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)
23 replies on “PAWS Cruelty Investigation”
I’ve visited K’s Path and find them much more sanitary unlike this video footage of Paws. At K’s path there’s indoor shelter and more play space for the dogs;its important for them to be exercised. Without a doubt these animals need to be rescued and placed in more hygienic conditions.
Paws is relatively overcrowded. They should give half the animals to Kpath and everyone will be happy. Why would any shelter ever refuse to give away animals? Even if it wasn’t full? Thats the whole point of a shelter.
I personally believe that with the exception of animals that used to be domesticated as pets, no cat or dog should have to live in a shelter, even a good one. They should be allowed to live free in nature. Yes some will have a hard life, but that is nature, and its true for all animals. I don’t see anyone catching birds and putting them in shelters because they are stray?
I think the name needs to be updated – if I am correct, it is a different Roula who is in charge….
Everyone is so humane once they here that there is government handouts in forms of cash money and land. heh.
Let me just say,
It’s such a shame that Kspath is now targetting PAWS for money, at least these guys are TRYING to do something to help.
The difference between PAWS and KSpath is the fact that PAWS does not euthanize while KSPath euthanizes 60% of the rescued animals.
You must not have seen this video https://youtu.be/D8j_rbR4aQs
I’m gonna need a citation on that stat.
I hate to break it to you but animal shelters put down animals, a lot, because they don’t have the resources to keep them. IIRC, K’s Path keeps the adoptable ones, which is a lot better than most shelters you’ll find (I know, I know, again we have to bring the West in for a comparison), who set a time limit and then euthanize animals that haven’t been adopted by that deadline. No-kill shelters are rare.
It’s sad that PAWS isn’t willing to let K’s Path help. We all know shelters are chronically underfunded and always struggling to find space. That’s not a personal failing, it’s just a fact of shelters everywhere, and it shouldn’t be embarrassing to admit it and accept help. For everyone at PAWS who is digging their heels in on this, I have to ask: is your ego really more important than your goal?
Most shelters HAVE to euthanize animals.
Mark,
I’m not sure whose right or not but given the experience i got off the two, I kind of liked the guys from PAWS way better.
I delivered a dog to Kspath (before their shelter got burnt down and they bummed people for money) – I was immediately asked for a donation which I did donate enough money to support the dog for a while. I was checking their website regularly to see what would become of the dog… just to see her face again on the adoption section, I was basically waiting for a happy story, non of that ever took place, I called the shelter only to get told that the dog was euthanized. they said the dog was aggressive, which BTW was in my place for at least 2 weeks. no sign of aggressiveness ever was displayed. i later contacted K’spath frusterated about the stunt they pulled off– each time I’d explain the story, I would get a different version of the story; ranging from the dog being terminally sick and severe diarrhea to finally someone admitting that it was of an undesired breed.
I was upset when I heard about the shelter being burnt down after that. as rumors were sprouting left and right how these guys were collecting money using animal sympathizers’pockets. of course then comes the grooming van which kinda solidified the notion of that organization being total BS.
i decided to completely stop dealing with them and referred to paws
PAWS DID admit that they were short on cash, short on staff and were trying their best to manage, they also stated that an older shelter was being removed off of them… etc way before these videos ever came out. I however have not sent any animals to their shelter instead I have fostered a few for them in my own place.
Beyond this I do not know and I am as surprised as the many others from these videos.
After watching the video in the post above and this video here https://youtu.be/D8j_rbR4aQs you’re not sure whose right or wrong? What does someone have to do for you to consider them wrong then?
Youre missing the point mark. All im saying is that Kspath has a tendency of provoking sympathizers for money. Yea there may be a bit of negligence which resulted in a catastrophy but you know what? everyone is guilty of something, surely if i were advertising vids of animals being burnt alive locked inside their cages would cause an outrage yeah?
when i state uncertainty towards whose right and who isnt, its cuz i know for a fact that both were started as result of good will from good folks.
Why im defending paws cuz i have seen otherwise than the stuff advertised above.
WOW….
It is really sad to see the video.
I have adopted 2 cats from Paws on 2 different occasions, one from their old location in Kabad and the second from their new location, which at the time was still under construction.
True the conditions are not the best but they do try to help as best as they can.
The people working there have never received proper training of what it is to love a pet, they are put there to clean after the cats, dogs feed them etc.
Maybe 1 or 2 people really know what they are doing. We should also remember that this place is funded by the people that volunteer, peoples donation etc.
I ask myself, why create so many places that care for animals, you have paws K’s Path you have Kare, pet lovers group etc. if the aim is to help animals why not work together under one roof and perhaps ask some funding from the government as well and have a top quality shelter. Not to mention to create a program to control pets coming into the country and ensure that all pets are spayed or neutered.
I do my share of helping animals I have 5 pets in my house and I will care for them until the end of their life.
In Kuwait you often find people abandoning their pets in the street, because they can’t handle it anymore or they got bored, maybe the animal is not as cute as it was and the list goes on.
