President's Report

 Somehow we must spread the word that quarantine may have been finished in the UK. but for animals from Spain the six months must now be served this end instead. Blood tests and passports are essential.  Unlike in the rest of the EU, you cannot put the pets in the back of the car and drive.

Our financial situation is grave. The credit crunch has hit everyone, so there is less money available to help charities like ourselves. This situation has deteriorated further since the beginning of the year. We have managed so far with the goodwill of our kennel owners who wait for monthly payments, and the amazing army of fosterers who look after the dogs waiting for homes. Without them we could not continue.

Everybody brings us puppies, usually dumped in rubbish bins or left on the motorway. At present, we have 32 waiting for homes. There is no way we can take them in, so we are totally reliant on the fosterers or friends to look after them.

I am sure you have heard me say, "Nobody asks 'How are you Wendy?' when I phone them -  just 'What do you want and how many!'"

We still have no funding from any local or government body.  Nerja Caves donated €500 last year and many of the local organisations generously donated to us such as the Nerja Players and the Bridge Club.  Many local bars held functions for us.

Personally I would like to thank Mike O’Brien for all the hard, time-consuming work he does to raise money and obtain sponsorship for our events.  Thanks Mike.

Our cat programme is very successful; together with SPA we have just about cleared the streets of Nerja of sick cats and loads of kittens.

Unless our funds are significantly increased we will not be able to carry on as we are now.  There appears to have been some misunderstanding over recent press releases. We said we were cutting back on the animals we take in (we are only taking in dire emergencies) but we did not say we could not help and we are putting as many dogs as possible on our website and arranging fostering.

Our thanks of course to Expedito at the Clinica San Fernando who seems to work wonders and of course his team. Also to Dave Jamieson who manages to get our news items published on a regular monthly basis. I would also like to thank the committee who stagger on and Richard who has it on his doorstep all the time and only moans when the dog population explodes.

Overseas homing

• 168 dogs

• 55 puppies,

• 202 kittens and

• 36 adult cats (through Karen's work), plus

• 25 other cats (from our kennels)

That's a total of 486 animals home - almost ten per week.

Our expenditure was €119,195 while our income was €123,129, leaving a surplues of €3,934

It's easy to report “Animal Homed!” whether it's a dog or cat, but behind that statement is a hive of activity.  For 80 per cent of them this is what has happened:-

One of us has collected the animal and taken it to the vet in the first place.  Later we take it either to a foster home or a kennel where it is cared for - some times for weeks - whilst we try to home it and also raise the money to pay for its care.

If the dog is going abroad, someone books the flight and finds a passenger to accompany it.  Then one of us will collect it, go to the vet again for the documentation and microchip, before taking it the airport with its travel cage and doggie bags for “accidents”.  We oversee the formalities, check the cage through the X-ray machine, put the dog inside the cage, wave goodbye and stagger home.

It goes without saying that each animal was neutered and had up-to-date vaccinations.

We did all this and managed to have a few euros spare.  Since the end of 2008, however, things have gone from Financial Bad to Fiscal Worse.  But that’s another story.  Let’s stay with 2008.

Sp, how did we do it?  It was achieved through the efforts of just three people from the CAS Executive Committee and several volunteers who cared for the animals until we could find permanent homes.  We also worked very closely with two other charities - HzH from The Netherlands and  Ayuda of Germany- and allmost half the animals homed went to these two countries.

Rescuing dogs and cats means going out at all hours of the day and night, in all kinds of weather conditions and over all kinds of terrain.  It means physically taking the animal in the car and delivering it either to the vet, a kennel or a foster home.

It means hours out of our day spent conveying abandoned animals from one place to another; working the phones to find carers; working the computer keyboards to arrange their care and subsequent homing - and only then …t he cleaning, washing, ironing and cooking!

You can understand how one might despise people who tell us they are bored!

The only way we can cope during the economically troubled months ahead is by reducing the number of dogs in kennels and increasing the rate at which we home dogs.  During 2009 we are doing this through two mechanisms.

• Increasing the number of people who will foster a dog or cat until we can find it a home and by asking people who find a stray animal to keep it whilst we find a home.

• Launching a new section within the CAS web site (The CAS Gallery ) which is updated daily.  People looking for a pet can see exactly which  dogs and puppies we have available each day. In the near future we shall expand the Gallery to cover cats and kittens too. The CAS Web site is already a popular resource and we intend to make it the premier site aimed at re-homing animals.

As for the longer term future, slowly, but surely, CAS has become an agéd society.  The ages of the President and Vice President add up to 130 !! (The President is by far the elder!)  We have to plan for succession, otherwise the next AGM will have no President of CAS to elect!

