedom because owners no longer worried they will mate • Owners seemed to have "seen" their dogs for the first time Implementation stage - dogs
- 27. ANIMAISDERUA "We are very poor… We love our animals but have had no way of doing the things we know we should be doing… This project is one of the best things to ever happen on Praia de Faro... It has changed the lives of not only the animals here but the people too.” Implementation stage - dogs
- 28. ANIMAISDERUA Ongoing assessments – 2 years • Ongoing CNVR of cat colonies • Continued dialog with dog owners ensuring ongoing compliance • Ongoing partnership with local veterinary practices • Repeat population counts and community surveys • Ongoing dissemination of responsible ownership materials • Replicable model project approach • Full publication of project data
- 29. ANIMAISDERUA We undertook this project for three reasons, 1. Help the animals and community of Praia de Faro 2. Capture data, understand the situation and share findings 3. Develop a practical and replicable model What our work means for your work
- 30. ANIMAISDERUA The more we can show the effectiveness of what we are doing… by gathering the information we need… and presenting it in a way that shows the impact of our work… the more we can improve the lives of animals and the communities they live with.
- 31. ANIMAISDERUA Please click the following link to view the video https://youtu.be/NxgODMzYnnM
- 32. • Dogs Trust • Faro Municipality • Parish of Montenegro • DGAV • OMV • Lusófona University and volunteers • Veterinary team - Kate Shervell, Lisa Trueman, Zala Hajdinjak, Amy Lewis • Teresa Líbano Monteiro and Suzanne de Callatay • Clínica Veterinária Central • Centro Veterinário da Estação • Clínica Veterinária de Faro Acknowledgements and thanks • SNIP International • CASA Porto • Merial • WVS • Mission Rabies • Royal Canin • CIAA • MDC Exports • APAFF • Lex Hiby and Conservation Research • Atmos Arial Filming • Volunteers of Animais de Rua • Ilha de Faro community ANIMAISDERUA
- 33. ANIMAISDERUA For more information about any aspect of this project or advice on how to incorporate any aspect of assessment, monitoring, evaluating and measuring impacts into your work, please come and speak to us or contact us directly: harryeckman@changeforanimals.org mariapteixeira@animaisderua.org Thank you!
Editor's Notes
- Harry
- Harry When Praia de Faro first came onto CFAF’s radar in 2012 it was just another location with colonies of feral cats and roaming dogs… as is the case with countless other locations in Portugal and around the world. But on further discussion with our partners AdR we realised that this location was actually pretty unique and more than that, it had a huge amount of potential far beyond a standard sterlisation project. What Praia de Faro actually offered us was an opportunity to gain an understanding of the impact a sterlisation project can have on a community. Somewhere where we could really assess the local situation, capture data, understand the implications of what we were doing and see changes over a number of years. For the most part, this kind of information and data simply isn’t available from on the ground projects so while we in the animal welfare world believe that these kinds projects are improving the lives of animals and the communities they live in, we don’t really have much in the way of scientific data to back that up. It doesn’t mean it’s not true, but it does mean that sometimes we have a hard time proving it. And more importantly, a hard time convincing communities, municipalities, governments or grant funders, that what we’re doing is beneficial not only for the animals but for the communities.
- Maria So what is it about Praia de Faro that makes it so unique and special for this project? Praia de Faro is a natural peninsula approximately 4.5 miles long and 750 meters wide in the Faro District on the south coast of Portugal. On the north coast of the peninsula is a fresh water lagoon and to the south is the Atlantic ocean. The peninsula is accessed by a single bridge across from the mainland. There are several hundred individual properties on the Praia and a large campsite. The Praia is one of Faro’s main beaches and holiday resorts and so it is a very seasonal location with the population peaking at many thousands during the summer months but decreasing considerably during the winter. The people that live there throughout the year tend to earn their livings as fishermen and are mostly very poor and a closed community.
- Maria Due to the geography of the peninsula (access only via the bridge and over a mile of empty beach to the west separating it from the mainland) the animal population is almost completely contained with no natural migration of animals – the only movement of animals is via human involvement – the animals being physically transported on or off the Praia. What this meant was that once we had an estimate of the number of animals on the Praia, once we knew how many dogs and cats were there, we could be certain that any fluctuations in those numbers were either because the animals were breeding or that someone had physically abandoned an animal there. And both of these things could be monitored closely. The size and geography of the location was also logistically very manageable from a project perspective.
- Maria As a seasonal location, life for the roaming dogs and cats that live there is extremely variable. During the summer months when the weather is good and many thousands of tourists visit, food is plentiful they are able to survive, however out of season they have to find alternative sources of food and many buildings where they would find shelter are closed up when the season ends. A significant proportion of the animals living on the Praia have been abandoned there.
