Give A Dog A Bone: Samaritans Raise Over 2,000 Kilos Of Pet Food For Maltese Animal Shelters
With animal sanctuaries struggling to stay afloat, the wider Maltese community has come together to do what they can to make sure that their sheltered furry friends are taken care of during these difficult times.
Out of the goodness of their heat, a group of people came together and collected 2,000 kg worth of dog food in less than 24 hours for various animal shelters around Malta.
“We collected over 2,000kg of food in 18 hours. Let me say that again, we collected 2 TONNES OF FOOD in under a day,” said Igor, the man behind the initiative.
“With the help of our friends over at Prince & Princess, who generously offered me the food at cost price and free delivery, we will be sending a 1,000kg of food each to Noah’s Ark Dog Sanctuary, Malta and to Rosalind Agius over at the Association for Abandoned Animals,” he said.
None of this would have been possible were it not for the generosity of pet food manufacturers, specifically Pet Nutrition, who made the campaign possible by selling pet food at wholesale price.
“I bought about 30 sacks of food and asked my friends if they’d like to contribute and it just caught on like wildfire, just stupid crazy. In the end, I just put my number out there on Revolut and woke up with €1000 in my account,” Igor said.
“It wasn’t anything planned, it’s just people wanting to reach out. Even people who I know aren’t doing well, people who I wouldn’t expect anything from, even they donated a tenner.”
“From our end, it was a good idea to help them out in any way possible. We gave them special prices on wet food as well. This way there will be a large quantity of dry and wet food for both sanctuaries,” said Andrew from Pet Nutrition.
Everyone is paying the price for the COVID-19 pandemic but animal shelters are particularly affected by the economic downturn caused by the virus with over 50 sheltered mouths to feed and zero income.
“A reality check is that this food will last just under a month in each of these shelters. They consistently take care of and manage over 70/80 dogs, day in & day out. With this corona panic, a lot more animals are being abandoned and shelters are overflowing,” Igor said.
While generous donations from the public might keep shelters afloat for the time being, many NGOs remain uncertain about what the future holds and how long they continue to operate without earning income due to the ever-increasing coronavirus pandemic.
If you have spare change, every little bit helps, especially during these trying times. Methods of donating to local animal shelters can be found on their respective Facebook page.
Tag someone who can help out!
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