Food aid for 120 abused and disabled cats at a Yangon animal shelter, Myanmar.

Golden Heart Animal Rescue is an animal shelter in Mingalardon Township in northern Yangon housing some 120 cats, 600+ dogs and a number of pigs and cows. All the animals sheltered have experienced some form of abuse, been abandoned or met with accidents. While some animals have physically recovered, many remain disabled (limbs missing, blindness, mental retardation etc.) and are taken care of by a team of 12 dedicated workers headed by founder Ms. Hnin Si Myint.

The challenges in caring (feeding, cleaning, vaccinating, sterilizing, medicating etc.) for such a large number of animals, many of whom are handicapped, poses tremendous challenges physically, financially and mentally. As the Yangon city government does not provide any form of funding or logistical support to the shelter, Golden Heart is completely dependent on the goodwill of donors for its upkeep.

This campaign seeks to raise an annual sum of $12,000 Singapore dollars (equivalent to USD$8,800) that will be sufficient to feed all 120 cats at the shelter with wet canned cat food once a day for one year. Without cash or food donations, the cats are otherwise fed only once a day with rice mixed with a small amount of fish as canned cat food is financially out of reach for the shelter. Meals of carbohydrate-rich rice predispose cats, who are supposed to be natural carnivores, to early diabetes and kidney problems. The lack of protein also means that many kittens and cats tend to suffer from poor growth and development. A daily provision of 25 cans (400g each) of protein-rich wet cat food will be sufficient to feed all the cats one good meal daily. While the needs of the shelter's dogs are are even greater than that of the cats, this campaign hopes to make a small contribution towards helping Golden Heart's cats so that any resources the shelter saves as a result, can be re-directed to helping its other animals.

Funds raised will be used to purchase cat canned food locally in Yangon and delivered to Golden Heart Animal Rescue. Donors are welcome to tag along on the donation delivery and visit the shelter.

Golden Heart Animal Rescue: https://www.facebook.com/Golden-Heart-Animals-Resc...