News from Noah's Ark - January 2014

Dear Friends of Noah's Ark,

On 31 January, we will be  galloping into the Year of the Horse but before we do that, we would like to thank you for being our loyal friend and faithful supporter of Noah's Ark. It is because of your belief in us that we are able to continue our work with the animals at the sanctuary.

Noah's Ark will be turning 19 this year and like everything and everyone, it is beginning to feel the ravages of age. Many of the original inhabitants that made the trek from Singapore have crossed over to Rainbow Bridge. But for every resident that leaves there is always another one waiting anxiously to take its place.

We, at the sanctuary, will always have our work cut out for us. Animals are continually being abandoned for various reasons - many, sadly frivolous.  The tasks and responsibilities that face Raymund, the workers and our volunteers are heavy and ongoing. Compared to the fulfillment of rescuing and rehoming, there is little glamour in maintaining the sanctuary. However if the sanctuary did not exist, where would our rescued animals go?

The sad truth is that after the initial euphoria of "rescuing an animal", the rescuer sometimes forgets that there is a lifetime of caring to be undertaken.  This is the unglamorous part - maintenance of the rescued pack at the sanctuary. Nevertheless, it is our commitment to each and every animal that comes to stay with us that we want it to live out its life in the manner it ought to be able to - surrounded with love and care.

We are always mindful that limited resources do not allow us to rescue every animal in need. Hence, we have worked very hard to establish our spay and neuter campaigns both in Singapore and Malaysia, to reduce the number of unwanted litters - the only humane way to rescue our animals from needless killing. We believe that this work has made a difference.

Nevertheless, for 2014, we would like very much to appeal to you to help us "Build Noah's Ark brick by brick" - many of the buildings are now more than 14 years old and are in need of repairs. All of our funds have always been channeled to feeding and caring for the animals and neutering our strays, with repair work at the sanctuary, relegated to the lowest priority.

The "Buy-a-Brick" campaign will be launched at $10 per brick, which we hope you will support.  With your generosity, we will be able to undertake some much needed repairs and rebuilding of Noah's Ark so that our sanctuary will always be the place that our animals can call home. For more details, please click here.

We thank you all once again in advance for your generous and heartfelt support - Noah's Ark exists because of all of you.

Best wishes,

Chew Gek Hiang

President

Noah's Ark Cares

Buy-a-Brick For 13.5 years, we relied on the generator and diesel to provide electricity for the sanctuary.  Electricity is a luxury to many of us and sometimes we take it for granted that we are able to enjoy light and air-conditioning any time we want - not for Noah's Ark.  We have to plan and use our generator wisely when we need electricity.  Electricity is used only in the afternoon and evening when Raymund needs to operate the clinic to attend to our sick animals or for the vets to perform surgeries. With the developments around our area and having to operate the ABC Clinic, it is time that we have electricity.  Its costs an estimate S$16,000 to bring in the power cables to Noah's Ark. The "Buy-a-Brick" programme will also go towards the repair and painting at Noah's Ark - some of the kennel and cattery doors, handles have given way and its needs to be replaced due to wear and tear. For $10 you can help to buy a brick to provide light for the animals.  For more details, please click here

