Category: Animals & Wildlife

PAWS Cruelty Investigation from john peaveler on Vimeo.

For the past year we have been receiving increasingly alarming reports on the welfare of animals in the Protecting Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) shelter. In the last two weeks, the reports have reached such urgency and frequency that we felt the time had come for us to take action in the interests of the nearly two hundred animals in that facility. We have thoroughly investigated this matter and are prepared to say, without a single doubt, that PAWS has fundamentally failed to meet the needs of the animals in their care in every possible way. Furthermore, PAWS can no longer be said to exist as an organization. Their shelter is now no more than an animal hoarding operation and an unequivocal case of animal cruelty.

The circumstances there are unacceptable. As a government society charged with the welfare of animals in Kuwait, it is our duty to stop this cruelty from happening. The animals in the PAWS shelter deserve better. K’S PATH has offered to take these animals and care for them, but PAWS has refused. The chairperson of PAWS refuses to admit that there is any problem at the shelter, but the time has come for this terrible situation to be made public. We ask you to view the video and decide for yourself.

If you would like to be involved in saving the animals of PAWS from their cruel circumstances, please email [email protected] and tell us how you can help. We do not want to overwhelm our phone line.

It will take the entire animal loving community of Kuwait to put an end to the cruelty of PAWS. Thank you for your support.

Post by John Peaveler
Managing Director
Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’S PATH)

K’s PATH are organizing their fourth Bark in the Park event which includes the popular dog show competition and which will be held the beautiful Ahmadi South Public Park.

Date: Saturday 8th November 2014
Location: KOC Ahmadi, South Public Park
Time: 11:00AM to 3:00PM

Competitions:
1. Best Child Handler
2. Best Dressed
3. Best Look Alike
4. Agility Course
5. Best Mixed Breed
6. Best Rescue Story
7. Temptation Alley
8. Most Adorable

Advanced Registration Required:
Adults KD5, Children under 16 KD3, Children under 3 years – free entry
Participating dogs KD6, Non-participating dogs KD3

– Registration closes Thursday, November 6th

Register by clicking [Here]
The online form also guides you to calculate entry fees, which can be paid at the door on the day of the event.

For more information on the event and the original flyer click [Here]

So random. [YouTube]

Thanks Fajer

Supposedly the video was taken earlier tonight but I can’t confirm it. [YouTube]

Thanks Anes

According to @KuwaiT_ALYoum, British authorities are looking for a Kuwaiti teenager who was filmed hunting ducks with a slingshot in Hyde Park. I couldn’t find another source for this information but I did find the video that went viral and you can watch it below (its safe).

[YouTube]

K’S PATH, the local non-profit animal welfare and environmental protection organization are looking for new volunteers. If you’re interested, they have an orientation taking place this Saturday and to sign up just send an email to [email protected]

Over the weekend a video went viral showing an endangered sea turtle being killed on a beach in Kuwait. In the very graphic video (which I won’t share on this blog), one man is seen sitting on top of the large turtle with a small kitchen knife in his hand while his family and friends can be heard in the background encouraging him to cut off the turtles head. You can even hear a voice of a woman and a child in the video, both in support of the killing. Once the perpetrator starts cutting off the turtles head, a second man comes into the video frame to help hold the turtle down. Once the head is cut off the child in the background yells out that he wants the head while everyone else watches the now dead and decapitated turtle bleed on the beach.

The Environment Public Authority (EPA) is now offering a KD3,000 reward to anyone who can identify the people in the video. It’s a very horrific crime but animal abuse sadly isn’t very rare in Kuwait. Last year some guys were driving around with shotguns shooting and decapitating stray dogs and then posting pictures all over Instagram and they were never punished so I am hoping this time around the perpetrators will be punished and made an example of.

Most of the articles on the sea turtle killing are in Arabic but KUNA have a poorly written piece on it which you could read [Here]

K’S PATH, the local non-profit animal welfare and environmental protection organization needs your help:

You can make a difference to the lives of 232 shelter animals this summer by supporting our Summer Fundraising Campaign! Help us raise six months worth of food – which totals KD10,000 – by 31st May 2014 for our dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, ducks, tortoises, turtles, rabbits, ferret and baboons. Your generosity will enable us to continue providing our animals the nutrition they need to be happy and healthy. Please do spread the word and give us a call at 67001622 or email [email protected] to make a donation. Thank you!

Out of the KD10,000 they need, as of this post they’ve raised around KD9,500 which means only KD500 is left. So contact them if you can help them reach their goal.

One my readers has a strange dilemma which I thought would be interesting to share:

My neighbor in Jabriya has a lioness in his yard and it isn’t chained up or anything. The wall between our houses isn’t high enough and I have a young child who likes to play outside in out yard. We called the police and they didn’t know what to do and told us to go to the police station, so we went to the police station and no one there knew what to do either! We were told to come back in the moring to see someone with a higher rank who “might” know what the law says about this! What a joke!! So they will only do something when this lion attacks someone? Why wait untill someone is hurt or killed to do their job?!?! My question is, is there someone or some place I can contact about this wild animal next door ?!

Somebody recommended he contact K’S PATH but I’m not sure they can do anything about it. Anyone have any other ideas?

A friend sent me the video below of what are supposedly locusts in the Al-Salmi border area. That’s a lot of locusts…

[YouTube]

According to Kuwait Times, the government will no longer kill stray dogs but instead will capture them and deport them. Yeah I know deportation sounds funny but by that they actually mean they will be sending the dogs to countries who would want them.

That’s a lot better than the alternative which is having guys driving around with shotguns killing them or having the government poison the dogs. [Link]

One eye on you. A short-eared owl stretching and relaxing in a nature reserve in Kuwait. (© Mohd Khorshid/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

The photo above is one of the entries to the 26th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. Check out some of the other entries [Here]

Employees at the Radisson Blu Hotel noticed an eagle was sitting on a ledge in the parking lot. They knew something was wrong because you could walk up right to it and it wasn’t flying off. They contacted K’S PATH who arrived 20 minutes later and were able to catch the eagle with the help of the hotels security. The eagle had some strings attached to its feet most likely from a poachers trap and because it was so windy yesterday it could have gotten exhausted after escaping from the trap.

K’S PATH have a short video of them feeding the eagle and you can watch it [Here]

Pet Zone in Shuwaikh recently relocated to a new and much bigger location down the street from their previous store. The new location is so big it’s now basically a supermarket dedicated to pet supplies.

The new location is divided into three main spaces, the first area on the ground level is where all the supplies are located like food, toys, cages etc. Once you get to the back of the store it splits up into an upper floor and lower floor. The top floor has birds for sale and the space is setup nicely like a little zoo. The lower floor is where the grooming takes place and where dogs and cats are also displayed for sale. I love the new store.

If you’re interested in passing by here is their location on [Google Maps]
You can also check out their website for more photos [Here]

[YouTube]

What looks like a Blue or Great Whale washed ashore today on Failaka Island. Whales can be found in the Indian Ocean so my guess is it got lost and ended up in the Gulf where it ended up dying.

Below is another video of the whale when it was first found while still floating in the water.

[YouTube]

First video via Frankom

Update: A reader sent me the image below along with the following note:

Hi there!
I was walking yesterday evening on the beach close to the Village (Abu Hassania area) and I found 2 dead dolphins. One was decomposed, so it has probably been there for a few days or a week but the other one seemed to be there for 1-2 days and had a fishing net around! Such a sad thing to see…especially when in Kuwait there are only around 500 hunchback dolphins!

Thanks Luciana