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The report on Freddie Fenech and the Dog sanctuary in his care, made interesting, if not sad, reading.
Interesting, because I am one of many people in Malta and Gozo who care about animals and who, in a very small and humble manner, try to find any way to help animals – and especially those in plight, those that are non-pedigreed and therefore are considered by the many as unwanted and a burden.
Sad, because I don’t like to see an animal institution of Freddie Fenech’s calibre to be openly vilified on an issue that hurts most: financial accounts. It destroys the image of that institution, tarnishes it and at the end of the day, who will suffer most if not the poor animals under the care of that same animal institution!
In the past, I have helped Freddie Fenech in his work with animals and encouraged the school where I teach, to help Mr Fenech and ‘his’ animals during an animal awareness day.
Your report two weeks ago does not give me any reason to doubt that the help that I have modestly been providing to Mr Fenech is directly reaching the dogs under his care.
As I had occasion to write in the media last year, I condemn the Water Services Corporation if the water supply for the dog sanctuary was cut off.
For, at the end of the day, who is suffering from the cut in the water supply? Mr Fenech, yes, I suppose – but most importantly, the dogs that are being hosted in the sanctuary. I am sure that the present chairman of that Corporation wouldn’t like to see his big dog suffering from lack of water, and especially in the hot, summer months!
It has to be said, however, that the minister for the environment’s appeal for all animal sanctuaries to be united under one central committee, makes a lot of sense. Let all these sanctuaries unite under this umbrella. Let this umbrella be made up of representatives of all these associations, with proportional representation (the number of animals being cared for by an individual sanctuary), and any money and financial income be directed to this committee which then, through auditors, will issue the receipts and will also distribute such income, also by proportional representation, through cash as well as through materials and manpower. Only then, can we be sure that individual sanctuaries have the know-how, the time and the human resources at their disposal to keep books of account!
I do not doubt that MaltaToday is doing its job in reporting this matter to the public. But this newspaper could do a bit more, perhaps, in the field of animal awareness. Rather than investigating Mr Fenech and his association, why not go around Malta and Gozo and discover and report abuses against animals? Animal cruelty around these islands is rampant – yet, in the months that I have been reading this newspaper, there has never been a report about it. As there has never ever been any write-up over some animal or animals having been found or lost, or whatever, as other newspapers frequently do.
At the end of the day, the dogs in Mr Fenech’s sanctuary are not ‘his’ dogs – they are mine and yours, Mr Editor, and we have a job to do in keeping them healthy, happy and yes, out of harm’s way. If they are a problem to the country, then we should all pull our socks up and do something about it, rather than running after a couple of people who have made it their life’s aim to look after such animals and try to vilify them in public only because they don’t have the know-how or the time… to keep their financial statements!
Franco Farrugia
G’Mangia
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