Alumni associations hold animal welfare fundraiser

Mary Peng (third from left), one of the speakers at the coming Columbia Alumni event, with her colleagues at ICVS Photos by Chris Gelken and Shirley Han Ying

By Annie Wei

The Columbia Alumni Association of Beijing is sponsoring on March 20 the Animal Welfare Fundraising Dinner to promote control the city’s stray-cat population.

The event will feature three speakers from the International Center for Veterinary Services (ICVS), who will talk about Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) as a viable, inexpensive and humane way of controlling the number of stray cats.

Mary Peng, an ICVS founder and one of the speakers, said proceeds from the event will go toward promoting TNR in local communities. She said ICVS is not asking people to conduct TNR themselves but encouraging them to come to the center to learn more about proper pet care.

Despite stories about volunteers catching stray cats for neutering, the population of the animals has actually increased, Peng said. One of the reasons is the abandonment of pets by irresponsible owners who lack experience with handling animal diseases.

“Some local clinics may not be able to properly diagnose a disease and suggest that the pet owner abandon the animal,” she said.

Participants at the fundraiser include alumni of other US and UK universities like Brown, Cambridge, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, MIT, Oxford, University of Pennsylvania and Yale.

“There are many Chinese alumni in Beijing and they can help disseminate information about responsible pet ownership to local communities,” Peng said.

Erika Helms, a Columbia University alumnus, said organizers expect at least a hundred people to attend the dinner. “Everyone living in Beijing sees the pitiful stray cats and dogs around, and I think a lot of people want to help them but do not know the best ways,” she said.

Helms said she believes the talks will spark an interesting debate, because many of the alumni have varying opinions about whether animal welfare practices overseas, such as the neutering of stray animals, can become widespread in China.

Frank Fan, another ICVS founder, said consciousness about animal welfare is in its infancy in China and the local situation is complicated by inexperienced animal-shelter staff and murky government regulations.

Since its establishment in January 2006, the ICVS has been providing animal health care and giving information on responsible pet ownership to pet owners and local communities.

Animal Welfare Fundraising Dinner
Where: Jinmao Ballroom, Westin Beijing, 7 Dongsanhuan Bei Lu, Chaoyang District
When: March 20, 5-8 pm
Tel: 8456 1939/40/41 (ICVS)
Cost: 300 yuan (reserve by March 10 at nik2001@caa.columbia.edu)
Web: ICVSASIA.com