Getting Rodney A Home, Operating On Tina And Feeding 5000 Dogs A Week

The Bigger Picture

The last couple of weeks have been dominated by 2 very special new arrivals in Rodney and Tina but the bigger picture is still my main focus.

I’m often driving around on the moped wondering If I will ever actually be able to ever solve the suffering of these wonderful animals. Maybe the problem is just too big? It seems to break everybody who tries. Luckily I’v never been more determined and I’m learning and seeing so many wins…

Rodney

It was a mixture of his tiny size, his bleak initial appearance and people seeing how close he was to death that captivated us all with this special little puppy. His videos have been viewed over 20 million times on places like Instagram and TikTok.

Now that Rodney has made it and is growing into such a beautiful boy it is time to find him a home. People always say “oh but he HAS to stay with you”. That would be a failure though because there are many more lil Rodney’s out there who need help and Rodney also deserves his own little forever home.

If you are interested in him mail me niall.harbison@gmail.com with title RODNEY. I’m not fully set up for adoptions yet (Hope, Little Squeak and Lottie are traveling soon as trials) but the process is still be refined so be patient with me! He can travel anywhere but it will need to be the perfect spot for him given how special he is.

Tina

There was something about Tina’s face when I saw it that told me she needed to be rescued immediately. I couldn’t sleep that night thinking about her looking so sad tied to the chain.

She has had a couple of close calls with death already (bloating) but she has survived 9 days now being ferried around to various vets and getting opinions from around the world. I would say her chances are still 50/50 because she is a very sick girl but today we started to make some progress. More than likely what is happening next…

• She will travel 10 hours to a large hospital where they can operate

• She has had broken ribs at some stage that need to be accessed

• There are major stomach complications that will beed fixed

• She has other health issues like skin etc that can be treated long term

• If she survives all that she will come back to the land

• I have to figure out all the logistics as obviously it is impossible for me to go with her at the moment

Myself and the people following her journey online have lost a lot of sleep over Tina but this very special girl has at least had a small beach trip and I am going to do everything in my power to keep her alive and give her the life she deserves.

5000 Meals Served Per Week

I’m now able to serve 5000 meals to dogs per week. The healthy home cooked meals feature chicken, rice, lots of fresh vegetables and coconut oil. They are cooked in a central kitchen daily and sent out via volunteers around the island. The key benefits here are…

• The dogs get fed

• Long term health of the dogs will improve with less medical issues

• The volunteers get it for free so it saves them money and time spent cooking

This will only scale up from here and has been a huge game changer for everybody getting the food. The dogs even get their own little plant leaf “plates”.

50 Dogs Sterilised Per Month

I always say this is the most important part. 50 per month is a still a relatively small number but it will save about 1000 puppies coming into the world over the coming year. 1000 puppies never having to suffer or getting to experience love.

It costs around $3000 to do this every month but there is no better money spent than that. Controlling the population is the only true way to end the suffering.

I do this with partners and I hope to really ramp this up in the coming months as otherwise the battle to improve the lives of street dogs will just never be won. These are a couple of the lucky patients this week.

Not Letting Things Go To My Head

My social media accounts have kind of gone through the roof in the last couple of months. This time last year I had about 800 followers on Instagram and today it’s well over 300,000. There are 700,000 people following on all platforms. I’ve completely lost control of my messages. I still don’t really think it is real to be honest.

My inbox is full of media requests, people looking to promote dog products and other interesting projects. It would be so so easy to get my head turned right not and float off in another direction to try and get famous of make money for myself.

Every single time I do anything at all during my day I ask myself one question…

• Will this help improve the lives of street dogs?

If the answer is no I don’t do it. Simple as that. People might ask how making a video of an old dog relaxing or sharing content on Twitter helps street dogs. Well the answer is that education and awareness are key. I can save a few hundred dogs myself but with the help and support of 1000s of people around the world I can save millions of dogs. I don’t always get it right but that is my thinking.

My perfect day would be spent alone feeding dogs in the jungle and not talking to anybody! I’m an introvert by nature. Having said that I know that I am in a unique position with all this attention to change the lives of street dogs for the better and I’ll use that wonderful gift I’ve been handed for the dogs sake.

Thanks For Having My Back

I like writhing these newsletters as there are days like today when I feel like I am not getting anywhere. I genuinely sometimes feel there are so many setbacks and the problem so large with dogs suffering that is unfixable. 4 Dogs were killed by being poisoned in my area today (my friend feeds them) and someone else threw rocks at me and a group of dogs in a clear message to stop feeding them. When up against those sorts of situations it can be easier to walk away and take an easier path and walk away. I won’t.

By writing and looking back to find stories and pictures I can see that there are indeed big changes being made and it will only speed up if I keep doing what I am with the same ambition, focus and conviction.

I genuinely couldn’t do a 10th of this without the support of people on the ground, online and around the world willing me on. The dogs and me are very grateful indeed.

Time to push on

Big Love

Niall

P.S You can support by either donating here or just subscribing to this newsletter.

P.P.S Sorry for missing a newsletter over the last week but you can blame Tina and some other dogs for that! They had me flat out and not sleeping with worry!