Here’s what happened in January!
AnimO (and Bat World Japan) have officially joined the Asia for Animals Coalition! AfA is an association of animal welfare groups that share expertise about a huge variety of animal issues and we are thrilled to be members.
AnimO had a surprise inspection by two veterinarians from City Hall. We passed with flying colors, and they also told me that lately the neighbor complaints have dropped to zero. That tells me that my efforts at community outreach are working! I’ve been talking to neighboring farmers about taking their waste plant matter, talking to them about helping them maintain their unused plots of land, and we might even be able to work together to build bat boxes to attract native bat species and cut down on the amount of insecticides they need for their crops. It’s a win all around!
Shout out to Bat World Sanctuary in Texas, USA, they hosted a fundraiser on behalf of Bat World Japan (under the AnimO roof until it gets big enough to have a separate facility). That money is going toward renovating what will become a huge flight area for rescued bats from the exotic pet trade in Japan. We currently have 9 happy residents and are working on even more opportunities to reduce and ultimately eliminate bats from the Japanese pet trade. For more information, check out the Bat World Japan Facebook page.
Our new face this month was Tommy, from the same puppy mill as Juno.
He’s a medical nightmare and needs a lot of care, but he’s living his best life! I am trying to focus AnimO’s efforts on exotic animals and I’m doing a LOT of legwork to put some big things in motion, but I couldn’t say no to taking in this un-adoptable puppy.
Ursa the barn owl is all grown up now and was finally ready to move into the outdoor aviary with lots more room to fly around. Congratulations, Ursa!
Our amazing handyman, Kawasaki-san, has a heavy cart to transport materials and equipment. I trained his dogs to help pull it for him (with harnesses, of course, NEVER put weight on collars). Easier for him, exercise for them, another way everybody wins!
If you know someone who wants to support AnimO, or if you want to help more, there are lots of ways!