People should be educated when it comes to raising a pet, they should realize that the pet will become part of the family and it’s not a toy or an object to discard whenever we feel like it.
I hope a solution is found that would be in favor of the animals because it would be a shame if they are all put to sleep.
To all those who have the means and the capability please lend a hand and try to save this place.
It is sad. This article (and the instagram post) both seemed to be targeted against PAWS’s ‘cruelty’ to animals. It’s true that PAWS do not have the facilities to take care of these animals as well as KsPath do. That is a given. PAWS are scraping money off anything they find — its not completely their fault. (This is besides the fact that the old administration had alot of money stolen from their donations). But donations are scarce, always have been.
What really did surprise me is KsPath’s actions.
KsPath have been targeting PAWS for some time now, makes you wonder what’s more important: Animal welfare, or where the donations go.
What people really forget, is that these animals would be on the street otherwise. PAWS doesn’t have the space for them, KsPath doesn’t have space for them. No-one does. Thats why shelters like these exist. That’s why they are ALWAYS overrun. That’s why shelters like KsPath have to resort to euthanize “unwanted” animals.
For me personally, it became a matter of who do you support. People who euthanize, or ones who need money to build a better shelter.
I would love to see these two entities merge. But it seems as if they cannot settle their differences.
The most annoying part in my point of view is not seeing PAWS reacting to these posts. There is nothing to be ashamed of.
I have recently been working with PAWS as a fundraiser. I am not an official contact, though. I will now have to rethink what I’m doing since the people at PAWS do not seem to take any social/public actions.
I will not work with KsPath either because of their stance on euthanization, and more importantly, their constant bombardment of ‘rival’ organizations — in the end these organizations all have one goal — Stop dissing your competition and using “save these animals” as the excuse. Kspath knows that these animals are better off at PAWS than they are on the streets. They can atleast get vaccinated, fed, and are (somewhat) protected.
We have all seen how bad it can get on the streets in Kuwait.
So as much as I would love to help, I am now confused since I do not see one organization that totally fits my views.
Any suggestions readers?
I don’t understand how people are defending PAWs here. This is not hearsay, this is video evidence of a shelter that is horrible. Not only that but you guys sound like PAWs don’t euthanize their animals. Well if you watch this graphic video https://youtu.be/D8j_rbR4aQs you’ll see that’s not really the case. In fact based on the video it doesn’t look like all the animals were humanely euthanized more like mass poisoned.
Guys the plan is something like this, get PAWS ruined, possibly shut down, Kspath stepping in to rescue the sheltered animals, ASK FOR MORE MONEY then euthanize 90% of them.
PAWS may not be perfect, yeah probably viral outbreak killing pets cuz of unprecedented events … negligence, laziness, whatever, same crap we all deal with but you know what? both Kspath and PAWS should actually unite, goal wise AT LEAST, something you would expect in a country like Kuwait where people DAILY run over animals and abuse them.
I’m sorry, nothing personal against John , But I regret until this day delivering the stray dog to you guys in your Kspath Wafra farm, had it been in the streets, it would’ve probably been better, at least I was feeding her.
and if there is anything more left to say, anyone who is profiting off donations should rot in hell
I would rather K’s PATH euthanize the dogs then to kill them the way PAWs did in the culling video I shared with you earlier. Again, I’m completely surprised at how you and others could defend such inhumane treatment of the animals. You’d rather see the animals suffer then put to rest.
You have not been there Mark, have you?
I can’t believe that the same blogger who once advertised for them is shallowly disputing their purpose of existence, the video only shows the messed up part, surely there is a brighter story somewhere there too, why else would I and many others argue over a horrific video?
how about you go there and film the truth instead? I’m not defending nor am I being against, I’m just stating a fact that I have personally experienced from both.
You should know better, Kspath is better funded than PAWS, thus the lack of super qualities with the latter.
One last thing, I would rather see people do something rather than sit behind and moan. PAWS along with their volunteers are at least trying, they may have messed up but you, too, could’ve handled things differently instead of advertising “Cruelty” along with their name and attempting to drop the ceiling on their heads.
I suggest you follow up with your investigation with them on Facebook.
Yes I used to advertise them and support them but so what? I have a brain, I can think, I am not stupid nor I am blind so why would I want to continue to support and advertise an organization that is allowing animals to suffer? Lets say the video shows “only” the messed up part, by “only” we mean the part that is meant to house the cats and dogs… what other parts are left? That’s everything. You mentioned a brighter story, what brighter story? If you have one please share it with us.
You say maybe I should go film the truth as if this video here has added special effects to make it look bad. How can a video lie? What about the second video, are you suggesting all the dogs in the video are actually asleep and not really dead?
I never disputed your experiences, what I was asking was how can you look at this video now and still support this organization? How can you at the very least not ask questions or have any doubts? You can’t live on old memories and experiences, things change, people change, places change and PAWs is no longer the PAWs that it once used to be.
Hello all
I am a video editor and motion graphics artist.
