Helping man's best friends

It takes a whole team to nurse sick or unwell shelter animals back to health.

Last Tuesday, a team of three veterinarians and four nurses from the Gentle Oak Veterinary Clinic in Ghim Moh shut their clinic for a day to offer free medical treatment at the Noah's Ark Natural Animal Sanctuary (Nanas) in Johor Baru.

The team worked tirelessly, treating the animals' wounds, carrying out ultrasound scans and performing surgery on them.

The team's spokesman, Ms Bertha Cheung, told The New Paper they did amputations for two dogs and two cats, sterilised a dog and a cat and did a lumpectomy on a dog's eyelid.

"There were also ultrasound scans done," she said.

It was the first time the clinic had sent a team to volunteer at Nanas.

"We believe all animals deserve to be cared for equally, whether they are someone's pampered pet or a shelter animal," said Ms Cheung.

ABANDONED

Nanas is a sanctuary for animals that have been abandoned, abused or unable to find a good home in Singapore or Malaysia.

The sanctuary, which was founded in 1995 by a Singaporean, has about 1,200 animals - 700 dogs, 300 cats, a pig, a gibbon, three macaque monkeys, two pythons, two ponies, nine horses and countless rabbits, chickens and birds.

Running it costs about $35,000 a month and Nanas depends largely on public donations, the sale of merchandise and tours to sustain its operations.

"We believe all animals deserve to be cared for equally, whether they are someone's pampered pet 
or a shelter animal."

- Gentle Oak Veterinary Clinic spokesman Bertha Cheung