Rediscovering what it means to love our animal friends
I came to know of NANAS’ private tours through meeting Betty, a volunteer in NANAS during a donation drive. It was a serendipitous moment because I have been lugging a few tin cans of coins in my car for almost a month, not knowing what to do with it, other than exploring banks which might have coins deposit machine. NANAS showed up just at the right time to run its “Give me all your spare change” campaign.
Upon arrival at NANAS after making a few turns off Gelang Patah, I was pleasantly surprised to see a wooden, kampung-styled house which houses 700 dogs, 300 cats, 10 horses, 3 primates, a wild boar and many other rescued animals in a 10-acre site.
The private tour had about a dozen of visitors from Johor Bahru and another big group of visitors from Singapore. We were there to explore what it looks like to care for a big group of abandoned and stray animals. During the tour, I saw some staff cleaning the shelter thoroughly as the dogs roam freely. It seemed to me that the team was doing all they can to upkeep the place to be as clean and as comfortable for the animals.
During the tour we had the opportunity to chat with some of the volunteers. Most of the dogs there seemed to have a story of their own and some animals were even greeted affectionately by the volunteers with their given names!
Betty, the tour-guide for the day, shared with us some important initiatives undertaken by NANAS. Besides trying to rehome some newly brought-in animals, NANAS is also actively involved in community outreach programme to educate and increase awareness of the necessity to sterilise owned and community cats and dogs. Ultimately, there needs to be an effective plan to reduce the stray population to curb overpopulation of strays and this is in line with the mission of NANAS which aims to reduce the number of homeless animals on our streets.
For more information on NANAS and the sanctuary’s private tour, please visit their website: https://www.noahsarknaturalanimalshelter.com/
