AdventureWomen® leads some of the most unique and custom-designed trips throughout the world. Enlightened by exotic cultures and scenic beauty, we come away with exhilarating memories and a broadened world view. And sometimes, we see local opportunities where we can make a difference.
Recently, we found out about a campaign that helps stray cats and dogs in many of our adventure travel locations. Seeing strays in distress during our travels has personally touched me and many of our AdventureWomen travelers. According to a 2013 report written by Diana Webster at Humane Advisor, one of the organizations leading the campaign, we are not alone. This nationally representative survey of U.S. and Canadian tourists, sponsored and conducted by the Humane Research Council found that 34% of tourists were upset by seeing stray cats and dogs during their vacation. The results of this survey are available at HumaneAdvisor.com
Currently, the only sustainable way to help strays in overseas locations is a humane population control program, which includes spay and neuter, rescue and rehabilitation, and adoption services. Because developing countries often do not have the resources to properly care for strays (which also presents local health and safety issues for communities), local nonprofit/non-governmental (NGO) animal welfare organizations are usually the only hope for these animals. To address these issues and to find resources for support, an outreach campaign was organized by Humane Advisor, in partnership with a Spanish animal welfare organization, Turismo Responsable Fundación FAADA, www.turismo@faada.org.
This campaign invites travel companies like AdventureWomen, Inc. to get involved by signing a letter asking local tourism bureaus to provide resources to help stray animals. It also asks that AdventureWomen helps by raising awareness of these issues with its customers. To quote Humane Advisor founder Diana Webster, “helping animals helps people.”
AdventureWomen has enthusiastically agreed to add our name to the letter, and wherever possible on our tours, to arrange for a local animal rescue organization to make a short presentation to our trip participants about any work they are doing to help animals in that country. We hope that through these efforts, AdventureWomen and our participants can begin to help bring much needed change for stray cats and dogs and for the communities we visit.
To find out more or learn how you can help, please contact Diana at Diana@humaneadvisor.com.
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- Animal Care Center, St. John’s USVI adoption event. http://www.stjohnanimalcarecenter.com
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- Street food dispenser for strays in Bogota, Columbia. Gozquez, www.gozques.org
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- Cats at USPCA. Mary in the cattery
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- Community helpers La Paz Humane Society.
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- Dino street dog in Bogota Gozquez
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- HART (Himalayan Animal Trust) Nepal educating locals on animal care. http://www.hartnepal.org/
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- HART (Himalayan Animal Trust) Nepal mobile spay/neuter campaign. http://hartnepal.org/
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- Rescued puppies at La Paz Humane Society
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- Street cats in Cancun, Mexico. Gatotan Cancun. www.facebook.com/gatoton.cancun
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- Street cat at La Paz Humane Society.
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- Street puppy in Cancun, Mexico. Evelyne Ayudas Animales. www.facebook.com/evelyne.ayudaanimales
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- Tanzania Animal Welfare Society
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- USPCA feeding time at the Haven, Uganda.
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- Village dogs in Kenya rounded up for anti-rabies campaign. Africa Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW). http://www.anaw.org/
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- Village dogs in Kipeto, Kenya, getting rabies vaccinations. Africa Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW) http://www.anaw.org/
