Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society -

LAWCS 2016 Annual Report

Dec 23

LAWCS was able to educate many children and adults and help many animals in 2016 thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and staff and to the generosity of our donors. Our achievements for 2016 are summarized below.

Please click here to download the full annual report for 2016.

Implemented Animal Welfare Programs in 32 schools and reached 18,284 schoolchildren
 Facilitated and supported 22 various Students Led Animal Welfare Projects
 Trained 2,301 pet owners on responsible pet ownership
 Established school gardens in 14 schools
 Established Animal Kindness Clubs in 22 schools
 Responded to 60 animal abuse cases
 Provided free basic animal healthcare to 2,108 companion animals mainly dogs and cats
 Celebrated World Rabies Day Event in Liberia
 Celebrated World Animal Day Program
 Executive Director Morris Darbo attended the Humane Society International supported Animal Care
Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
 Received two International Awards:
a. Received a prestigious International Award from Global Alliance for Rabies Control in recognition
of its work done in Liberia towards its animal protection work and the elimination of rabies:
https://rabiesalliance.org/nominees/view/liberia-animal-welfare-conservation-society
b. Recognized another International Award as the Best Society for Animal Rights Activism – Liberia in
recognition of its work towards improving conditions for animals in Liberia. The award is by UK
organization Global Health and Pharma: http://www.ghp-magazine.com/2016-liberia-animalwelfare-and-conservation-society-lawcs

Be Kind to Animals – Children’s Drawing Contest in Liberia

Dec 07

In September, we organized the first ever animal artwork competition among students from 22 schools. Over 200 children took part in the competition. The aim of the competition was to give the children the opportunity to use their passion and creativity to create posters based on the theme “BE KIND TO ANIMALS“. Sixteen children emerged as the
winners. Their winning posters are now used to reach the larger society with our kindness to animals programs. The 16 winners, each received a gift bag of prizes including notebooks, colorings, pens, pencils, copybooks, and a copy of LAWCS` humane education book.

Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society Wins Prestigious Award for Rabies Prevention Work

Oct 05

The Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society (LAWCS) is proud to announce that it has been awarded the World Rabies Day MSD Award for Sub-Saharan Africa. This award recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of rabies prevention. The judging panel included individuals from the CDC, FAO, OIE, WHO, MSD and GARC, and MSD Animal Health.

LAWCS volunteers, under the guidance of founder Morris Darbo, have educated tens of thousands of children about safety around dogs using the Be a Tree program provided by the Canadian company Doggone Crazy. The president of Doggone Crazy, Joan Orr, said “Morris and his team are truly deserving of this award. Their selfless dedication to the protection of animals and children over the years, under very difficult conditions, is inspiring and humbling. It is wonderful to see them getting this respect and recognition on the world stage from leaders in world health promotion.”

LAWCS continues to provide basic animal health services to hundreds of pets yearly to improve their welfare and reduce the transmission of diseases including rabies. When the Ebola crisis hit, LAWCS changed gears and began providing bleach, soap, buckets and Ebola prevention education to remote communities accessible only by foot and motorbike. LAWCS also educates the community on compassionate animal care and treatment, and campaigns against eating the meat of dogs and other animals. With the help of the organization A Well Fed World, Morris and his team have provided nutritious vegetable based foods for hundreds of people and have initiated the planting of local gardens so this can be sustained.

If you’d like to support LAWCS in this important work, you can be sure that 100% of your donation goes directly to community programs. Please donate using the button at the top of the right hand column in this blog.

Tackling the plight of dogs through education and care in Liberia

Sep 29

Liberia is a poor post war country in western Africa, with many problems including the recent Ebola crisis that killed over 4,000 people, high illiteracy rate, lack of electricity, high unemployment rate, and other problems that don’t involve animals or their welfare. The problems with animals, however, do exist.

People have dogs and don’t know how to care for them, keeping them in horrendous conditions that are far below what is considered humane. Dogs are left to roam around in search of food, eating leftover food on the ground exposing them to diseases and parasites. Most people provide no veterinary care or treatment when their dogs are sick or injured. Some people also eat dog meat.

In order to help these lovely companion animals in a population that abuses them, we educate their owners and work with their owners to improve the human-animal relationship. That`s exactly what LAWCS does. LAWCS provides responsible dog ownership education for dog owners, runs an anti-dog meat eating campaign, provides free veterinary care and treatment. LAWCS also provides a community outreach feeding program to give a healthy alternative to eating the meat of dogs and other .

We believe that cruelty to animals is often caused unintentionally, but animals suffer as a result of lack of knowledge and information. That is why we put so much emphasis on education and information about animals along with practical care and assistance for animals. To love animals also means to know them well.

Please consider making a small donation to help our work in Liberia. All funds go directly towards our programs.

LAWCS Annual Report 2015

Jan 13

LAWCS` Humane Education Program In Liberia

Promoting care, compassion, and respect for all animals is fundamental to preventing animal cruelty. An active step towards improving permanent conditions for all animals is humane education.