Events at Noah's Ark     Noah's Ark Tour: 22 February We will be organizing our first tour to Noah's Ark on 22 February - come and gallop into the new year with us and have a photo opportunity with our rescued horses from Singapore. We have 6 new residents from the riding facilities in Singapore namely: Cinzano & Prisma (ex dressage horse from the Youth Olympic Games 2010), Boom Boom and Primus (ex riding horse/pony), Chung Dong and Warrior (ex race horse) these are the Lucky 6 that were spared from being put down. Come and say "Hi" to these gorgeous gentle giants and learn more about horses. Date: Saturday, 22 February   Time: 2.00 p.m. For more details please click here        Noah's Ark Photography Retreat: 8 February If you love animal photography,  you want to learn and get tips from C.S. Ling - she will be organizing a photography retreat at Noah's Ark on 8 February.    Seats are limited, for more details about the workshop, please click here to register. It's a good getaway to escape from the city and to be with mother nature in the wilderness.   Volunteers Day: 8 March  For all those who had thought of volunteering at Noah's Ark Sanctuary but are unable to drive - this is our first ever "Volunteers Day"! We will be organizing this at Noah's Ark Sanctuary on Saturday, 8 March. What many people do not realize that the animals at the Sanctuary want most from us (after food and shelter) is to be touched and played with. This is our time to bond with them. On this special day, these volunteers will get a chance to work with dogs, cats or horses whichever animal catches your fancy. Part of this bonding time would require you to groom the animals and spend time socializing with them. All this will be briefed and discussed further at the sanctuary with a short orientation tour prior to the session. Our regular volunteers will be present so that they will be able to help or assist you if required,. Priority will be given to volunteers who have visited Noah's Ark before and are used to working with animals. For more details about the programme, please click here. Happenings at the Ark Vets Across the Border   January was a busy month at the ABC Clinic - we had vets from Singapore and vet interns from Australia attached to Noah's Ark and together they have sterilized close to 120 dogs and cats within 10 days. Noah's Ark provides low cost sterilization for the community - the animals that are brought to the clinic must be street dogs or cats.  Our objective is to sterilized as many street dogs and cats to prevent unwanted kittens and puppies on the streets - because the street is not their home. It is not possible to rescue or to bring everyone back home - it is important that that we practice Animal Birth Control.

Moses loves durians. Moses the Macaque After being with us for 8 months and Raymund nursed Moses back to health, we have returned Moses into the wild to be with his troop.  It is sad to see him go but we know in Moses' heart - he is internally grateful for the care given to him during his stay at Noah's Ark.  We would like to than Mona and her family for contributing towards Moses medical aid. To read about Moses' rescue please click here. Huggy Boy giving Raymund his hand. Huggy Boy's Enclosure We would like to thank our generous sponsors for sponsoring Huggy Boy's enclosure - due to the bad weather season in December, we had to put the construction on hold.  We will start the construction of Huggy Boy's enclosure after Chinese New Year - please stay tune for the development of his new home. Pepi our poster boy. Thank you for the Christmas Cookies We would like to thank our friends for bringing Christmas cheers to our dogs by donating Christmas Cookies - the dogs loved the cookies and wished it was Christmas every weekend.  Thank you for granting their Christmas wishes.

Fiddler on the Roof - Part 2

Remember the wild macaque that entered into Raymund's kitchen one morning asking for help?

Today, we have officially given him a name "Moses" and he likes his name.

Raymund told him that when he gets better we will release him back into the plantation. Moses said "No Uncle Raymund, I want to stay here."

We have a feeling Master Latte, our PR Manager (also a macaque) must be telling Moses how good and wonderful life is at Noah's Ark.

Moses a macaque from the wild - allows Raymund to change his dressing for his wounds.

Master Latte must also be telling Moses - you better cooperate with Uncle Raymund if you want to stay and be nice to him. 

Fiddler on the roof

26 April, the macaque was found sitting on the store room roof at Noah's Ark.



On 26 April, a macaque was sitting on the roof of Noah's Ark store room - from a distance we could see that it was injured and hungry.

How do we attend to an injured macaque?

The only thing we could do was to give him some fruits and he was contented.

Since then he disappeared, and a few days later he came back and this time the workers spotted him on the kitchen roof.

We would love to help him - but it was impossible for us to get on top of the roof to attend to a wild macaque. What if the workers get bitten or attacked?

29 April morning - the wild macaque that never had any human contact - entered into Raymund's kitchen (where Raymund normally prepares his meals) to ask for help.

The workers managed to carry him and placed him into a cage and brought it to the clinic.

Raymund attended to the macaque, he found several wounds on his legs and he got bitten badly on his right arm by some factory dogs at an oil palm plantation near Noah's Ark. The workers have seen him hanging around in the area.

We will do our best to provide the necessary medical care and treatment for him.

It's amazing - that a wild animal will approach you to ask for help.

Surprisingly this evening, when Raymund greeted him, the macaque gave his hand to Raymund to thank him.

Animals have their special ways of showing appreciation and they teach us so much that we take things for granted.

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude." - Cynthia Ozick