August 2025 Newsletter

We are back!

During the two years of our absence, we’ve been anything but quiet. We started building the shelter in Mawun but the local village proved to be anything but friendly. Although we had written assurances that the dog shelter would be welcome, once we settled, the village started inventing excuses to extort money from us. We heard accusations, we defended against attacks that damaged the fence, we supported our staff who got intimidated, until we had enough. We demanded that the village refund us the land costs and we moved elsewhere.

Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been constructing a new shelter in Mertak, Lombok, while continuing our usual work of rescuing, treating, sterilising, and feeding.

Finances have always been the biggest issue. We have been relying on donations from supporters like you, businesses and expats who live in Lombok, organising fundraising events (like parties, raffles, and food markets), and sales of merchandise.

We took a break from blogging because we are just a small team. We had to focus fully on the animals and building the new shelter.

Now we’re returning to share more of the stories, challenges, and victories that your support makes possible.

Over the coming weeks, you’ll see regular updates on our rescue missions, veterinary care, community outreach, and the behind-the-scenes work that keeps the shelter running.

We’ve missed talking with you — and we can’t wait to bring you closer than ever to the heart of our mission.

Welcome back to the journey.

It’s been a while — two years, in fact — since our last blog update and newsletter.

Sterilisation Summary

Total sterilised this month :

Total : 10

Female : 7

Male : 3

Cumulative sterilisations year-to-date: 753

Having to focus our resources in building the shelter means that we are achieving much less than our monthly average in sterilisations.

Stories that moved us.

Cham-rut and Sammy are recovering from amputation and Jabrix fate broke our hearts.

Cham-rut

Cham-rut was found on the street with a cruel wound caused by wire tightly wrapped around his front right leg. By the time he was rescued, the injury was already badly infected, with dead tissue spreading quickly. Despite all efforts to clean and treat the wound, his condition showed no improvement. On 08/08/2025, the difficult decision was made to amputate his leg to save his life. Cham-rut is now in recovery, adjusting bravely to life on three legs, and showing us his resilience every day.

Sammy

Sammy is a disabled dog who has been under our care for some time. Recently, we noticed an unusual mass growing on her back right leg, which became increasingly troubling. Despite multiple treatments and surgeries, the wound refused to heal and continued to cause her pain. On 07/08/2025, amputation was the only option left. Sammy is still in recovery, but her spirit is strong—she continues to fight, and we are fighting alongside her.

Jabrix was rescued from the street after a tragic road accident. He showed signs of trauma—difficulty with balance, weakness, and a complete loss of appetite. Our team did everything possible, monitoring him closely and giving him intensive care. Sadly, despite all efforts, Jabrix passed away on 18/08/2025. His story is a painful reminder of the dangers street dogs face every day, and why our rescue work is so vital.

Jabrix

Urgent Needs / Wish List

As new injured dogs are being treated every month, our clinic needs more cages. Cages are necessary to quarantine dogs for sufficient time so as to avoid new diseases spreading to other dogs. Cages also help us keep some particularly weak dogs safe for as long as needed during their recovery. We do not use cages at the shelter, only at the clinic for the reasons mentioned here.

We also need medicine and we are looking for a kind soul to donate to us. We will provide the medicine either way, however, a donation now will save us necessary budget space elsewhere.

We need:

Big cages, approx. cost Rp 1.500.000 (about USD100)

Small cages, approx. cost Rp 200.000 (about USD15)

Blankets, approx. cost: Rp 150.000 each (about USD10)

Medicine:
Simparica 40 mg (10-20 kg), Drontal, Gusanex.