With humane education, LAWCS is making a tremendous difference in the lives of many animals and people. Currently, LAWCS is the only registered animal welfare organization in Liberia that has been providing humane education to the public. The need for education on animal welfare in Liberia is pertinent. LAWCS believes that education is key to ending animal cruelty and creating a just and caring society where animal and human welfare matter. Education is a critical element in preparing a generation of animal lovers, increasing community responsiveness to animal welfare issues. Education also helps to tackle the inhumane treatment of animals at abattoirs, educate the general population on animal welfare, and to change attitudes and practices towards humane treatment of animals. With education, we are reducing the number of children harmed by dogs through our dog bite prevention program.

Anti-Pet Eating Campaign Report – Sept 2015

Sep 30

Dogs have been our friends and trusty helpers for thousands of years. They have shared our burdens, brought us joy, protected us from dangers, guarded our properties, and showed us the meaning of friendship. Dogs show us unconditional love. They do not care what we look like, whether we are rich or poor, whether we are educated or uneducated; our dogs greet us with unconditional love. These lovely animals do all of these fascinating things for us, but many people in our society pay them back with cruelty.

The Importance of LAWCS Humane Education in Schools

Sep 30

Liberia is a post war country struggling to recover amidst overwhelming challenges including animal abuse, lack of electricity, high unemployment rate and the recent Ebola crisis that took over 3,000 lives in a country with a very small population of 3.4 millions. More attention is been placed on human development and revitalizing the economy. Liberia has no policy or regulation that protects animals, mainly domestic animals. In Liberia, animals in general are not that highly regarded among people. The concept of animal welfare and rights is seen in Liberia as a new phenomenon. For centuries, animals have been considered in Liberia as commodities and source of income. It is a generational issue. Children grow up seeing their parents and other relatives abusing animals and no one cares at all.

KNOWLEDGE= POWER

Anti-Pet Eating and Humane Education

Jun 28

Presently our program is attracting hundreds of children from every school. We use TV and sometimes projector to teach humane education including the dog bite prevention education using the Clicker Puppy training DVD.

During the program, we provide vegan meal to all the children attending the event. We deal with over 500 children at each program.

Dog Bite Prevention Challenge Report – 2015

Jun 13

Duration: March to May 22, 2015

Report Date: May 26, 2015

Summary report on the activity implementation

Liberia is one of the countries in the world where little or no information is given to children about dog body language and bite prevention.

Children are being attacked by dogs due to lack of knowledge about dog safety and dog behavior; and for every child that is attacked; it is the dog that pays the ultimate price when euthanized. Before the establishment of the dog bite prevention program in Lofa County, Liberia by the Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society in partnership with Doggone Safe Canada, the dog bite incidence in Lofa County among the children was alarming, with community leaders authorizing the killing of community dogs as means of curtailing the rampant dog bite incidents. This method did not help to reduce the incidents among the children until 2011 when Doggone Safe started to empower LAWCS to educate the children about dog body language and bite prevention. Since then there has been drastic reduction in the number of dog bite incidents among children in communities visited by the program.

A Well Fed World – Vegan Feeding Program in Liberia

Dec 09

First of all, the people of Lofa County, Liberia and the Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society extend sincere thanks and appreciation to Dawn Moncrief and the entire staff and compassionate donors of A Well Fed World for the donations. The funds made tremendous impact at this crucial moment in Liberia when Liberians are fighting the Ebola epidemic. The Ebola crisis has taken the lives of over 4,000 Liberians. The fund was very crucial in saving the lives of farm animals, pets and feeding the starving population with free vegan food.

When the Ebola disease started in Liberia in March, 2014, the government of Liberia placed a ban on the hunting and eating of all bush meat as one of the effective ways of fighting the spread of the Ebola disease. The banning of bush meat consumption in the country was highly appreciated by the Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society. However, the ban created a very serious threat for farm animals and pets. The consumption of farm animals and pets increased at an alarming rate.

The Ebola epidemic has also created food shortage in the country. The virus entered the country at which time the subsistence farmers were getting ready to start their farming activities. The Ebola crisis disrupted every farming activity in the affected communities. Lofa County is one of the epicenters for the Ebola virus in the country. The virus entered the country through Lofa County from neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The funds received from A Well Fed World were used to address the issues of farm animal and pet consumption and feed the starving population with free vegan food. The Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society used the funds to provide free plant based diets to four affected towns in Lofa County. These communities are:

1. Whycardou————500 people benefited
2. Bakorma————– 250 people benefited
3. Jarmolon————— 400 people benefited
4. Voinjama————– 154 people benefited
A Total of: 1,304 people benefited from the plant based diets

The Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society spent three days in each town.

Day 1: Educated the people on the importance of plant based diets/ Animal protection
Day 2: Provided plant based diets for the entire community as sample food
Day 3: Gave each family a take home supply of plant based diets.

We wouldn`t have saved the lives of farm animals, pets and the starving population at this crucial time in Liberia without your support. We therefore extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to the family of A Well Fed World and all the compassionate donors.

Thanks,
Morris Darbo
Program Coordinator
Liberia Animal Welfare & Conservation Society