- Harry As well as improving the lives of these animals, we wanted to try and capture as much data about every aspect of this animal and human community as possible to be able to see the changes and improvements over time. This data would be divided into two distinct parts – animals and people. For the animals we wanted to find out more about the population, their diversity, their health and welfare. For the people, we wanted to find out about their understanding of and attitudes and behaviours towards the animals – both those that they owned and those that were roaming in the community. As with all ideas that start small, they have a tendency grow as you get more bright ideas and moments of inspiration. Ideas that go from “this would be useful information to find out” to “this would be so cool if we could do this!!!” It is important with any project to know where your limitations lie and to seek out support and expertise wherever necessary. There’s also always someone who knows more than you, who can offer priceless advice, guidance and support and can help develop the project further. At the end you’ll see the long list of experts, collaborators and supporters who all added so much and made this as comprehensive a project as it was possible to create.
- Harry The project itself is divided into through distinct stages Assessments CNVR and wider welfare interventions Monitoring and evaluation Or to put it more simply… Finding out about everything before we do stuff Doing stuff Seeing if the stuff we did made any difference
- Harry November/December 2013 Conduct a population census of animals on the Praia to gather information about the size, welfare and dynamics of the local cat and dog population. Conduct a community survey to understand the attitudes and behaviour of the local community including both pet owners and non-pet owners. August 2014 Repeat of the population census and community survey conducted in November 2013 to assess differences between the roaming animal population and community attitudes and behaviours at peak tourist season compared to the initial low season surveying.
- Harry Three teams of volunteers conducted population census with each team assigned one section of the Praia (which had been divided into three sections) with all sections being roughly equal in relation to the time it would take to conduct the census. Each team conducted and repeated their census within their area, each time retracing the same route and abiding by the same rules (e.g. always looking under cars, always remaining on paths). Using the mobile application they recorded the following information: GPS location of the animal With dogs the following dynamics were recorded: Male neutered, female neutered, male unneutered, female unneutered, unknown, lactating female, puppy With cats the following dynamics were recorded: Male neutered, female neutered, male unneutered, female unneutered, unknown neutered, unknown unneutered, kitten Body condition score (1 to 5 in dogs, 1 to 3 in cats) Signs of sickness yes/no Signs of injury yes/no Signs of ownership yes/no Animal seen within property boundary yes/no
- Harry Teams of volunteers interviewed 151 people across the Praia over a two-week period. This number represented approximately 25% of the local community. The survey had a series of 20 questions to try and determine the following information about the community. Determine attitude to animals on Praia de Faro Ownership behavior: How/where are owned cats/dogs kept Why are owned cats/dogs kept State of knowledge regarding basic cat/dog care Barriers to providing adequate care Determine what the "problem" with cats/dogs is, as expressed by individuals Determine perception of stray animals; try to assess tolerance for cats/dogs on street; willingness to take action (as owner or bystander) The style of questions ranged from yes/no - true/false types to more open-ended questions that required a more detailed answer. To gain as good an insight as possible into the community’s attitudes, some issues were covered by more than one question but the style of question differed so as to encourage a different type of response.
- Harry The resulting estimated population figure based on the surveys is 130-150 dogs and 180-220 cats. This result is interesting for two reasons: Firstly, the initial reports we got when asking how any animals there were on the Praia suggested 40-50 dogs and 200-600 cats. The data shows that there are far more dogs than anticipated but also fewer cats. Secondly, through actual observation in the Praia while conducting the survey it was apparent that the three survey areas had different geographies and the manner in which some of the animals were being kept was different. At one end of the Praia the community was much poorer, the properties were more densely packed and the animals were observed as being confined for part of the day but roaming at other times. At the other end of the Praia the properties were much more widely dispersed and the animals were less confined. In the centre most of the properties were holiday residencies and as such were largely vacant except during the summer period. The computer modelling extrapolated data from the Praia surveys as a whole, it did not take into account the subtleties of the different geographies. In the dog population the census showed that 75% were male and 25% were female. In the cat population the results showed 48% male and 52% female. Initial results from the body condition score showed that 89% of dogs had body condition of 3 (healthy) and with cats this figure was 91%. Only 5% of both dogs and cats were recorded as showing signs of sickness. For dogs the number seen was approximately 170-190 - a 26% increase in the numbers of dogs seen during the winter but this was is attributed to significantly more dogs being sighted in the central areas where summer visitors were located (holiday apartments and the campsite) whereas the numbers of dogs seen on the east and west of the praia remained almost identical. The ratio of male to female was approximately the same (75% male) on dogs where gender could be identified. Body condition was 96% 3-4 (good or slightly overweight) with only 2 dog seen with a body condition score of 2 (underweight) Signs of sickness was also recorded as at the same level as during the summer at 5%. These were mostly skin related conditions. With cats the number seen was approximately 170 to 190 cats. This number was slightly down from the previous survey but we learned that one colony of 15 cats had been relocated from the Praia by a restaurant owner. Once this figure is taken into account the numbers are almost the same as the first survey. The ratio of male to female was approximately the same as was seen on the previous survey with slightly more females than males. 95% of the cats had a good body condition score (the poorer condition 5% were some underweight kittens). Signs of sickness were seen in approximately 8% of the population but this was almost exclusively restricted to one colony of cats which had flu-like symptoms.
