It is with great sadness that we say farewell to our miracle Foster Care Director Mary Sewell, as she has accepted a volunteer position with Lifeline as a Project Manager. This is a fantastic opportunity for Mary, as she has vast experience in this field (and much more of a career opportunity than SCAA we must admit!) and we are thrilled for her. Luckily, Mary will remain a dedicated SCAA volunteer and foster parent. This does mean, however, that we urgently need to find a new foster care director as Cat Brandell and I are already overwhelmed with current responsibilities! If you are interested, please call Cat Brandell at (13918552425) or me (13817811443)!

This newsletter will be shorter than usual as we have primarily been busy with foster care and adoptions and haven’t been actively seeking out new projects, especially as summer approaches and we lose most of our volunteers for the next few months. There are several fantastic fundraisers being held on our behalf, primarily the 12 May Spring Fling at “I love Shanghai” Lounge and our 21 May Dog Day Fund Raiser at Senses Wine Lounge (all dogs invited!!). Please bring as many people as you can to enjoy these events! And, let’s get the summer rolling by creating the highest attendance ever for our 23 May CRAP (China Recognition of Animal Protectors) awards ceremony during our next monthly meeting at Zapata’s. April’s turnout was quite low for our norm (we had about 35 people…and we usually average closer to 60...let’s blame it on the rain and everyone getting ready to leave for the May Holiday). We’d love to see 100 people at this event, so get the word out!!

Finally, our adoption numbers are up up up! My goal for SCAA total adoptions to the end of 2006 is 300, and we are already up to 174!! And word is starting to get out that people should NOT be buying from pet stores or pet markets, and instead should adopt a vetted animal from SCAA! Our website is getting record numbers of unique hits (up over 4,000 this month); if you want to check out our stats for yourself, go to www.scaashanghai.org/webalizer .

Please remember that we depend on fundraisers and our dedicated volunteers to survive. Without you, SCAA simply stops. So, if you are here in Shanghai for the summer, please help us get through these slow months by attending meetings, volunteering at our adoption days so that regulars can get some rest, and if you can… FOSTER FOSTER FOSTER!!!

Happy and healthy spring!

• CEIBS MBA Students RMB 10,000!!!
• Ann Aghili RMB 4,000

• Rachel Speth US$ 200
• Debbie Gerfy 100
• Mary Pierce 20

Finances

Incoming: RMB 22,730 (!!)

Expenses: RMB 26,858 including:
PAW check-ups RMB 19,358 (this is the highest monthly expenditure to PAW thus far!! We need more funds!!)
April website and maintenance fee 7,500

• Quarantine article by James Holder :
  Attached is the link on our website for an article written by our medical advisor, PAW veterinarian James Holder on the new quarantine system in Shanghai. He wrote this article for the June issue of the Shanghai Expatriate Association’s magazine “Courier”. http://scaashanghai.org/pet_quarantine_shanghai.htm
• New SCAA Foster Care Director Needed:
  With the loss of our wonderful Foster Care Director Mary Sewell, we now urgently need a new director. Responsibilities primarily include monitoring the list of current foster care parents, swapping animals around as needed due to individual foster care requirements, advertising for and vetting potential foster care parents, plus attending adoption day events. If you are interested, please call Director Cat Brandell, 13918552425.
  
• Keith Ellis' new contact information for pet import/export:
  If you have any questions about the import/export of your pet, Keith Ellis, one of our major sponsors, has officially changed jobs to AGS Fourwinds, a French relocation company. His new contact information is: Keith Ellis keith.ellis@agsfourwinds.com and mobile number: +86 137-6160-2268..

• Baoshan:
  The Baoshan saga continues. We do expect them to be moving in the next two months, but we continue to wait for building materials to be supplied by B&Q and we are not quite sure yet when the move will take place. We are down to 25 cats (with kittens and pregnant females being dumped in by local “volunteers”) and up to 6 dogs; still very manageable but frustrating when isolation guidelines are never adhered to. Baoshan continues to remain our best bet as a showcase project that we can take volunteers to visit and we’ll stick with them until we see how the move goes (the new property is much better than the current one, with a river and park adjacent to the land to walk the dogs, picnic, etc.). As summer is fast approaching, and we’ll be losing a substantial number of volunteers for the next few months, we have decided to maintain our current projects (including emergencies we deal with from phone calls) and not expand until September (and also depending on if we can expand our foster care network and increase our funding….).

