SPECIAL PLACES
HELPING THE COMMUNITY
One Paw at a Time A one-on-one with Sara Al Fahaad, founder of local animal shelter, Aleef Rescue Center.
By Nora Saiari
I’m a 29-year-old happily married mother of a 5-year-old child. I was raised on a farm in Thumamah, where I lived with all sorts of animals; cats, mice, chickens, dogs - you name it! Since I was 7 or 8, I‘ve been rescuing animals from the area and bringing them to the farm to care for them.
When was the shelter established?
The center was established two years ago as a nonprofit volunteer project. It is located within a Customs Authority dogs training center, where a clinic was built along with spacious care units to have the animals in.
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What kind of animals does the shelter rescue? We have the capacity to save all kinds of animals, from turtles to birds and more, but we mostly rescue dogs and cats that get abandoned by their owners, they’re the most likely animals to suffer abuse, neglect and desertion. We also do sterilization of stray cats and dogs to prevent random breeding in an area or neighborhood.
What are some of the challenges you face?
Mostly the lack of animal welfare knowledge and compassion towards them. Lots of times people question the neutering procedure and think that it isn’t important, but at the shelter we try to educate people about the lifelong health benefits of spaying or neutering animals; first and foremost to the animals themselves as well as for the
STAFF PHOTO/MOHAMMED DEGHAISHM
Who is Sarah AlFahaad?