Mustapha Project goes beyond call

This is just one of the heart-wrenching stories John experienced in her years of rescuing and finding homes for abused, stray and abandoned dogs across the country through The Mustapha Project.

She started the project as a way to raise money to donate to and raise awareness of the Trinidad and Tobago Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (TTSPCA).

Now, the one-woman organisation is spending money to treat and house dogs rather than collecting it.

John, 31, started the project in 2014, selling T-shirts and buttons with animal-friendly slogans, and forwarding the proceeds to the TTSPCA. It was named after her late grandfather, Mustapha John, who owned many animals including ducks, chickens, goats, and dogs. It was at his side that she developed a love for animals, which moved her to volunteer at TTSPCA during her teenage years.

It began as a way to take her mind off troubling circumstances.

When she returned to TT after studying Anthropology at St John’s University in New York, John spent much of her time with her grandmother who was suffering from breast cancer. Later, while working at the Office of the Prime Minister, her uncle, who worked with her father in their grocery, was killed.

She left her job to help her father.

“It was the sudden change of having your independence to working in the grocery seven days a week from morning to night, I was going mad. I had to do something and animals were always my passion.” Because of her time constraints with work, she could not volunteer on TTSPCA’s schedule but she still wanted to help so she started the Mustapha Project.

“All of a sudden the project started changing into something more.

People would dump unwanted puppies in my yard, find a dog somewhere and bring it to me, or people got my number off Facebook and called me to say a dog was injured on the Beetham. My thing is, if I know about it, it would gnaw at me until I do something about it. So it grew into something I really wasn’t expecting.” At the moment, John has 15 dogs at home and about 20 dogs under the project for which she is looking for homes. These do not include the dozens of dogs for which she has already found homes.

John stressed that she does not have a shelter so when she rescues a dog, she would take it to a veterinary clinic to which she is affiliated in Arima, Chaguanas or Diego Martin and pays for the animal’s treatment as well as to board it until it is adopted.

She told Sunday Newsday she owes one Arima clinic $4,000 in boarding fees alone, and a Diego Martin clinic $7,000 for boarding two dogs for a year.

Since the number of dogs she cares for has dramatically increased over the past two years, John now depends on donations and fundraisers to take care of the animals.

She promised if a person notices a particular dog on her Facebook page and wants to support it, she would use any money donated on that dog alone. If they are inclined to, the person could also visit the clinic and follow up on the dog, and give the money to the veterinarian.

“At the end of the day, they are happier now. They are getting food, they are in a safe environment, there are people around them who would pet them so they are experiencing love they never had.

So right now it doesn’t matter to me that they are running up a bill. I will try to sort that out later.” John has asked people to foster a dog for a month or more if they can not adopt. In this way, the dogs could be socialised so that they could make the transition to a home more easily. She assured that she would take care of the dog’s medical expenses and pay for food.

She also hoped people would adopt some of the dogs so that she could rescue more.

She said some of the dogs were older, have behavioural problems because of abuse or of the way they previously lived, and some were disfigured in fights or accidents. She said she had difficulty getting homes for the healthy dogs and realised it would be even more difficult to get the troubled ones adopted.

Because of this, she has kept many of these knowing that no one but a true animal lover would want them.

Her screening process for adoption, however, is a bit strict.

She believes every dog deserves to have an owner but not everyone deserves to have a dog.

She insists on checking the home of anyone who wants to adopt in order to make sure it is a safe environment. She also has to talk to the perspective owner because she needs to feel that the person would take good care of the dogs. She said having a lot of money or a big house does not mean a person would be a good owner, but they have to be financially able to care for the animal.

“Everyone may not agree with my methods but at the end of the day these are my rescues. They come like an investment to me. Buddy (her newest rescue) ran up a bill of $8,000. I can’t just give him to anyone passing in the road. I need to make sure my money does not go to waste and that they will be well taken care of and happy for the rest of their days.” IT’S ABOUT PASSION Although John works alone, she has a great support network of friends, family, and people she met through the project – people who provide transport, help with fund raisers, and listen to her when she needs to talk.

She said this was not the life she had planned for herself as she studied Anthropology at St John’s University in New York and graduated a year early. She intended to go back to do her Masters and even got a partial scholarship, but she refuses to leave her father to work in the grocery alone, or leave the dogs without someone to give them the amount of care and attention she does.

“At the end of the day, having as pet is like having a child. It is your responsibility, a commitment from the time you take that dog on for as long as the dog lives, not just until it’s not cute anymore...

I know not everyone is in a position to help but at the end of the day change starts with you. People say it’s just a dog but it’s still a living, intelligent creature with feelings.” John encourages people to spay and neuter their dogs, not only because it helps control the population, but as it allows females to live a longer, healthier life and males become less aggressive.

“Really and truly, with the amount of stray dogs out there, why would you want to add to that problem by breeding your dogs?” She recalled the many times people called and ask her to find homes for their dog’s puppies after keeping only one. She stressed that having pets spayed and neutered, or taking them to the TTSP CA was more humane than dumping defenceless puppies in a drain or a river.

When it comes to abused dogs, she advised people to report the matter to TTSP CA since she has no legal grounds to take the dogs. “I try to encourage people to speak up, do something because that’s the only way these kinds of things will come out. These animals can’t speak for themselves so it’s up to us, who are supposedly the more intelligent being, to do something.” She also believes the government needs to put stricter laws in place to deal with cruelty to animals, in addition to increasing the penalties.

Anyone willing to donate to the Mustapha Project can do so at any RBC branch, account number 110000000496745.