Approaching their third anniversary on 27 November, the Happy Paws Charity Organisation has spent over Lm40,000 on neutering and medication of stray animals in just two years. The organisation has applied to the government to stop charging them VAT. To date Lm6,457.92 has been paid in value added tax.
Tom Broome and Maike founded Happy Paws in 2004. It is a non-profit organisation and all who are part of the organisation are volunteers. Every penny “earned”, so to speak, goes toward stray animals and monitored by an official accountant.
Maike contacted MaltaToday to show that they are on the scene and need just as much help as other NGOs on the island. She emphasises the important role they play in reducing the numbers of stray animals, and all this is done using money raised in the two charity shops they have in San Gwann and St Paul’s Bay.
Maike says, “The members of the organisation are all of mixed nationality. There are just two members on the actual committee who are Maltese, which is rather disappointing in a way.”
Around 3,500 to 4,000 neutering vouchers have been issued and the main man behind the distribution sits at his desk at the headquarters in St Paul’s Bay.
Ernest Buckley registers all the members and reveals that there are 337 members involved in the programme.
“The vouchers are colour coded for cats and dogs, male and female. This helps to keep things organised and have the vouchers used for the reason they were issued. These members receive as many vouchers they need for neutering which are then given to the 14 vets with whom an agreement was made to perform the operations.”
There are also 25 registered general feeders dotted around the island. These feeders are supplied with food donated by supermarkets and customers of the shops.
Maike, who is Dutch, manages the shop in San Gwann and says that both shops could not have been so successful without the generous people who donate various items to the shops.
“We started all this from scratch, and with the help of many people, we have managed to raise so much money for what we believe is a very important cause. There are so many stray animals on the island that something needs to be done and killing or torturing is not the way to go about reducing numbers.”
She says, “We received so many donations that we could not cope in San Gwann alone because it was too small. We had to open a second larger shop in St Paul’s Bay to distribute the supply.
“A policy we stick to when it comes to clothes is that we do not accept summer clothes in winter or winter clothes in summer. It helps us deal with the storage problem.”
Maike says that the shops are kept interesting for the customers by putting the daily donations immediately on the racks and shelves. This means that the stock is different every day and when the shop is overcrowded, all items are sold for half price.
Items in the shop vary from clothes to china, and books to furniture. Whatever is on sale costs anything between 50c and Lm3 in San Gwann, and are all in top condition. Due to the larger items sold in St Paul’s Bay, prices can range between 50c and Lm50. The Happy Paws Charity Shops only sell what they themselves would buy when shopping. With the large donations received, it is generally impossible to sell everything and whatever is left over is donated to other organisations.
Mike Newick is a volunteer who helps out at the shop in San Gwann. “The island has to wake up and the government needs to deliver what it has constantly been promising. They cannot keep turning a blind eye.”
The whole Happy Paws Committee believes that if the government is to start a whole new procedure, they can help.
Maike says, “The organisation caters for stray cats and dogs. We sometimes do find homes for the animals but our main objective is to feed, neuter and medicate cats and dogs when needed.”
One of the committee members tells of a time when the organisation helped the Senglea Local Council with a pilot scheme due to a very serious problem of stray cats. Around 40-50 local ladies trapped cats and took them to be neutered, and also organised the aftercare. It was a successful venture and everyone at Happy Paws feels that with their experience and knowledge, they would be able to assist in the neutering programme in the right direction.
Maike also added, “We would like to take this opportunity to try a heartfelt thanks to all the people who have supported us these last three years in various ways.”

bcaruana@mediatoday.com.mt