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Stray Forward Trap Neuter Spay (TNR)/Feeding/Medical Care project for strays in Saqqara

TNR SaqqaraTrap Neuter and Return (TNR) is the only right approach to lessen the suffering of stray animals in Egypt. Le...
04/10/2026

TNR Saqqara

Trap Neuter and Return (TNR) is the only right approach to lessen the suffering of stray animals in Egypt. Less newborns, less suffering, simple as that. However, it is often not so simple to catch a dog.

For many years I have tried to get professional catching teams over to Saqqara. These teams are mainly operating in Cairo and greater Cairo. Only once I could manage. The disadvantage is that the dogs that are on the list for spaying are not always at their main spot. You can't ask these teams to come back at night. So we had to take matters in own hands.

For a while I am cooperating with Ahmed who is managing a boarding and clinic in Saqqara. We could already catch al lot of dogs in the area. Since I feed these dogs I know which ones are on top of the list for spaying. Some of the dogs we could easily catch without sedation. Others we could easily catch with sedation and some were hard to catch with sedation. But there are some dogs on my list that we tried to catch for more than a year now. They are too smart and too fast and they will dissappear in the palm tree woods and plantages while being sedated. These dogs are nowhere to be found during the day so we have no choice and we have to give it a try at night.

This past week was hard. I had a puppy with Parvo at home that was dumped in my street. I was more motivated than ever to catch dogs for spaying preventing more suffering. So in between giving IV fluids to the puppy I ended up looking for dogs that dissappeared in the woods after being sedated. Irrigated farmland, plantages, mud, darkness and no dogs to be found. Later we ended up on a motor crossing bumpy farmland. We looked at each other and said we were crazy. But no effort is too big for us to help these dogs. Finally today Ahmed could catch one of these difficult ones. When we were searching for the dogs we found litters in the woods. Underfed and with hundreds mosquitoes on their little bodies. You see things that you don't want to see. That's why TNR is a must!

While we are really making progress with our mission there are some developments you can't control. When you think you are on track in your area suddenly you find this new girl on the road, being dumped by one of the nearby shelters. The caramel colored girl in the picture is one of these dogs. I spotted her and Ahmed said why not catch her directly, so he did. The other dog in the picture is one of the difficult dogs to catch.

My plan is to build a strong well equipped catching team. Sometimes catching is costless but it can also cost you the amount of 3 spayings when you loose the costly syringes in farmland. We need more headlamps, money to replace equipment and supplies like catching sticks, leashes, the costly syringes etc. TNR will only work with a professional well equipped team.

Please people, donate! The more we can catch, the less suffering.

You can send your donation to our charity Symbiose in the Netherlands.

By bank:

NL68INGB0009475405
BIC: INGBNL2A
Stichting Symbiose

Or by PayPal:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=SRXKL825Q8A4A&fbclid=IwdGRjcAUvegJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAXNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqPl2feOvetaNKGMwwFwcCEopdR9PiBcvy-oZ0oJoo4y-Wnm1c2ubqv9NSNf_aem_z8zDNi9nrNmYSSz3qpOqCg

People residing in Egypt can also donate by Instapay. Please send us a message for details.

27/09/2026

An important part of TNR is to return the dog to his own spot. Sometimes that's a difficult achievement.

The day before yesterday we released two ladies in the streets. The mother of the six puppies and a lady of the Sandhill pack.

The mother of six was easy to handle with the transport but the other girl escaped from the tricycle halfway. We were sure she could find her place but she had to pass different packs and she still had a leash around her neck.

That evening I didn't see her but thank God yesterday she reunited with her pack. Welcome home dear girl! 🩶💚

The mother of the six puppies is back in the streets with her todlers after her spaying operation. No more litters for t...
26/09/2026

The mother of the six puppies is back in the streets with her todlers after her spaying operation. No more litters for this lady.

25/09/2026

It's amazing to see how much progress Tommy makes. He couldn't straighten his hind legs before due to calcium deficiency in his early days. Look at him now! He is walking so much better and no longer bowed hind legs.

It is also nice to see that he feels so much at home. He even protect his little friends from a stray dog that is passing by. He is so happy and grateful that he is no longer a stray struggling in the streets.

And the best part is that he listens so well to his caretaker Ahmed. Look at that face!

Tommy is just adorable! If anyone can support this little guy for his permanent stay at the boarding, please let us know. 🐾🍀

These two darlings are waiting to be released in the streets tonight after their spaying operation. The dog in the left ...
25/09/2026

These two darlings are waiting to be released in the streets tonight after their spaying operation. The dog in the left is the mother of the six puppies who are around 6 months now. They must have missed their mother very much. The dog in the right belongs to the Sandhill pack. Although the pack is big any missing member is being felt.

This is Lars. Lars is one of the three emaciated brothers that were dumped in my area recently. Lars is the skiniest of ...
19/09/2026

This is Lars. Lars is one of the three emaciated brothers that were dumped in my area recently. Lars is the skiniest of the three. At day the dogs are hiding and in the evening they reside on a plot of land of a company. There are huge piles of sand and stones that the dogs use as their beds.

Lars,is traumatized and will only eat when I am around.

I don't know how he figured out about me feeding other packs in the area but last night when I walked back home he was waiting for me in the middle of the road. There were some dogs with me that I fed earlier and they just walked up with me. When they saw Lars they approached him quietly as if they understood how frail his body was. I offered him dry food and fresh food but he only took a little. He had his meal earlier on my first feeding round.

It was heartbreaking to see the sadness and the confusion in his eyes. With some of the dogs I have this huge connection and I can feel their pain. Earlier in the day I fell due to a slippery road. My knee was painfull and swollen. We were both in pain and this poor loyal dog had sensed my pain. He didn't want to move so I sat down with him in the middle of that road. I spoke to him. Told him not to give up. And we cried. Me because I wanted to pick him up and give him a home and couldn't for his own safety. And Lars because he felt lost.

