charity Archives - GlenMyu Estate Luxury Bed and Breakfast

Dogs in Sri Lanka.

When you visit Sri Lanka on holiday you will see lots of dogs in a poor condition.

Learn how you can help and what we do.

New Lives in the Wild - Ben Fogle revisits the British Sri Lankan Vet

The plight of Sri Lankan dogs was highlighted again when Ben Fogle visited British Vet, Janey Lowes, who lives in Sri Lanka. (Channel 5, Series 18, Episode 11).

Bon Fogle originally met Janey Lowes in 2019 (Channel 5, Series 9, Episode 4).

The update highlights the uncontrollable issues that have added to the pressure on the work WeCare Worldwide does in Sri Lanka. With events such as the global pandemic, the economic crisis and the lack of medicines available during the period increased the challenge caring for the dogs.

Issues all around the island

We at GlenMyu Estate also were affected by the issues that were beyond our control.

Over the years since we moved to the Sri Lankan hill country we have cared for and re-homed many street dogs.

Historically, after giving the puppies that were dropped off at GlenMyu Estate, a good start in life, vaccinations, nutritious food and medical care, we were able to re-home many puppies.

We have also funded spaying and neutering dogs villagers close to the estate. Many of our neighbours do not have the means to pay for the surgery. The aim was to control the rise in dog population and ensure that the females did not have letters every seasons of their lives.

The effect of the 2022 financial crisis in Sri Lanka on re-homing dogs

The effects of the financial crisis in Sri Lanka during 2022 and its recovery since led to us finding it more difficult in er-homing dogs.

People had to think carefully as to whether they could afford to care for a puppy when inflation was so high reaching 60% and incomes had not followed.

There was also a lack of medicines during this period coming into the country. This led to an additional concern as to whether vaccinations would be available to protect the dogs. A major concern was the shortage of rabies vaccines which would create a health risk of the owners and their families.

A lot of good work is going on

There are several organisations, in addition to WeCare Worldwide that care for street dogs in Sri Lanka.

Embark Passion

Embark has been transforming the lives of street dogs and the communities they live in since 2007.
They do great work for dogs in Sri Lanka by providing medication, spaying and neutering and finding new homes.

Dogs of Ella

Dogs Of Ella is where the stray dogs from the hills of Ella and neighboring towns come to claim their second chance at life.

They have more than 30 rescues currently residing in the Ella shelter

Individuals doing their own bit for dogs in Sri Lanka

Similar to us at GlenMyu Estate, there are lots of individual around the island that are all doing their bit to help the street dogs.

Many Sri Lankans feed the street dogs in their local area. We had personal experience of this when we lived in Colombo before moving to the Sri Lankan hill country.

A retired doctor drove around the neighbourhood in the mornings and evenings feeding the street dogs in the area.

Support the work we do with street dogs by staying at GlenMyu Estate on your holiday in Sri Lanka.

Feeding the dogs at GlenMyu Estate. Twice a day, 100 kg of rice a month makes several happy dogs.

Some of guests at GlenMyu Estate enjoy helping feed our dogs when they holiday in Sri Lanka.

A stay at GlenMyu Estate as you explore the Sri Lankan Hill Country helps to fund feeding our rescue animals and the work we do locally with street dogs.

We only have three bedrooms and you will need to book early during the peak holiday season.

The estate is usually within an hours drive of the major sightseeing locations such as Nine Arch Bridge, Ella Town, Upper Diyaluma Waterfall, Lipton’s Seat, Bambarakanda Waterfall and many more,

GlenMyu Estate is listed on Booking.com and Airbnb.
Contact us by the WhatsApp button on our website for direct booking rates.

Abandoned Puppies

Charity work in Sri Lanka, Our Animals at GlenMyu Estate, Our dogs / By Mikeez

Abandoned Puppies

On Sunday morning (18th September 2022) four abandoned puppies were left at the main gate at Glenmyu Estate.

Our existing pack of seven dogs alerted us to the new arrivals with excited barking and running up and down to the gate.

I was brush cutting at the time, keeping GlenMyu Estate neat and tidy in anticipation of new visitors to enjoy a stay in the hill country.

