It's been a very tiring month for many of us at SCAA. Many of our foster parents have dropped out of action and our few dedicated foster parents (only about 8 out of 38 signed up!) are overwhelmed taking in animals in every spare crevice! SCAA can only become sustainable long-term if we increase our foster network: It's up to YOU to make a difference. At the same time, I'm thrilled to say that our monthly meetings, project visits and adoption days are drawing larger crowds than ever before; these events are extremely joyous, and with every animal saved, healed and adopted out, we can all feel very fulfilled in knowing that each and every SCAA member and volunteer IS making a difference here in Shanghai. All of these events provide funding for SCAA that is essential for us to be able to carry on providing medical care for the animals we rescue. We continue to need each of you to bring more and more people to our monthly meetings and events! The Small Companion Animal Symposium, hosted by Animals Asia in Guangdong on 25 March, is still yet another reminder of how far we have to go...but we at SCAA will not advocate shelters and we are proud of using the alternative method of a foster care network (without overhead, dumping of animals, or hoarding), and we will continue to save animals one at a time, methodically, providing proper medical care and adhering to strict animal welfare protocols. We will also continue to focus on education, at all levels of society in Shanghai and surrounds, oppose local pet/bird market and unscrupulous pet stores and exhibitions, and continue to push for spay/neuter programs that are at the very core of the growing animal abandonment and stray animal problem. As ever, I extend our heartfelt thanks to each of you that supports SCAA...without you, the organization stops.

• Animals Asia Companion Animal Protection Symposium, 25 March, Guangdong:
  I attended the first Small Animal Protection Organization Symposium, hosted by Animals Asia, in Guandgong. It was a one-day symposium, with 32 small animal organizations from throughout China represented. The only Westerners present were the Animals Asia representatives (plus their local staff), the Asia Director for the UK RSCPA, Paul Littlefair, who was a guest speaker, and myself. The majority of organizations were from Beijing and Guangzhou, and only two from Shanghai: SCAA; and SSAPA, which we disconnected from any association with last March (For more on our history with organization, please see our April 2005 newsletter on our website www.scaashanghai.org ).
  Jill Robinson, founder and head of Animals Asia, started with a gruesome presentation of cat/dog slaughter for the fur/food trade here in China. She was compassionate in not showing videos of this beyond horrific practice, but even the slide show had the entire audience, journalists and participants, gasping with shock and in tears. She has called for the end of cat/dog slaughter, and is urging that all of us do not condone the "humane" slaughter of dogs and cats, as this is simply not possible. She showed dogs being raised for food under "humane conditions" and it's often simply a large cement enclosure where dogs are raised, in poor health and with no regard to their welfare, until old enough to be killed. With the Olympics and World Expo coming to China in 2008, and 2010 respectively, SCAA does hope that we can all work together to get this barbaric practice stopped. There are those who use the argument that we eat cows, pigs, etc. and that cat/dog eating is culturally acceptable in many countries in Asia. Many of us would prefer the world to be vegetarian but that will never happen (!), so from our point of view, we still need to start somewhere, and we are simply against the killing of cats and dogs, our dearest companions, for food/fur.
  All organizations attending were allowed three minutes to introduce themselves. Many of the representatives were hoarders or overwhelmed with shelters they run. A couple of people reported that because of their hoarding (one lady has over 400 dogs), they are divorced, have sold their homes and are trying to cope in their poverty to continue to take care of these animals. These people received rounds of applause for their sacrifices, while I was stunned that many of these organization representatives didn't seem to understand that hoarding is a terrible problem and that it can still remain the animals that suffer despite the hoarders thinking they are "saving" animals. Some of these representatives don't believe in neutering animals, euthanizing sick animals, or that sick animals need to be kept in isolation, etc. etc. Ultimately, it once again proves that you can put 32 organizations in one room, all claiming to care about animal welfare, and there are easily 32 different opinions! Hopefully, it is still a major first step in nationwide communication about progressing companion animal welfare in China, and Animals Asia will analyze the results of this symposium and decide what will be useful follow-up directives. SCAA has offered to help Animals Asia in Shanghai and we look forward to hearing from them in the near future. We have also requested print materials from Animals Asia about the cat/dog eating issue, which we will distribute among our members, the local community and local schools. We would like to extend our thanks to Animals Asia for inviting SCAA to attend this unprecedented symposium...it will be interesting to see what the future holds!
• High Heel Kitten Killer Caught:
  We are of course thrilled that the kitten stomper was caught recently, but it's just a reminder of how much an animal welfare law is needed in China. At the same time, even with animal protection laws, "squishing" has a popular cult following in the United States, and it is this profitable fetish that is now being exported to China. We will soon have an article up on the website on this topic which will include a link to SCAA dog adopter Dan Washburn's "shanghaiist" commentary on animal welfare laws in China, as well as a link to information about recent arrests and imprisonment of producers of animal squishing videos.
  Further, in an explanatory article from the Shanghai Daily: "The high-heeled woman who shocked China's pet lovers by stomping a kitten to death in a notorious video has apologized. The woman, a Heilongzhang Province nurse named Wang Jue, said she was despondent over a failed marriage and allowed herself to be talked into crushing the animal to death while the cameras rolled. The video was later posted on the Internet and could be downloaded for free. It was used to attract viewers to a website that featured videos of small animals being stomped to death by provocative women. The website, which sold the discs for 15 yuan each, is no longer operating. Immediately after the video was posted several weeks ago, enraged animal lovers began tracking down those involved in making the video. The actress and the video's producer were traced to Luobei County. The woman’s apology, and an earlier mea culpa from the video's producer, were posted this week on the county government's website. The woman expressed remorse for her actions and their effects on others. Wang said she is divorced and having trouble figuring out what to do with her life. She said her despondence led to the cruelty against the kitten. She also said that her behavior had deeply hurt her family, especially here daughter. Both Wang and the video's producer were suspended from their jobs after they were identified. It was not clear what further punishment they might face - if any - as China does not have clear-cut laws preventing cruelty to animals."
• Keith Ellis' new contact information for pet import/export:
  If you have any questions about the import/export of your pet, Keith Ellis, one of our major sponsors, is changing jobs to a new relocation company, but will be happy to answer your questions and assist with your pet's move in or out of China. His new contact information is: Keith Ellis [keithpeterellis@msn.com] and mobile number: +86 137-6160-2268.