It is hard to understand how we can function after the end of this year.  Illness and general decrepitude have joined weariness to mean that other members of the Executive will also resign during 2009.  This is a stark warning – unless other people volunteer and take their part in our activities – we will fold.

Those activities range from making jam, collecting bric-a-brac, helping at the CAS Sunday market and working in the office, to transporting animals, rescuing abandoned animals, delivering a range of things such as pet food, blankets and newspapers for puppies to “use” and organising fund raising events

Each meeting of the Committee searches for ways of raising income and finding the people to help us do this. 

Who will help ?

Report on cats and kittens

Karen O'Brien

Since February 2008 to date, 202 kittens have been homed, plus 36 adult cats (from 6 months old onwards) who were homed without having to come directly in to the immediate care of CAS.  More than of 25 cats were also homed from Weston Kennels, either through calls direct to Terry Weston or myself. Each year it is amazing to tally up the number of kittens that have come our way, but when you consider that Mike and I were called out several times a week last year to areas quite far afield to pick up very tiny kittens

(often litters of 5 or 6 at a time) dumped at different locations, (more often than not, the rubbish bins) It is really not so surprising.
 
These tiny kittens, often not more than a few days old, are either cared for by us, or if we have no room at the time, by one of the small group of wonderful kitten fosterers. This involves two- to four-hour bottle feeding day and night, and when the kittens are reared and strong enough it is then time to find them a suitable home.

Many thanks must go to Clinica San Fernando, with Expedito and his staff allowing me to pass some of these little ones direct to him for rehoming when he has a space. 
 
The problem with the number of abandoned adult cats has grown enormously over the past year, and the need for cat fosterers continues to be a priority, with often 30-plus calls a day throughout the spring and summer particularly.  It is a real juggling act to place these deserving cats in a safe foster home until a permanent home becomes available.
 
The feeding and neutering programme continues.  Every day of the year, cats are fed at the feeding stations we have set up, allowing us a focal point to pick up the cats for sterilization.  Thanks again to all those who feed the cats and show such commitment, including Mike who every day personally feeds at eight different areas without fail.

This program needs of course to be ongoing, but it has made a huge difference to areas such as the centre of Nerja and  surrounds ,with small manageable groups of healthy cats.
 

We have worked hard throughout the year encouraging various urbanisations to take on some of the responsibility of caring for the cats there, by using the feeding and neutering programme.  Several have taken this on board, even making provision in the annual budget to go towards the sterilization of the cats in their area, meaning a small healthy cat population that are of no cause for concern to anyone.
 
It is so important that all of this hard work continues.  We have made huge strides to improve the wellbeing of the cat population here, and that can only be a good thing for the community as a whole.  Cats and kittens are and always will be a big part of CAS and will require the same help and care as the dogs and puppies .
 

Treasuer's Report

Peter Thomsing

Last year again was a difficult year for CAS.  When you look at the audited figures you will realise that we can just hold the operational side alive.   Our annual budget is now around 120.00€ and this money has to be raised to further continue with the very good work.   Where does the money come from?  From membership fees comes the smallest amount, followed by donations and finally events.

Without the very fine job our “fundraising team” did during the course of 2008, we would not be able to achieve our goal to provide help and assistance to animals in need.  Knowing how hard it is to convince people to contribute to the good cause, I want to take the opportunity to express sincere thanks to everyone involved.

Many thanks go also to all other volunteers, from office staff to the “Carboot Gang” – let us just realise the amount of hours spent in a year’s time; well done.   Finally we should not forget the Committee, represented by our President Wendy Thorne, who does everything possible to keep us all on track and never to forget what we are here for.

Having said all this, let us look at our expenses.  As in previous years, the kennel fees are the largest expense.   This is no major problem when the funds keep coming in.  As the economic climate is getting much rougher, these days we have encountered what cash flow problems are all about.   Our kennel owners do understand the situation only too well and have even lowered their fees or reduced their invoices.  Thank you all.

As we all know and understand the current situation, I do not want to go into more details; that would rather frustrate.  What we need to do is to bring the good and positive news to our members and the public at large.  We are at a point where we should use a famous quote: “Do not ask what CAS can do for you, but what you can do for CAS."

For the year 2009, we have decided to lower our Membership Fee, to make CAS even more attractive to our members and hopefully new members.   As this is the only figure we can budget, we need to look even more closely for donations and to organise more famous events.   On the cost side, we shall continue to sharpen our minds and views so as to “drive our money further”.

Finally let me say that, in my opinion, it does not help to highlight mostly the negative things.  CAS is now around for more than two decades, has seen better days but also went through some tougher times.  There were always people who supported our efforts and it is now again our task to find and convince them to allow CAS to continue its great job.

Thanks also to Mathew Bell for completing the audit.