Donna Lam always loved animals, so it was not strange for her to take strays home and when her family said no more, she badgered other people to foster them.
Whether it is a dog, cat, monkey or even a pig, Lam believes an animal must have a home instead of being abandoned on the streets and so in her own ad hoc way as a child, she was doing then, what she is now doing in an organized manner.
Today, as a member of the Rosewood Foundation-Guyana, Lam can be found rescuing animals or trying to educate others to treat them better. She does this all while running her own business and being a wife and mother, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I have been an animal lover since I was the age of three years old. My first memory was having a kitten,” she said during a recent interview.
Asked how she knew she was an animal lover, Lam said it is not difficult to figure out when you are unable to pass an animal without stopping to hug or interact with it in some way.
“I would find kittens and puppies on the road, but I knew I could not take them home because we had so many already. But I would sneak them into the house, under my clothes or in my backpack, and feed them for a week or so until I found a home for them,” she said of her rescue missions as a child.
And finding homes, she said, meant “basically bullying” people to make homes for the animals and if that did not work, she resorted to begging them. She was lucky that her entire family, except for one sister, loves animals even though they are not as passionate as she is. At one point, the family provided a home for dogs, cats, monkeys, birds, a goose and a pig, but Lam had most of the responsibility for taking care of the animals as she was the one who took them home.
It was at the age of 14 that Lam came to Guyana with her family after spending her formative years in Suriname and she said at that time they only brought their cat with them. She recalled that it was a difficult transition for her at the time because not only was she forced to leave some of her animals behind, but also her friends and everything that was familiar. Her cat, Black Prince, so named because he was completely black, did not last long as people were afraid of him not only because of his colour but also his size; he was huge and appeared wild. Children pelted him and one day in an attempt to escape the missiles thrown at him he ran out onto the roadway and was killed by a vehicle.
“That was when I realised it is not just about finding homes for animals; it is about changing the way people see animals. Just saving, rescuing and finding homes for animals was not enough,” she said.
Rosewood
But even though she came to the realisation, Lam said, she was unable to effectively change the way people see animals until she became part of the Rosewood Foundation in 2017.
She met Ecuadorian Ileana Bonnard, who is the wife of a diplomat, on Facebook, and the two along with other likeminded individuals set up the foundation. She noted that Bonnard was instrumental in the foundation because she had the experience of working with foster homes in Ecuador and her mantra was, ‘if there is one of us then there are two us and if there are two of us then there are more of us and we just need to find these people.’
After one month of existence, the foundation had ten members and today the membership stands at 85.
She described the foundation as a non-profit to which members volunteer their services. Apart from finding homes for animals they also spay or neuter them in communities where people cannot afford to do same. They also educate the public by going into schools and teaching children what is kindness versus cruelty. People are also now being taught that animals can be used for therapy, especially for children who might be autistic or have Down syndrome.
“The main objective of the foundation is not to rescue every animal that is reported to us, it is my firm belief that we can’t rescue them all. I always tell my kids we don’t rescue animals we rescue people. We teach them to spay the animals and get the ones you have adopted and spay those as well. I found that compassion is contagious, if you teach somebody to be compassionate towards an animal, that person will teach someone else how to help their animals,” Lam said.
She noted that saving one person can in return save the lives of many animals and for her it is this approach which has made the foundation so successful in such a short period, “because we save people, we educate people.”
There have been hurdles to cross, Lam said, as there has been some resistance among people who feel that it is not their right to spay and neuter “voiceless animals” and deny them their right to reproduce.
“I will tell them the animal is voiceless and they cannot say ‘I don’t want to be pregnant at four months and have six kittens.’ A dog cannot say ‘I am 12 years old, I had 12 litters, I don’t want more. I don’t want to die of cancer’. So, it is just a matter of teaching people that there are options, you don’t have to have your animals reproducing all the time,” Lam said.
The foundation is also in close contact with other animal lovers and the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as they all work to find homes for the animals and to provide medical care for them.
Going forward, Lam said, she would like to see the animal cruelty bill passed so that there will be hefty fines for people who mistreat animals and fines for people who abandon animals like garbage. “I would love to see clubs being formed in schools, animal welfare clubs that teach children the proper way to take care of their animals and the proper way to be kind,” she said.
She noted that as a child she always thought she was different as many children her age did not have the same passion for animals and she believes that there are children who might feel that way but feel that there is something is wrong with them. Clubs in schools will help them to find likeminded children, which for her is important.
“But we [society] have come a long way but we have a long way to go. When we started the foundation, it was said it was impossible to foster an animal and now we have 14 foster homes. It was said it would have been impossible to raise money for spaying and we did four spay projects in the last two months, spaying around 30 animals. People contact us on Facebook and say they would like to contribute, and we have volunteers, whose families assist us,” Lam explained.
The work is not without its hazards. Lam has had various skin conditions because of her work, and she was bitten twice. The emergency room is familiar to her because she is allergic to animals and would often have breathing problems for which she has to seek medical attention.
“But nothing would stop me,” Lam maintained when asked if she would consider cutting back on the work she does.
Since 2017 the foundation has not only fostered cats and dogs but also a baby otter, a mongoose, two ocelots and sloths. They have been in contact with the Wildlife Commission which has given assistance.
Whenever there is some difficulty, she calls veteran animal rights activist Syeda Manbodh, who would walk her through the steps to be taken.
While two years ago they hardly got calls from members of the public, Lam said today they receive about 100 calls a day coupled with several Facebook messages all from people who are concerned about the treatment of animals.
The foundation also received a boost when the Humane Society International, a big animal welfare group, visited Guyana and invited its members to a workshop and trained them how to effectively trap, neuter and release animals. With this training the members will now go around to the marketplaces and other public areas where animals are found and spay them on the spot.
Family and job
Lam is married and has two children, who are ages 17 and 11. She said she was lucky to be married to an animal lover like herself and today the family has one dog, seven cats and seven kittens she is currently bottle feeding until they are old enough to be adopted.
She shared that all members of the foundation have their families and jobs to juggle.
She thinks she has found a good balance because from Monday to Friday she focuses on the animals and on the weekends, she focuses on her business, Book A Bounce Party Services, which does party and event planning. “It is pretty hectic, but I love doing what I do because I love children. So, it is not a job for me, it is actually fun for me to go out and work,” Lam said.
She said she does not regret her decision two years ago to invest in the business because now she has more time and more money to rescue animals. She revealed that her pet food bill can be as much as $25,000 a month.
Lam’s passions will intersect later this month as Rosewood Foundation is planning a Halloween fair, under the theme ‘Pet-Tacular,’ in Bel Air. Anyone who is interested can visit the organisation’s Facebook page for tickets and directions.There will be prizes for best costumes and all proceeds will go to the foundation’s work.