• Baoshan:
  Baoshan management is still expecting to move within the next two months. Jack Brandell provided drawings/specs for them to consider while building as they have promised to build at least 2-3 isolation rooms along with a new cattery and improved dog kennels (we'll believe it when we see it). On the upside, the new location for this private facility has a small river and pedestrian park adjacent which will mean much cleaner air and a green area for the dogs to be walked and to play.
  We recently have had many people (both new members and people calling SCAA for first time enquiries) who have requested going alone to Baoshan or using their own cars to follow our donated van on Sundays. Let us reiterate once again that Baoshan is a private facility with a strict agreement about visitation with SCAA. No independent visits will be allowed except for the weekly Sunday visit and the weekday visit by our long-term group headed by Jenny Hung. No private cars are allowed to visit Baoshan except if the visits are accompanied by Carol Wolfson or Directors Cat Brandell or Mary Sewell.
• FuDan Student Cat Protection Association:
  We have been in touch with the Student Cat Protection Association at Fudan University to discuss potential cooperation in catching/spay & neuter/release and foster/adoption of the 300+ stray cats on campus. Unfortunately, the group leader has stated that the students themselves are in a bit of disarray right now as many are graduating and they don't know who will take over the organization next year. They did say they would appreciate assistance with providing cat food and funds to neuter, but we need to discuss this further. As most of the cats are feral and not easy to catch, we don't want to be donating food to make the animals healthy only so that they can increase breeding, thus we need to discuss the potential for catching the feral cats to at least get them neutered and released (we can provide funding for the neutering of cats already caught and being raised by the students). Apparently the school management has nothing to do with this organization and have no desire to meet SCAA as we have already requested high-level meetings. We will soon meet with the student group leader to see how we can specifically help.
• 300+ Cat Couple:
  Two of our members, Uli Weber and Caroline Phelps have requested assistance with a project that involves a couple that have accumulated over 300 cats and have moved to an area in Pudong where the neighbors are non-accepting of the situation. They are hoping to help these people find a new place to live and assist with decreasing the population over time through medical care, euthanizing sick animals, foster care and adoption. Uli will be bringing a German veterinarian to first analyze the situation and we have asked her to provide a full report and feasibility study to us to consider whether we can realistically assist. If it appears there is some manner in which we can assist, and the couple agrees to meet our SCAA requirements, veterinarian James Holder and I will go out to look at the project. Our main problem is that our manpower and funding is extremely limited and without a major increase in fundraising, we can only commit to new projects where we can make a huge difference with relatively minimum investment. We have also been asked to assist a Mr. "Wong" who has over 100 cats, all neutered, as he too is living in dire circumstances. This makes the 6th hoarder that we know of with over 100 cats in Shanghai; all are living in extreme poverty now and not only is the welfare of their animals in jeopardy, but we believe that living in crammed cages, or even if there is a large house, is at best a stressful and non-joyous existence for cats who need privacy and relative solitude to thrive. These hoarders believe they are "saving" cats, but they are simply creating entirely new health and welfare problems for these animals.

