Sylvia and her dog.
KOTA KINABALU: An Australian pastor, Sylvia Jeanes, who has been living in Sabah for 44 years, has a mission to accomplish for the stray animals – she hopes that these homeless animals will find a new home soon.
Pastor Sylvia, who came to Sabah in January 1967, has raised more than 40 dogs in her life. She also had a few cats but not as many, and none recently.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) volunteer started to care for stray dogs when she moved to the remote interior of Sabah to a place called Tongud on the upper reaches of the Kinabatangan River in 1976.
When asked were there any dogs that have made a huge impact in her life, Sylvia said all the dogs she had cared for were unique, and each one had made its own impact on her life.
She desribed dogs as loyal, loveable, intelligent, brave, tolerant, but also unpredictable, and sometimes demanding and annoying.
Have she ever been bitten by a dog and how did she handle it?
She replied: “Yes. On the first Sunday in March, 1999, an accident occurred with one of the seminary dogs and I was badly bitten on the ring finger and the little finger on the right hand. He did not deliberately do it. I decided on the spur of the moment to bathe them, so I put them all in the station wagon while I collected the buckets and shampoo etc. I succeeded with two and then I was trying to lift the big male down when I was distracted in conversation with the gardener.
“The dog got his foot caught in the gap between the end of the car and the bumper bar. In agony, he bit my hands that were trying to free the foot. Inadequate initial treatment caused cellulites, three weeks of pain and disability. Now I am on occupational and physio therapy in order to restore the contracture in the fingers. They say it will take about a year. My fingers are still crooked.”
To feed her dogs, for the main meal, she gives them rice cooked with a stew of chicken necks, liver, gizzard, ground maize (such as for feeding small chicks) garlic, and ground/chopped fresh vegetables. They also eat dried dog food, including low-fat Alpo. For treats, they have neck-bones, chicken feet, broken chicken wings.
She approaches unfriendly stray dogs warily but speak with authority. “Don’t panic, or wave your arms at them. Walk slowly.”
On her biggest difficulty or challenge in taking care of stray dogs in her community, she said it was the emotional attachment, especially when they were wounded or sick, and could not be caught to be taken to the vet.
“We treat with some antibiotics kept for such purpose. There have been some complaints, such as dog manure in front of their gate. I respond constructively to their complaints and apologize accordingly. I clean up after the dogs and supervise their feeding.”
When asked to share her vision or plans on the issue of promoting kindness to animals or to reduce the increasing number of stray dogs and cats in Sabah, she said:
“Part of the problem is the urban drift. When people from the village move to the city, they do not realize they have to change their mentality on keeping animals. In the villages, dogs and cats roam freely, but in the city, they are not allowed to do so. It is very unlikely dogs and cats are spayed in the villages, but it is a necessity in the city to prevent the birth of unwanted animals. Therefore, it’s important to reach out to those residing in the village areas.
“Many people consider spaying unnatural, and wrong, as it is unthinkable to ‘spay’ or ‘neuter’ human beings! It will be a great day when oral contraceptives are available for dogs and cats. Also, some people think it is acceptable to keep animals in small cages because this is the way it has always been done from during grandma’s time. However such practices are cruel. So the biggest challenge is to change the mindset of people and therefore education is the first priority. This was seen to be so by the founders of SPCAKK.
“However, it is difficult to stay with the ‘education only’ approach because inevitably SPCAKK will get involved in rescue. When that happens, there is the need for somewhere to put the rescued animals. Of course, the ideal is to promptly re-home the animal, but this generation is more likely to buy a puppy at the Gaya Street market than to look for one from the SPCAKK (temporary) shelter. Therefore it is easy to quickly acquire a lot of dogs that need attention.
“Where are the shelters? At present private homes are used. This practice could continue where the home owners are prepared to ‘foster’ the animals (example a set of puppies, a wounded animal) for a length of time. Such persons are not easy to find. So a more centralized shelter is needed. To do this SPCAKK needs to have a piece of land to develop along the same lines as in West Malaysia and other countries, which could be models for us.
“In fact, if we were able to get a large piece of land, we could diversify to make some money, or to develop some self-sufficiency in food supply. As for finances, if a plan for development can be drawn up, and a publicity leaflet about that plan circulated, people could be encouraged to donate money, to offer the interest on an investment account for daily running needs as a regular debit item. People could be encouraged to give SPCAKK a place in their will, to offer a part of their inheritance. Appeals outside of Malaysia for money also could be made for the development of land and infrastructure.
“Above all, SPCAKK needs to be committed to a long-term task, to be positive, hard-working, visionary and inspiring, to believe in the impossible and start doing it.”