• 12 May Spring Fling Fundaiser at “I Love Shanghai” Lounge!
  RMB150 for all night open bar with RMB 50 donated per person to SCAA!! (155 Zhongshan Dong ER Lu, on the Bund!). We really need a good turnout of SCAA people to support this so please come, bring your friends, wear (or buy) your SCAA t-shirts…anything to support this fundraiser!
• 21 May Senses Wine Lounge Dog Day Fundraising Party!
  This should be a fantastic party! Matthew Ryan, owner of Senses Wine Lounge, is hosting a fundraising "Dog Day" party for SCAA. From 10am-6pm, enjoy brunch, lunch, live jazz, raffle and bring your dogs!! We hope to make this a reunion for our rescued dogs, and members' pets as well! There will be a wide variety of selected wines to taste at discounted prices and Matthew is donating 10% of the bar take to SCAA...so come enjoy and raise funds at the same time. Woof!!
• 23 May: Our first SCAA CRAP (China Recognition of Animal Protectors) Awards!!
  Make sure you attend this special monthly meeting in May, 6:30pm onwards, Zapata's, which will honor (or perhaps SCARE: BE VERY AFRAID!) many of our dedicated, long-term SCAA members!! Let’s make this THE best-attended meeting ever so that we have funds to get us through the quiet summer months! We will also have free gifts for everyone who attends, courtesy of LuShan Framing & Interiors! Don't miss this exciting and fun evening!! Zapata's, 6:30pm onwards (RMB 100 covers two drinks, food, raffle ticket plus RMB 70 donation to SCAA!! Please be sure to bring a bag of dog/cat food or litter; every bag you donate means less that we have to buy for the projects!
• 9/10/11 June: Ultimate Frisbee Tournament!!
  Each June, Shanghai Ultimate Players Association (SUPA), invites teams from all over Asia to compete in its annual competitive tournament. This year 15 teams are expected, including teams from Singapore, Korea, Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, and possibly Japan. The tournament will take place in Pu Dong at the Shanghai Rugby and Football Club in Jin Qiao. Players will arrive on Friday when a welcome and registration party will take place (50% of all proceeds for an all-weekend raffle ticket sale will be donated to SCAA so we need volunteers to pre-sell tickets, as well as volunteers to man our SCAA booth and sell onsite! We hope to start selling raffle tickets at our 23 May meeting.). On Saturday players will report to the field around 8am. Games will run all afternoon until around 3-4. There will be a huge dinner and party on Saturday night. Sunday play will most likely start at nine, culminating in the Finals around 1-2 pm. Most teams will need to catch flights Sunday evening and the tourny should wrap up by 4pm. For more information on the tournament and SUPA, please go to www.shanghai-ultimate.com. Special thanks to our SCAA member and foster mom Kate DuClos for making this happen!

• 29 April- Garden Book Store Flea Market:
  See attached JPG of the Garden Books Flea Market Ad! On every last Saturday of the month, from 2-5pm, tables will be sold for RMB 100 and you can sell anything you want! We are happy to recommend our SCAA members to buy tables, and the management of the event is donating one table free to SCAA! Come and join the fun!
  
  
  
• 23 May: American Women’s Club of Shanghai Charity Bazaar, 10am-4pm, PuDong Holiday Inn (899 Dong Fang Lu). SCAA has a table for this event and would welcome volunteers to help! There will be over 60 venders so this should be a great opportunity to buy gifts to take home for the summer (or your early Xmas shopping!). If you can volunteer, call Carol Wolfson 13817811443 or write to director@scaashanghai.org .

• Paypal Donations now possible!
  We are now set up to accept PayPal donations online by credit card, so please tell everyone you know overseas to donate!!!
• Send in Your Clip for Monthly Video Award
  Emy Kwok won our April video clip award (go to bottom of this newsletter to click on to winning entries!). Be sure to send this to all your friends and increase worldwide links (and donations to SCAA!)! And send your selection for this month director@scaashanghai.org !!!
• Record Number Hits on SCAA Website!
  We are up to a record number of unique hits/day on our website (over 4,000/month!). Check out our website tracking details at www.scaashanghai.org/webalizer !
• Website Video Production!
  Professional photographer Sharron Lovell (www.sharronlovell.com) has started to take photographs to create a video/still shots about how SCAA operates, which can then be sent via our website worldwide! We have decided to focus on a before/after case (probably Demi as we have been able to document her case history and she is one of our most dramatic rescue stories), starting from the horrific pet market, to veterinary care, fostering and then adoption! We are very excited about this new project and very grateful to both Sharron and Milton for taking this on pro bono!

• T-Shirts now for Sale!! PET ME! LOVE ME! TAKE ME HOME!
  Our SCAA, bi-lingual t-shirts are now for sale! Be sure to buy one at any of our events, or take a bunch to sell at your own event or to friends, relatives, etc. We have heard a few members say they are expensive at RMB 150 each, but we chose to make high quality, long-sleeve shirts which cost us RMB 72/each...and remember, this is all for fundraising purposes, so that extra RMB 78 in profit is what we use for medical care for our wards!!! Buy buy buy!!!
• Calendars still available!
  We still have about 60 calendars to sell so please buy one if you haven't already, or take a bunch to sell on. Come June, we will mark them down 50% to sell whatever supply we have left. We are also very grateful to report that Ms. Junie Tong, who donated the funds to print our 2006 calendar, has agreed to again donate funds for our 2007 calendar. Thank you so much Junie!

On the lighter side this month, two dog jokes:

From Marianne Kaulima, “And God Created Dog…”:

On the first day of creation, God created the dog.

On the second day of creation, God created man
so that man might serve the dog.

On the third day, God created all other animals of the earth to serve as potential food for the dog.

On the fourth day, God created honest toil
so that man could labor for the good of the dog.

On the fifth day, God created the tennis ball
so that the dog might or might not retrieve it.

On the sixth day, God created veterinary science
to keep the dog healthy if the man broke.

On the seventh day, God wanted to rest......
but He had to walk the dog.

And, the “Limp Duck” story from Mary Sewell:

A woman brought a very limp duck into a vet. As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the Bird's chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, "I'm so sorry, your Duck, Cuddles, has passed away."

The distressed owner wailed, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm quite sure. The duck is dead," he replied. "How can you be so sure," she protested. "I mean, you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."

The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room and returned a few moments later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog and took it out, and returned a few moments later with a cat. The cat jumped up on the table and also sniffed delicately at the bird. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.

The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck."

Then the vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill which he handed to the woman. The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "£150!” she cried. "£150 just to tell me my duck is dead?" The vet shrugged. "I'm sorry." "If you'd taken my word for it, the bill would have been £20, but.....................with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now £150."