- Harry Of the 151 people interviewed, 60% owned one or more animals and 40% did not own an animal at all. The first part of the survey was only for people who owned animals. 75% of owned dogs were male and 25% were female. Interestingly, this is exactly the same gender difference breakdown that is shown in the population census. 40% of owned cats were male and 60% were female. This is a slightly different gender difference breakdown than was shown in the census but the slight difference can be put down to the fact that in the census a significant proportion of cats were recorded as unknown in regard to their gender. 47% of people that owned animals said they allowed their animals to roam but only 19% of owned animals were sterilised. The second part of the survey was for all respondents (both those that owned and those that didn’t own animals). They were asked whether stray animals cause a problem. 65% of the people who did not own an animal, said that yes, stray animals were a problem. Interestingly, only 45% of people who did own animals thought that stray animals were a problem.
- Maria October 2014 An initial two-week TNR campaign to vaccinate, sterilise and treat as high a proportion of the cat population as possible. The fact that we were working with partners, allowed us to make this project much more ambitious than we had initially planned.
- Maria October 2014 An initial two-week TNR campaign to vaccinate, sterilise and treat as high a proportion of the cat population as possible. Genetic profiling of cats to assess the diversity/breeding of the population, skin and faecal sampling to test for the presence of parasites, blood sampling to test for zoonotic disease and other traits, and reproductive organ sampling to test for tumours and other hormone related conditions.
- Maria Numbers of cats sterilised, vaccinated treated for internal and external parasite and sampled by Lusofona University in the initial stage of the project: 161 cats – 89 males and 72 females. This represents an estimated 74% of the cat population on Praia de Faro based on previous surveys. A database has been created where all statistics and animal records are being input. TNR process allowed us to get an even more accurate assessment of the population
- Maria Subsequent follow-up TNR through the Faro Animais de Rua group has resulted in a total 202 cats sterilised Confident that we have reached 98% of the cat population Community contacts us now if new cats have been seen/abandoned etc – also a consequence of the trust relationship we built in the community surveying phase of the project, so everyone at the Praia knows us and what we are doing there. First published data from sampling has identified eye parasite Onchocerca lupi identified for the first time in cats in Portugal – doesn’t mean it wasn’t present before simply that it hadn’t been identified. Its presence can easily be mistaken for other conditions but now we know it is a possibility it means we can consider it.
- Harry Initial assessment of the dog population suggested that many of the dogs were unowned however it transpired that almost all had some kind of owner or carer. In June 2015 we discovered that even those few dogs that were presumed to be stray in fact had an owner or carer – there were no unowned dogs! While this project was never simply a TNR project, the question of total ownership meant that we had to consider other factors. It was clear that most of these dogs had never seen a vet.
- Harry Many of the owners had taken on ownership of these dogs after they had been abandoned by other people (a regular occurrence especially during summer months). So the dog population is not really as a result of breeding but of abandonment so the sterlisations themselves have more of a health and welfare role than as a population control tool. It became clear that the project, while still ensuring that sterilisation was provided for as many dogs as possible, focussed as much on the provision of wider health and welfare measures for these dogs.
- Maria June 2015 Collaboration between the municipality, CFAF, AdR, and three local veterinary practices to sterilise, vaccinate and treat roaming dogs and dogs living with poor families on Praia de Faro. Community outreach to examine and treat the dogs that were not able to reach the clinics or where the owners were still reluctant to get the dogs seen or sterilised. Over the week, the project reached over 107 dogs 71 sterilisations (44 male and 27 female) An additional 36 dogs reached via community outreach receiving vaccination, worming, flea treatment, medical checks and other treatments. An estimated 67% of the dog population.
- Maria From a veterinary perspective, this was much more challenging than, for example, a street dog sterilisation project in India where all the dogs are roughly the same size and shape, are usually under 5 years and are mostly in good health. In Faro we had dogs aged from 1 to 15 years and they ranged in size from 4 kilos to 42 kilos, with a wide variety of other health and welfare issues to contend with.
