Traveller Animal Welfare
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Mission Statement
Traveller Animal Welfare became a registered charity in 2008. It was founded and is run by Fiona Gammell. Fiona is a past Trustee/Vice President and voluntary Cruelty Inspector for Wicklow SPCA. She has over 40 years experience of animal welfare/cruelty. While working as a cruelty Inspector Fiona found that a lot of the calls being submitted to WSPCA involved cases of suspected cruelty to animals by members of the Traveller Community. When Fiona investigated these cases, she found that in a lot of instances the problem was lack of education regarding the welfare and care of animals. This encouraged her to start her own charity dealing primarily with animals belonging to members of the Traveller community. Fiona believes that there is no point 'complaining' about a situation, it is better to tackle the problem head-on and actually 'do' something to help instead of doing nothing. Fiona feels that there should be at least one person in every SPCA/rescue who deals primarily with Traveller animal issues.
About This Cause
Traveller Animal Welfare was set up primarily to educate members of the Traveller Community on the welfare, health and the law pertaining to responsible animal ownership. The founder Fiona Gammell has a BA(Hons) degree in Law and a Diploma in Law. She also has a Diploma in Pet Psychology, a Diploma in Horse and Pony Care, a Green Cert (qualified farmer), a Certificate in Animal Welfare, she is a qualified Animal Groomer, she has a Animal First Responders Certificate and has completed a Cruelty Inspectors Course. She visits Traveller Education Centres where she teaches about the responsibilities that come with animal ownership. Fiona found that there really was no point just 'telling' people what they should do, you really had to help them also. A lot of the problems pertaining to the welfare of the animals was one of basic lack of education. When one group was asked why they 'docked' pups tails, they replied that they thought that they 'had' to. Fiona explained that just because something was done, it does not mean that it is right. It is worth remembering that the docking of tails only became illegal in 2013/14. It is heartening to see that very few pups are presented now with docked tails. Although, of course, it should be none. Another problem that presented itself was the one of lack of basic information derived from the written word. Quite a few of the older Travellers would depend on the younger members of the family to read and impart information to them. But of course, if the younger members either didn't see articles on the changes of animals welfare legislation, they by and large remained oblivious to the changes in the law. Most already knew that they should have a Dog Licence, but when the Dog Warden never asked them for one, they soon 'forgot' they should have one!! Now at least, they can't say they don't know the law. Ten years ago Fiona told them about the changes in the law regarding Equines, most didn't believe these laws would ever be enforced, but a lot of horses (innocent creatures) have been destroyed because of their lack of compliance with the law. Unfortunately the animals suffered in these cases. As a way of helping, we provide free worm, flea and mange treatment for dogs. We also provide free horse wormers for horses when we can afford it. Last year 2015 we gave out over 300 horse wormers to those who could not afford to buy them. We also offer a free neutering of dogs and cats for anyone who asks us to do it. These people would not be in a position to avail of the Dogs Trust vouchers as they are unwilling in most cases to hand over personal details, such as RSI numbers and/or evidence of household bills. Those living on many of the sites, don't even have household bills available to show. We have found that the only way to get the animals neutered (after first convincing them that it is the right thing to do) is to collect the animal, bring it to the vet, pay for it, and bring it back home. We tried at the beginning to book animals into the vet nearest to where they lived, but they did not always make the 9.30 am deadline. We get at least two dogs or cats neutered every week. About six years ago, people started to ask us to take pups and dogs for re-homing. One of the condition that we insist on, is that if we take puppies to re-home, we must get the bitch to neuter as well. We have had hundreds and hundreds of dogs and cats neutered over the past few years. We took in 320 dogs last year and 330 the year before (2014). Already this year we have taken in 26 dogs, one for every day of the month. We work with an English rescue and to comply with the new Transport of Dogs Act 2015 we have to have all our dogs Passported and rabies vaccinated before they can travel to England to find their new homes. We could never find enough homes for all the animals we take in here every year. We would love if it were different, but unfortunately it is becoming harder and harder to re-home dogs in this country. There are too many people breeding dogs and buying dogs and not enough people adopting them. Even though, we often have the most beautiful puppies, if they are not 'small,white and fluffy' they are not wanted. It is a sad indictment of a society that has become so obsessed with image, that they have no consideration for those animals that do not fit their self imposed criteria. And make no mistake, that is what is wrong. Not so long ago, if someone wanted a dog, they got a dog, it didn't matter what colour, what size, what breeding it had, you just got a dog and it was 'your' dog. Now it has to be a certain breed, colour, size and best of all 'non-shed', what chance the ordinary mutt. Notwithstanding the fact that most of these 'designer' dogs are 'puppy farmed dogs', but that, as they say is for another day. Nothing more healthy than your Heinz 57, and those we have plenty of. We do not confine our work to members of the Traveller Community, but will help anyone we can afford to help. The animals we take in to re-home are usually well socialised from living on the sites with other dogs, children etc. But they would not be vaccinated, most with worms and fleas and some with mange (although we have seen a marked decrease in the number of 'mangy' dogs on sites). None would be house trained, as most would never have been inside a house in their lives, this presents its own problems as most people today want a 'perfect' dog and are not willing to put the time into basic training. These dogs are the most grateful and appreciative animals in the World, eternally grateful for even small concessions. We are, we feel, preventing hundreds, if not thousands of dogs entering Wicklow Pound. We get a very small grant from the Dept. of Agriculture but no help at all from Wicklow County Council or the Dept of the Environment, under whose remit animal welfare falls. We apply for help, but none, so far, as been forth coming. We have a strict 'no kill' policy and dogs that cannot find homes stay here with us and live in our home. We have twelve here now that are deemed 'residents'. We have the capacity for about 50 dogs and are full nearly all the time. They all have individual runs that include heat lamps and water, they are walked around the fields twice a day. We try to make their stay with us as pleasant as possible, while they are waiting patiently for their 'forever' home. We also rescue horses, ponies and donkeys and have ten residents here. We have a sponsoring scheme for those who would wish to 'adopt' a horse or pony or donkey. We hope we will be able to continue to rescue as many animals in the future as we have in the past, but without help it is impossible to continue. Thank you for reading this and if you can help we would be very grateful. If you would like to visit us, please PM the Facebook page.