War Paws: Cookie

From the War Paws’ Website:

“HELP COOKIE TO COME TO THE UK”

Cookie is a very handsome boy who had the good fortune to come across an animal lover in Pakistan who now wants to save him from an uncertain future. When we got the message from Cookie’s rescuer asking for help we immediately managed to get him a place at the LAPS animal shelter in Peshawar where he has been ever since.

You may have seen the recent catastrophic floods in Pakistan.  Cookie was resident at the LAPS shelter that was left completely destroyed in the floods, thankfully the shelter founders Zeba and Javed managed to grab him and get him in a vehicle and taken to a safe house when the floods came but many animals were not so lucky.Cookies rescuer has donated around £1500 of his costs but because he is quite a large lad we need to raise quite a bit more for him to come home.  He will be ready to travel by the end of September and we are really going to need your help to make this happen.

His rescuer, Hafsa, tells his story below: My name is Hafsa Idrees. I am a Pakistani but I am based in Germany since 2016. I came to visit my family in Islamabad who has recently moved to its countryside. The area is called New Mall Sharki. When I came this January after three years and post covid, a lot had changed and it took me a while to get used to the new surroundings. In front of our house is an empty plot of land on which people throw their rubbish. It is not a very pleasing sight but there is no way one can talk to the people around about cleanliness, or concepts like animal rights. Most people live below the poverty line, are uneducated so the priorities are very different.

This year I came home on the 13th Jan 2022. Even though my family is here, I felt pretty lonely, disoriented and misplaced. One day I was sitting on the balcony, and saw a few stray dogs sniffing the heaps of rubbish in search of food. They looked worn out and hungry. After a few minutes the kids and young men gathered to throw stones and bricks at them and disperse them. Now I stood up and could couldn’t stand this. I yelled at them and asked why would they not leave them alone, they gave me all sorts of bullshit reasons like “dogs are unhygienic and not allowed in Islam, they are dangerous and aggressive, they should die” and all the bogus reasons one can think of. Most dogs had run away but one stayed (he is our Cookie). When people cooled down and left, I fed him with the left over Chapatis (brown bread) from last night and some boiled rice. I didn’t know what to feed him but he was happy to eat this food. I was careful while approaching him because I didn’t know what he had been through on the streets, if he could read my signs and understand that I don’t mean any harm or if he could be around a human in such close proximity at all. He was limping and scared. I sat down and fed him slowly, he stayed for a while and left. Later that day he came back at night with his little pack and I fed them with whatever I had because I was not prepared for these visitors. However, It filled my little heart and I was happy that at least tonight they were not going to sleep with empty bellies. Next day, Cookie came around again and just sat down in the sun. He didn’t want to eat, just sit. I sat down with him on the road. The passers by laughed at me and called me names but I stayed. He came closer and then put his sweet head on the road. It broke my heart. That was the moment I knew I had to help him! And because he started to stay outside our gate often, kids and young men ganged up to remove him. They ganged up, came with sticks and bricks and threw at him. I was inside but when I heard him bark and growl in pain, I ran outside, yelled at those bastards and dispersed them away. I stood by him for two hours because I knew they were going to come back. They just didn’t want him in the area because of the reasons mentioned above. They told me I should stay away from him too because he is dangerous and aggressive, he is obviously when he is being kicked by the bikes, beaten with sticks and thrown stones at but with me he was friendly, playful, careful, not aggressive at all. He ran away but returned every time he wanted to have a little snooze in the sun or food.

I want to help Cookie see a world that isn’t as cruel and experience love, gentle touch and care. I know I cannot help all the stray animals here in my country but I will be happy to help just one with your love and support because Cookie seems special. He keeps coming back to me even after all the beating and trauma as if he is silently screaming for help. I am currently struggling with Covid and managing all of this alone so if for some reason I am unable to organise anything that is needed in the process, I will return the money to the donors because I have never worked in Pakistan for such a cause before and I have no idea what I am dealing with. Maybe it is a wild goose chase but I just want to help Cookie and we both are desperate! I know it is a lot but it will mean a lot to us if we could somehow achieve this goal.

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https://warpaws.org/donations/help-cookie-to-come-to-the-uk/