- Maria The fact that, unlike what was initially reported to us, most dogs had some kind of ownership, brought specific problems we had to deal with. People don’t see themselves as owners of the dogs in the sense that they have an obligation to provide for their basic welfare needs, but still want to make the ultimate decisions about what happens to them. One of the main issues was one of owner compliance and that took a great deal of time and persuasion to overcome. Some owners were initially against sterilisation but when vaccinations, anti parasitics and a health checks were offered they accepted. Sadly there were people who were simply not interested in having their animals seen. Even when sterilisation was taken out of the equation and we simply offered vaccination, flea treatment and worming they still refused. The attitude of “it’s my dog and I can do whatever I want with it”.
- Maria 4 dogs with chronic skin conditions caused by flea allergic dermatitis that have, after years of living with the condition, finally received treatment and even in the days we were there we could see dramatic improvements.
- Maria 2 dogs whose fur was so matted that they had to be clipped and shaved - both of who had lived like that for their whole lives and one of which had a considerable tick infestation under its matts.
- Maria 2 dogs whose fur was so matted that they had to be clipped and shaved - both of who had lived like that for their whole lives and one of which had a considerable tick infestation under its matts.
- Maria A Chihuahua sized dog with a grapefruit sized abdominal hernia containing its small and large intestines, bladder and spleen, had been living like that for 5 years and is finally being addressed (local vets are continuing with its further care).
- Maria A number of dogs who have spent their whole lives either chained or enclosed that are now allowed some freedom by their owners because they no longer have to worry about them mating. There has been a further commitment by many of the fisherman to build better enclosures. In speaking to these people, there is a clear sense that some of these dogs were "seen" for the first time by their owners because of this project. Hunters dogs – noone knew about them, in the survey he didn’t admit to having them and we didn’t saw them: closed and chained inside a very small and dark enclosure. One of them euthanized. Now are free from chains, being able to interact and play with each other and are regularly walked by a team of Animais de Rua volunteers. One of the biggest successes of this project is the change we have already seen in the community in regards to its attitude to their animals. This will become more verifiable with the follow-up surveying but community members were interviewed on national television while we were there and asked about the project. They said things along the lines of "We are very poor. We love our animals but have had no way of doing the things we know we should be doing. This project is one of the best things to ever happen on Praia de Faro. It has changed the lives of not only the animals here but the people too" We regularly take food, check on the animals and if the owner are complying to what they promised us. Another huge success is the relationships we now have with the vets in Faro. Being able to work alongside them and build bridges not just between them and us but also between them and the community itself.
- Maria A number of dogs who have spent their whole lives either chained or enclosed that are now allowed some freedom by their owners because they no longer have to worry about them mating. There has been a further commitment by many of the fisherman to build better enclosures. In speaking to these people, there is a clear sense that some of these dogs were "seen" for the first time by their owners because of this project. One of the biggest successes of this project is the change we have already seen in the community in regards to its attitude to their animals. This will become more verifiable with the follow-up surveying but community members were interviewed on national television while we were there and asked about the project. They said things along the lines of "We are very poor. We love our animals but have had no way of doing the things we know we should be doing. This project is one of the best things to ever happen on Praia de Faro. It has changed the lives of not only the animals here but the people too" Another huge success is the relationships we now have with the vets in Faro. Being able to work alongside them and build bridges not just between them and us but also between them and the community itself.
- Harry November 2015 to August 2017 On-going ‘mop up’ of cat colonies ensure cats not reached during the initial TNR campaign still have access to vaccination, sterilisation and treatment. On-going partnership with local veterinary practices to ensure all dogs have access to sterilisation, vaccination and treatment and that owners/carers continue follow-up care via newly formed relationships with local vets. Repeat population counts and community surveys to see the impact of the programme to be conducted in November 2015, August 2016, November 2016 and August 2016. Data access from local vets to monitor dog owner/carer veterinary follow-up and engagement following stage 2.2. Dissemination of resources and materials both within the community and through partner vets to continue to promote welfare and responsible ownership to support changes in attitudes and behaviour within the community. Establishment of “model project approach” that can be replicated across Portugal and internationally. Full publication of project data
- Harry We undertook this project for three reasons, to help the animals and community of Praia de Faro To capture as much data as possible to really understand and be able to share our findings To provide a model to show how any project, anywhere in the world, can plug in things like assessments, monitoring, evaluation and measuring impacts and successes and be able to share that data in a way that is meaningful and valuable for others working in the field.
- Harry The more we can show the effectiveness of what we are doing by gathering the information we need and presenting it in a way that shows the impact of what we are doing the more we can improve the lives of animals and the communities the live with.
- Harry
- Harry
- Harry If you would like more information about any aspect of this project or would like advice on how to incorporate any aspect of assessment, monitoring, evaluating and measuring impacts into the work you are doing, please come and speak to me or contact me directly: