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Associazione suizzera per l'aiuto e il supporto dei cani creoli / Asociación para la ayuda y el apoyo de los criollos perros (Suiza)
The Associazione suizzera per l'aiuto e il supporto dei cani creoli was founed in Switzerland in June 2013 by Dolores Rohrer. The association dedicates itself particularly to animal welfare in the underdeveloped poor southwest of the Dominican Republic where no animal welfare organisation and hardly any vets are to be found and never ever has a surgeon been here before. The Associazione suizzera per l'aiuto e il supporto dei cani creoli works very closely together with the Association for Aid and Support of Creole Dogs (Germany). The first joint spay and neuter clinic takes place in February 2014 with the vets Anja Hess from Germany and Dr. Huber from Switzerland and the vet technicians Dolores Rohrer and Martina Möckel. Here a very personal and toucing portrait of Dolores Rohrer and her work in the southwest of the Dominican Republic:
I live in the Swiss canton Ticino and speak German, Italian, Spanish and a little English. I am a vet technician and completed a training as dog groomer. 2006 I visited the Dominican Republic for the first time. Already then I realized how bad living conditions were for most Dominican animals. But I had arrived unprepared and my luggage didn't contain a lot of medical remedies. So I could only treat the dogs and cats of my companion's family. From then on I visited the Dominican Republic every year. Most of the time I spent in the vicinity of Azua, a poor little town. This region has nothing in common with the Dominican Republic known from photos, touristic advertising or vacations.
Now they are all very happy at my place and I spend every spare moment with them and caring for them. My partner Joan Rivas Duran was born in the Dominican Republic but has been living in Switzerland with part of his family since he was ten. A lot of his relatives still live in Azua. His grandparents are getting old and we try to help them and visit them as often as possible. Joan still knows a lot of Dominican people and has many contact and during recent years I also learnt a lot about the island and its people. And now I wanted finally to do more for its animals! Three years ago we started to think about moving permanently to the Dominican Republic some day and I began to search informations about spay and neuter projects of which I had heard before. In the internet I found some projects but no one that wanted to help in Azua! Until I came across the Association for Aid and Support of Creole dogs! I sent my story and ideas to Isabel and got immediately an answer. From that day on I started to support this organisation with material donations and of course by spreading infos about the wonderful work of this organisation. Informed about the conditions necessary for a successful field clinic, Dolores Rohrer flew December 2012 to Azua to start preparations.January 14th she wrote:"I'm sitting here in Alonse on the porch and thought I'll send you a mail. The situation is the same as always: Wherever I look I see emaciated, flea infested dogs. Honestly, I don't know where to start first! The food I brought along is long gone and now I'm buying dog food in the supermarket getting bewildered looks from everybody…"
"By now I have 3 feeding places that I visit daily. A local friend of mine will take care of the feeding places, when I'm gone, and continue the dog baths and anti-parastical treatments. I supply him monthly with the money for dog food, shampoo, Frontline and Ivermectin."
As soon as I start treating a dog, the neighbours come and ask how much I charge. When I say: "Nothing", they go and get their own dogs so that I can treat them too."
The beach dogs I could only treat witz de-wormer and Frontline; they are too scared for anything else… We have found accomodation for the vets, a safe, comfortable house in Alonse. And I have talked to 4 people wo would offer their house or garage for a field clinic." Back home in Switzerland Dolores Rohrer reports about her successful start:This time I came to Azua loaded with medication and remedies against parasites. I started to treat thedogs of half the village. Also my boyfriend, who grew up on a farm but hasn't been too keen on dogs up to now, started to support me as well as some of our friends in Azua.We decided to involve some people from Azua in the project because it is pointless to treat animals only once, twice a year when I'm there and leave them unattended for 10 months of the year. We started to talk to young unemployed people and explained to them ur intentions and goals and the mission of the association. We have achieved the following: Since January 2013 3 feeding places for street dogs exist in Alonse, Azua, taken care of by our friend Amauri. Poor families can contact him when they need food for their animals.
Amauri also maintains a "Dogwash" service. Our association supplies shampoo, de-wormer and flea treatment. I have spent one month to teach him to recognize parasites such as fleas, mites, ticks and various skin diseases. Now he knows which product he has to use to treat diverse conditions.
3-4 days per week Amauri tours the whole village and treats puppies and adult dogs alike, all free of charge.
A lot of dogs have to wear muzzles while treated because they have had too many bad experiences with people and don't trust anybody.
Often the muzzles don't have the right size; one uses what is available if only the dog gets rid of its parasites.
A big Thank you to PetMedical GmbH for their generous donation of high quality medicare products with which they supported our project. We had a lot of positive comments and praise for our work during these past 5 month which makes me very happy. Of course there will always be peple wo don't understand what we are doing and think we are crazy because animals have a very low standing in the Dominican Republic up to now. Amauri has told me many times about puppies that are thrown away or killed. But of course the people don't know what to do with unwanted litters. The only vet in Azua is very badly equipped. He cannot teach people how to deal with their animals, much less perform a surgery.
Having received these sad news and photos of puppies at the local dump from Amauri more than once, I contacted Isabel Gorski-Grobe aand asked for help for the animals of the southwest of the Dominican Republic. Amauri has saved many puppies up to now but he can't keep 20 dogs and more… We were lucky to find homes for them. But what about all the others? In Santo Domingo vets have turned to us telling us how bad the situation in the southwest is for animals because nobody cares about this part of the country or wants to go there to help. Isabel has promised me the help and support of her association and I am deeply grateful for that. February 2014 our first spay and neuter clinic takes place in Azua! It takes a lot of planning, good nerves but most of all your support, dear animal lovers!!!! I reassure you that I put all my heart and soul in this project and my association! Because the grateful look from a dog's eyes saying "Thank you" because it is helped or treated kindly means more to me than anything money can buy! I can't explain it any better but I'm sure that some of you will understand me! I am trying to plan as much as is possible from here, together with Isabel and constantly in touch with people in Azua. But we need your help to make our dream come true! Without you none of this will happen! Therefore I beg you: Please donate and help the Creole dogs! Please help us so that we can teach the people in the Dominican Republic a kind attitude zowards animals so that they realize, from their childhood onwards, that animals have feelings just like we do! With warmest regards, Dolores Rohrer You can send a donation to Dolores Rohrer directly: or to our account for "Creole dogs Switzerland": or via PayPal |
