All over the world, countless animals in overcrowded shelters live sadly or struggle for their survival in wild colonies. Day after day, even today, animals that have become inconvenient are still abandoned, deported or mistakenly kept for lack of better knowledge. The Susy Utzinger Animal Welfare Foundation contributes with effective means to the fact that animal suffering can be reduced or even prevented sustainably. This animal welfare work is based on four pillars:
The Susy Utzinger Animal Welfare Foundation provides direct help: Emergency aid is used to help animals in need. In the animal orphans hospitals of the SUST, street animals find refuge and rescue.
On this important basis, SUST bases its sustainable animal welfare work on four pillars:
1. Competence Centre Animal Shelter: Animal shelters become high-quality transition stations for homeless animals, where animals are kept and promoted in a way that is appropriate for their species and finally transferred to good new places.
The Susy Utzinger Animal Welfare Foundation is continuously active: With professional planning and intensive field work, it supports and promotes animal shelters at home and abroad. In order to optimize an animal shelter and to bring it on the way of the professional animal assistance, usually years of cooperation and company are necessary. The SUST teams work daily or weekly directly in the shelters. They are involved in the day-to-day running of the shelter, evaluate organisational and structural problems and can thus approach the ideal optimization of the shelter: be it a complete rebuilding of the shelter, first aid for animals, reorganization of the processes or the delivery of animal equipment. Every year, more than 100 tons of relief goods leave SUST's material warehouse.
2. Neutering campaigns: Braking the animal misery
Hundreds of thousands of street dogs and cats fight for survival in many countries, countless of them are trapped and many of them vegetate in terrible conditions, while new unwanted offspring are constantly being born. The suffering of unwelcome dogs and cats is endless in many countries. Neutering is the only way to reduce the overpopulation of street animals in a long-term and animal-friendly way. Thousands of dogs, cats and other animals have already been treated by the Susy Utzinger Animal Welfare Foundation in several countries. This measure has prevented countless unwanted offspring from being born. Such actions have a future: no more emaciated mothers on the streets, no more famine and no more sexually transmitted diseases, in which the animals die miserably. If the number of street animals is reduced, no more cruelty to animals will be tackled: no more poisoning, no more slaughtered animals, no more shooting. In this way the animal misery is slowed down, slowly but steadily and sustainably. SUST supports and carries out castration projects in various countries on an ongoing basis.
3. Education and training of specialists: Specialists are given the opportunity to optimise their knowledge and improve animal welfare.
The Susy Utzinger Animal Welfare Foundation's guiding principle is "Let's tackle the root of the problem". In addition to the optimisation of animal shelters and neutering campaigns in Switzerland and many other countries, the training and further education of veterinarians, animal protectionists and private animal lovers is an important pillar of this philosophy. Animal welfare activists learn elementary principles for the handling and care of animals and for the management of animal shelters, while veterinarians in their country are brought up to date with the latest neutering techniques by internationally recognised colleagues and learn new and important information for the implementation of such actions. This lays the foundation for further successful animal welfare projects based on the quality standard demanded by SUST: Animal welfare workers and other professionals not only tackle animal welfare problems with a great deal of love, but also with a great deal of expertise, thus enabling long-term solutions to animal welfare problems. This is what we have set ourselves the goal for our animal welfare work: the problem is being tackled at the root of the problem! SUST also participates in the planning and construction of further education facilities.
4. Education of the population: love of animals with heart and mind
Expertise is essential for the protection of animals. For this reason, the animal welfare professionals at SUST are constantly processing their expertise and many years of experience in dealing with pets in the information series "Animal Welfare through Correct Action". In these free brochures, pet owners and animal lovers will find important tips and tricks for keeping, protecting and caring for our four-legged friends. These information brochures and campaigns are popular in Switzerland, but are also appreciated abroad: The children's booklet on the correct handling of dogs and cats, "My friend Labus", for example, has been translated into Hungarian, Arabic, Romanian, Georgian, Thai, Spanish and many other languages and is often used in school lessons. SUST regularly offers public continuing education courses for pet owners and animal lovers and organizes information and media campaigns on important topics: cat dog neutering, summer heat in the vehicle and real Christmas gifts are just some of these topics.
These four elements and their basis form the important basis for sustainable animal welfare projects.
Those animals that are not yet able to benefit from the effects of this reconstruction work and have been born into a world where they are not wanted need the emergency aid of SUST.
Emergency aid: How to save lives of animals
Those animals that are not yet able to benefit from the effects of this reconstruction work and have been born into a world where they are not wanted need the emergency help of SUST.
SUST offers immediate help through animal rescue operations, first aid and veterinary interventions and through the SUST Orphan Animal Hospitals: Here injured, sick and abandoned street animals find refuge and receive the urgently needed veterinary care and care. The Susy Utzinger Animal Welfare Foundation finances the veterinary costs, clinic equipment, medicines, operations, therapies, food and care in the animal orphan hospitals. Often, SUST also finances the construction of the corresponding clinic.
Social assistance for animals: SUST offers free food and regular veterinary consultations at greatly reduced rates at various locations in Switzerland for pets of pet owners affected by poverty.
The activities of the Susy Utzinger Animal Welfare Foundation are financed exclusively by donations and legacies (no public support).