Eventually I cut the engine on my machine and investigated what the fuss was about.

I had a feeling, as this was a Sunday, that perhaps some puppies had been left on the road

Why Sunday?

Unfortunately since living in the Hill country since 2018 we have found that puppies are dropped off on a Sunday or a Poya (Full Moon) day. I can only surmise that people believe that sympathy and charity will be provided on a “religious” day.

Hoping for 1 or 2 and finding 4!

I was a little taken aback when I discovered four abandoned puppies snuggled up together at our gate! There was only one action to take – call for back up from my wife!

My wife - the Queen of abandoned dogs.

I asked for my wife to come and see the new arrivals and decide what we should do. We are reluctant total on more dogs as we already have seven on the estate.

GlenMyu Estate has five acres for the dogs to roam so realistically we could cater for more.

However, there are several factors why we have decided that seven is a maximum that we should have.

One factor is cost. Feeding seven dogs is expensive and as food prices have risen substantially this is becoming more of an important factor. Dogs in Sri Lanka are mainly ‘rice hounds’ (unless they are a pedigree dog). Their diet is mainly rice with some protein (usually fish or chicken) and some finely chopped vegetables. The cost of rice has more than doubled in the last six months and we buy around 100 kg of rice a month.

Another factor is that dogs are social animals and they need attention. I find it challenging spending enough time with each dog individually during the day and adding more friendly faces would add to this difficulty.

Ticks, fleas and worms

The abandoned puppies were full of fleas, ticks and you could also see from their extended bellies that they had worms. The worms are typically passed through from the mothers milk and needed to be treated as they can be deadly in such small fragile beings.

Our plan with the Abandoned Puppies

Unfortunately we have been through this process on several occasions.

We have lost count of the number of dogs that we have taken in and rehoused since we have been in Beragala.

Ruwanthi cleaned up the puppies, removing ticks and then dusting them with tick and flea powder. The temporary visitors dropped off from the puppies in their numbers.

Some sustainence in form of rice mixed with chicken juice was gobbled up by the hungry four.

A cardboard box with some fabric to provide some warmth would be the puppies temporary home.

Regular meals are needed for puppies at this age so that they get a good healthy start in life.

Worm treatment was a priority so I made a trip to the pharmacy in Beragala to buy some liquid worm treatment for the puppies.

Ruwanthi administered the medicine that evening and we were presented with the results in the morning. Not a pretty sight and to clean however it was a very important task that had to be completed.

Vitamins and minerals

To support that good start in life we provide vitamin liquid to provide the puppies with the best chance of survival and to become strong enough to survive life in the tropics.

A trip to the vet

We will take the puppies to the vet to get them checked out and some advice on what we need to do going forward. There will be vaccinations for rabies, parvo and DHL to come when the puppies are old enough.

Parvo is a contagious virus which mainly affects dogs. It is spread from dog to dog, directly or indirectly through contact with their faces.

Vaccines can prevent infection and mortality can reach 91% in untreated cases.

DHL is active immunisation against a Canine Distemper virus. It is required for puppies beginning at 6-8 weeks old, boosted twice at 3 week intervals and then a year later.

Abandoned Puppies on YouTube and Instagram

I decided that I would record our journey with the 4 new puppies as it would be of interest to dog lovers around the world.

You can see my videos at the following links.

GlenMyu Estate - YouTube Channel

D'Dogz Adventures of the Magnificent Seven Dogs - YouTube Channel

By Staying at GlenMyu Estate you can help abandoned puppies.

We use some of the surplus income we make at GlenMyu Estate to fund the costs of our wonderful street dogs that are resident at the Estate.

We also use funds to support abandoned puppies like these four paying for their food, medicine, vaccinations and vet bills.

We also have funded a spaying a neutering program locally helping those villagers who cannot afford the money to operate on their dogs to control the street dog population.

Find out more about GlenMyu Estate

To find out more about a stay in the Sri Lanka Hill Country at GlenMyu Estate please visit our website by clicking on the following link below.

Abandoned Puppies Read More »