I tried to make him follow me to his brothers but he didn't want to move. Poppy one of the shy dogs appeared to get her meal on our secret place. So I walked on and Lars started to howl. I saw how Mini and Maxi tried to comfort him.

Later I saw that Lars reunited with his brothers.

I do hope that people who are dumping dogs among other packs understand how stressful this is for the dogs. To make sure they get a fair share of food with a dozen of other dogs around them is a daily battle for me.

And another new dog. A male dog that looks a lot like Tiger. I called him Yena since he looks like a Hyena. He is accep...
15/09/2026

And another new dog. A male dog that looks a lot like Tiger. I called him Yena since he looks like a Hyena. He is accepted by a pack and befriended puppy Tarzan who is becoming a giant.

The three male dogs that were being dumped recently are not doing well. At the place they were being dumped they tried t...
15/09/2026

The three male dogs that were being dumped recently are not doing well. At the place they were being dumped they tried to find safety on a plot of land that belongs to a business in my area. They were visibly not used to the streets and they looked scared and confused. Children of a guard pelted the dogs with stones while they were just sitting on a pile of sand on that plot of land. Talking to the father didn't change anything. He said he didn't want the dogs there although he was not in charge of that land.

During the day the dogs are hiding somewhere and when it gets less hot they come to my place for water and food. They don't want to eat alone and one dog only eats from my hand. This dog was already very skinny but after he was pelted with stones he left the area for some days and came back skin over bones. They feel totally lost.

At night on my feeding round the three are laying next to a crossing with many traffic passing at that hour. There are a lot of people in the streets that are visiting the restaurants and cafes. Often groups of teenagers making a lot of noise and approaching the dogs with bad intentions. As long as I am around nobody can harm the dogs. But the look on the faces of these three dogs while I am trying to feed them on this crossing says it all. Perhaps we as human beings already gave up to correct each other with so much stuff going on. We try to ignore bad behavior and noise of others to safe energy and time, knowing it is useless in most cases. But Baladi dogs not. They are the purest in our existence. They know good and bad and there is no in between. In their eyes lays the reflection of what have become of us as human beings. Every weird thing they absorb. When I looked into the eyes of the three while they were watching lowlifes strolling the streets I felt deep shame. It was hard to distract them in order to feed them. I spoke to them with a soft voice while feeding them. Meanwhile people were making fun of me. The emaciated dog stopped eating. Looked at me with sadness in his eyes and asked me, "what are we doing here?" I couldn't answer. Their wisdom is unbeatable.

The six puppies have to miss their mother for a while. Last night we could catch her for spaying. It wasn't an easy catc...
14/09/2026

The six puppies have to miss their mother for a while. Last night we could catch her for spaying.

It wasn't an easy catch. I have bonded over time with the mother dog. I could pet her and she even sat on my lap. This was her way to say thank you for the food for her babies.

But when I tried to put the leash on her she quickly ran off. Ahmed, from the clinic and in charge of catching told me that this would be a sedation case and he went back to the clinic to get all what was needed. Meanwhile I tried to lure the dog with food. Baladi dogs are extremely smart and she sensed something was going on. When Ahmed returned with the blow pipe and some assistants she was on full alert. We had to corner her in but she managed to escape. At one side a busy road and at the other side farm land.

At some point Ahmed could blow the syringe in her body but it directly fell off. We thought she didn't get the sedation. It was getting dark and I went home to get my headlamp. We had some cases before that after a dog was sedated she dissappeared in the fields. We were lucky. The farmers had just harvest the corn so we had a good overview on the fields. The farmland is very bumpy, really rough terrain so you have to watch every step. We walked to the end of the land and just when we wanted to move on to the road Ahmed spotted her, curled up and asleep. The expression on his face was hilarious. He didn't expect it at all that the sedation had worked. Happy and surprised. Now the difficult part. Ahmed had to carry her over the bumpy farmland back to the main road. A dog might look sedated but often the adrenaline wins. And that's what happened. She started to fight back. With all efforts Ahmed could close her mouth with the leash. Then he grabbed her in her neck in a specific way the dog can no longer make sudden moves. In this way he carried her back.

Then there was another obstacle. Someone had took the tricycle, we didn't have transport. So the first toktok I spotted was claimed by me telling the driver we had an emergency with a dog. Not all are willing to transport dogs but I didn't wait for approval and he understood that it was an urgency. Four minutes later the dog was at the clinic. Thank God, we made it.

For weeks the catching of this girl had been on my mind. The idea she would have another litter with more girls to spay and more dogs to feed gave me nightmares. When you finally can manage it feels like you won a match. Euphoric vibes all over.

The biggest winner in the game is Ahmed. He achieved the almost impossible by carrying the dog over the farmland back to the road.

Am I not the cutest boy?😍Tommy is doing very well in the clinic. He made a lot of friends and he roams around freely. T...
12/09/2026

Am I not the cutest boy?😍

Tommy is doing very well in the clinic. He made a lot of friends and he roams around freely.

Tommy was dumped in the streets some months ago, his legs tied. He managed to survive for more than a week before we could catch him, facing all kind of dangers and his legs injured from the rope.

It turned out that because of a calcium deficiency his back legs are disabled. At first he jumped like a rabbit unable to straighten his legs. But after some weeks of care his mobility improved. He will never completely cure but his current condition is far more better than we expected. He gained weight and his mange is being treated. His fur grew back beautifully.

There is one wish left. Tommy can't go back to the streets. He will need a sponsor to cover the monthly fees for his stay at the clinic. If anyone can sponsor this little bundle of joy, please send us a message. 💗🐾

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