• 16 April O'Malley's Easter Party Fundraiser!
  SCAA will be making a huge children's hamper of Easter goodies to be raffled at O'Malley's children's Easter party at 4pm. It will also be an additional adoption day for SCAA! We need volunteers all day long (and ahead of time too!) to sell raffle tickets. We hope to be provided with tickets very soon so if you have any venues/events where you can pre-sell tickets, please call Carol at 138-1781-1443 or Mary Sewell at 130-2323-4048. Should be a really fun day, so please do join us, and bring your kids!
• 21 May Senses Wine Lounge Dog Day Fundraising Party!
  This should be a fantastic party! Matthew Ryan, owner of Senses Wine Lounge, is hosting a fundraising "Dog Day" party for SCAA. From 10am-6pm, enjoy brunch, lunch, live jazz, raffle and bring your dogs!! We hope to make this a reunion for our rescued dogs, and members' pets as well! There will be a wide variety of selected wines to taste at discounted prices and Matthew is donating 10% of the bar take to SCAA...so come enjoy and raise funds at the same time. Woof!!
• WE NEED MORE FUNDRAISING IDEAS & SPONSORS:
  As you may note from our finance report, our expenses continue to grow as we save more animals and we work to make our website attract more readers/donors! We are limited to what we can do by the amount of funds we have, so if you can think of any events or sponsors to help us increase our fundraising in 2006, please let us know!!

• 10 April- Shanghai Expatriates Association, Coffee Morning: 10am, J.C. Mandarin.
• 29 April- Garden Book Store Flea Market:
  See attached JPG of the Garden Books Flea Market Ad! On every 3rd Saturday of the month, from 2-5pm, tables will be sold for RMB 100 and you can sell anything you want! We are happy to recommend our SCAA members to buy tables, and the management of the event is donating one table free to SCAA! Come and join the fun! (This month will be the last Saturday in April...)
  
• 22 April- Earth Day, Shanghai Zoo:
  This is a large community event to celebrate Earth Day with plenty of children's activities, climbing wall, vendors, refreshment and educational booths! The management of this event is donating a free table to SCAA to distribute brochures and sell our t-shirts and calendars. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Carol Wolfson, 138-1781-1443.

• Paypal Donations now possible!
  We are now set up to accept PayPal donations online by credit card, so please tell everyone you know overseas to donate!!!
• New SCAA Brochure Printing Donated by Mini-Net Printing!
  We are thrilled to state that Mr. Leo Xiang, owner of Mini-Net Printing, has printed 4,000 of our new SCAA brochures gratis! We have now put up the company's logo on our website, so please consider using Mini-Net for all your printing needs as our way of saying thank you.
• Record Number Hits on SCAA Website!
  We are up to a record number of unique hits/day on our website (l28 unique hits each day...meaning 128 different people are checking out our website each day!). Now if we can only get everyone to hit that "Donate" button!
• Website Video Production!
  We are honored that a good friend of our IT Director Milton Menefee, Ms. Sharron Lovell, a professional photographer (www.sharronlovell.com), has agreed to create a video/still shots of how SCAA operates which can then be sent via our website worldwide! We have decided to focus on a before/after case (probably Demi as we have been able to document her case history and she is one of our most dramatic rescue stories), starting from the horrific pet market, to veterinary care, fostering and then adoption! We are very excited about this new project and very grateful to both Sharron and Milton for taking this on pro bono!
• Please join new SCAA Forum!
  PLEASE sign up for our SCAA forum (on the website homepage), as this will provide a method for our volunteers/members to communicate on whatever subject you wish regarding animal care or SCAA subjects!

• T-Shirts now for Sale!! PET ME! LOVE ME! TAKE ME HOME!
  Our SCAA, bi-lingual t-shirts are now for sale! Be sure to buy one at any of our events, or take a bunch to sell at your own event or to friends, relatives, etc. We have heard a few members say they are expensive at RMB 150 each, but we chose to make high quality, long-sleeve shirts which cost us RMB 72/each...and remember, this is all for fundraising purposes, so that extra RMB 78 in profit is what we use for medical care for our wards!!! Buy buy buy!!!
• Calendars still available!
  We still have about 60 calendars to sell so please buy one if you haven't already, or take a bunch to sell on. Come June, we will mark them down 50% to sell whatever supply we have left. We are also very grateful to report that Ms. Junie Tong, who donated the funds to print our 2006 calendar, has agreed to again donate funds for our 2007 calendar. Thank you so much Junie!

The following, "The Dog as Fashion Statement" by Ted Kerasote, is an excellent article about dog breeding which reminds us at SCAA how much we are against selective breeding, and breeding in general, when there are so many abandoned animals in need of loving homes worldwide! www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/14/opinion/eddog.php. The article reminds us that in the U.S. alone, there are over 5,000 puppy mills that, according to the Humane Society, provide most of the half-million purebred dogs sold through pet stores and on the internet. And how many end up in animal "shelters" in the U.S.? Over 4 million each year, with over 50% euthanized. We tend to have no problem pointing blame at the horrific pet markets here in China, but we need not look any farther than our own backyards in the U.S. and Europe to find equal cruelty...much of this then exported to Asia.