LiSPA - Update February 2009
Written by Ben Noreikis DVM, Naturewatch Foundation Lithuania.
These past several months since World Animal Day have been quite eventful at LiSPA and even with the financial crisis upon us, the future here for animals and their welfare seems quite positive.
Animal Control Ordinances
For the first time since Lithuania's independence, the two largest municipalities of Vilnius and Kaunas have approached LiSPA for assistance in improving their animal control ordinances. To date, such ordinances have been ammended without consulting animal welfare organisations which has led to many problems. City councils have enacted ordinances which discriminated against dog and cat owners, often requiring them to abide by ridiculously strict and ineffective regulations which proved even more difficult to enforce. The tides are now turning, most likely because the cities finally realised that their requirements are not solving pet overpopulation, stray, and responsible pet ownership issues. Quite often, such changes in the local ordinances were nothing more than intentions to provide a 'quick fix' to various problems. From now on, such issues are being addressed with input from various institutions such as the State Food and Veterinary Service, health departments, veterinary associations, police, kennel & cat clubs and animal welfare organisations. The City of Kaunas has even founded an Animal Care and Control Advisory Board which provides recommendations to the City Council prior to any changes in the Animal Control Ordinace. LiSPA is participating in these new and welcomed initiatives.
 Dog Registration System
Regarding dogs, LiSPA's prime objective is to establish a registration system which will incorporate the use of dog tags. Such a simple and low-cost registration scheme would require that every dog be examined by a veterinarian annually, leading not only to mandatory rabies vaccination, but would also ease police enforcement of animal control ordinances as well as providing many other benefits for pets, their owners and generating revenue for municipalities. Collected registration fees would fund the collection and sheltering of strays and homeless pets in the community. An identification tag on a pet's collar can be construed as his ticket home in the unfortunate event that he somehow becomes lost. We will keep you updated regarding the progress of this new initiative.
 'Man and Animals' - Guide to teaching animal welfare in schools.
Here at the LiSPA Central Office, we were delighted to receive a visit last December from a group of 7 schoolteachers which authored the 2003 publication of 'Man and Animals' (image). You may remember that with the generous contribution from Naturewatch, this publication is an educator's guide to teaching animal welfare in grades K-12 and a copy was distributed to each of the 2100 schools in Lithuania. This teacher's guide was the first and only publication of its kind in Lithuania which is still widely used to date. The teachers which contributed their countless hours of time and effort 6 years ago have not forgotten the importance of humane education and wish to involve themselves in a new project. Their enthusiasm is indeed very welcomed and I as LiSPA's Chairman will seek to incorporate this dedicated team into our Board of Directors at the next LiSPA General Membership Meeting.
Don't feed the swans!
During this winter season, the topic of global warming is rarely talked about as our temperatures have dipped down as low as -20 C.
Such weather makes life difficult for our wildlife, especially for swans. Due to people feeding them, many of these royal birds decide not to migrate to warmer climates as they've become accustomed to handouts. As our lakes and rivers are now ice-covered, these birds have lost access to water. Many juvenile birds that have become semi-tame and did not follow their parents to warmer waters have found themselves stranded in the icy cold. Via the news media, during the entire autumn season LiSPA has actively educated the general public about the ill effects caused to swans by feeding them prior to the migration period. We therefore hope that the numbers of swans needing winter rescue will consistently diminish over the years.
Wolves - Ministry of Environment increases hunding quota
LiSPA has also voiced its objection to the Ministry of Environment's decision to increase the hunting quota of wolves this year from 20 to 30. Wolves are the most sought after hunter's trophy in Lithuania.
Naturewatch and LiSPA are members of the United Non-governmental Wolf Protection Council in Lithuania which believes that the local wolf population is endangered and therefore requires more protection, not increased hunting. The Council also believes that the hunting lobby and Ministry use outdated and inaccurate methods in determining population statistics which is leading to the demise of this species.
The hunting lobby is very strong in Lithuania and our battles with them will undoubtedly continue.
 Endangered birds
LiSPA is currently organising a campaign towards providing nestboxes for an endangered species of bird, though uncommon, it's called the Common Merganser. This is a colorful diving waterbird that most people would mistake for a type of duck. These birds nest in hollow trees sometimes several hundrend metres from water. When the chicks hatch, they jump out of the nest and fall unscathed many metres to the ground and then their mother leads them to water. Here in Kaunas, our city is on the convergence of two rivers (Nemunas and Neris). As a population of these birds live on these rivers, the city environment does not offer hollow trees as suitable nesting sites. Therefore, these birds nest under rooftops and other building crevices.
Image above: Common Merganser, Female & Male. Image below: Common Merganser Juveniles 2-3 days old. Both images copyright Julius Morkūnas, member of LiSPA.
Once the chicks hatch, they find themselves on streets and sidewalks, their mother is usually spooked by city traffic and people, and abandons her clutch.  The chicks then become disoriented and scatter about in all directions. Though small as they are, they do run quite fast and are difficult to capture. Raising them in captivity is no easy chore as they feed on live fish and insects. Over the years, every Spring, LiSPA has come to the rescue of many such Merganser families. Our active member Julius Morkunas (who will become a qualified veterinary surgeon this month) has initiated a project asking members of the community to construct and donate specifically designed nestboxes which will be strategically placed by ornithologists at various sites on the riverbanks during the first week of March. Hopefully these efforts will ensure the safety, protection and successful breeding of this endangered species.
Image below: Judging panel at Golden Heart Awards
 Golden Heart Awards
And finally, as many of you know, animal welfare was extremely well highlighted during Christmas in Lithuania. Naturewatch's Director John Ruane was nominated for the prestigious Golden Heart Awards in Lithuania. The awards are given to those that have dedicated their efforts towards helping others. These awards were very highly publicised, the general public were invited to cast their votes for nominees weeks in advance, and the ceremony was nationally televised on Christmas Eve. Of all the nominees, a total of 24 became finalists (in 8 different categories) and John was voted to be amongst them! As all of the nominees were 'people helping people', it was very heartwarming to learn that John received as many votes as he did for helping - animals. What was even more thrilling was that the category that John was in (helping others abroad) was the most popular and selected to be the first category to be awarded during the ceremony.
John was the second nominee of 24 to be highlighted! Of course John couldn't have won first place in a ceremony that awards people for helping people, but coming in second sure does show active support for animal welfare. All of us here in Lithuania are very proud of John and his many achievements. Bravo! |