I analyzed the video carefully and unless guys at ILM had a hand in it I’d say its legit
People would need to have serious budget to have the flies and other stuff added in cg and composited but then the green screen would be a big issue unless they used live motion tracking on the flies. Like Avatar… lol
This is really messed up. The video is legit but for people who are trying to empathize, It would be a good idea to visit them and try to do something for the animals. They are the reason why we are here right ? coz we love them.
I apologize if i offended someone.
I dont know if anyone knows this but the care takers of residential buildings (Haris) kill cats on daily basis. They give them food with poison and kill them coz these cats litter in their building area. rather than scaring them away they just kill them. This thing happened with me and had a fight with the haris. he told me this thing happens everywhere.
For the information of anyone reading this in the future, the ‘culling’ in the linked video was after previous mismanagement refused to deal with a distemper outbreak in the dogs area. If you look it up online, distemper has no cure, but it is highly contagious and spreads rapidly. The new management took action quickly to ensure that no other dogs became infected. Unfortunately, the dogs in the video were already infected, and although they could have spent 6 months being treated by a vet, there are no distemper survivors, and it would have prolonged the inevitable. As you can see in the video, staff were working late into the night to disinfect the areas where the infected dogs were to keep the other dogs healthy. Perhaps ask why they would do such a dramatic thing instead of believing cruelty is intrinsic to people who give up their free time to help animals.
Tania, why should they let the truth get in the way of a good smear campaign? Superfailz, It is gratifying that so many of the comments on here know the situation for what it really is and that the constant bombarding of PAWS to some more intellectual people are thinking there might be a monetary agenda.
I was involved with PAWS for 2 years and in all that time John Peavler was spending Waaay too much of his valuable time bad mouthing PAWS, it became ( and apparently still is) an obsession with him to have the rival organisation shut down, we had no idea why? This is not a new thing, this was 5/6 years ago and he’s still at it. He seems like a caring person, or so he is constantly telling us, he does a lot of good work so why is he constantly bad mouthing PAWS? Was this as others have suggested so that any charity money available in Kuwait would come to his wife’s organisation? Is it that Important to be number 1?
Yes PAWS will always be the poor cousins to KsPath but then they were not able to build a brand new shelter following a tragic accident were they? At that time what a lot of people didn’t realise was because of all the funds and any donations flooding into KsPath, PAWS hit a crisis point, there was simply no money coming in from donations and the shelter which to all intents and purposes was just a makeshift put you up miss mash of timber and steel was living hand to mouth. When thousands of KDs were flooding into the fund for KsPath did these so called animal lovers ever give a moments thought to PAWS and how they might be suffering and offer financial help? Or did they just go ahead and build the biggest fanciest shelter they could?
I have had many friends who helped out at both shelters and both have done a serious amount of great work, helping animals is helping animals right? I have friends who helped out at both shelters and had no problem with it, because for some IT IS all about the animals isn’t it?
It’s easy for the outsider to say why wont PAWS accept help? I’m very sure they would if that help came in the shape of money or food. The plain fact of the matter is their ethos has always been very different. PAWS would only euthanise in extreme circumstances….yes the Spring outbreak of Distemper was distressing to everyone involved but in condemning through a video that explains nothing of this terrible disease outbreak are you advocating that these animals should have been left to suffer with the disease instead? KsPath for their very own reasons have euthanised thousands of ( non diseased ) animals that were deemed to be non adoptable. Where are all the older dogs on their adoption page? That’s their policy and its their total right to run with that if that the way they operate and we should not condemn that right but PAWS chose not to go down that path.
Instead of John, Mark and others condemning an organisation that has literally been on its knees what may I ask are you actually doing to help? It’s so easy to take the high ground, be the mean rich girls in school and bully the not so well off! Shame on you. You cannot condemn an organisation that does not want to hand over its animals some of which will be instantly euthanised, you know this yet you keep using it as an offensive tool. Yes there’s some poop around, and yes they are massively overcrowded, staff are under qualified, no-one is disputing that. I understand from friends that they were massively understaffed at that time and things have now improved but by condemning them and bullying in such a public way you are effectively cutting off any funds that might be coming their way and by kicking them when they are down effectively putting a nail in the coffin of an organisation that has done some brilliant work in the past. It’s nothing short of bullying.
Of course we could all mud sling, there are stories and tales they could tell but it’s counter productive, and yet people ask why are PAWS not defending themselves? This is not a government organisation that you can judge and call to account, it’s a bunch of people with no hidden agendas who are doing the best they can with what they can, they don’t have a fancy new shelter etc etc etc but I understand from friends still helping there the place is clean and tidy….and yes as usual vastly overcrowded.
It’s not ideal Mr Peavler, it never was and probably never will be but if as you say you just want to help get off your high horse, stop with the mean girl tactics, help them raise some money, help them clean up their shelter but for goodness sake if you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all!
PAWS stopped functioning as a true animal shelter once Manu Tague (the former chairwoman) left Kuwait. Very sad state of affairs. Kuwait needs animal cruelty and animal abuse laws.