Monique Fienberg with some of the dogs rescued by the new organisation..

KOSOVA’S PEOPLE are often in the news but the animals have largely been forgotten. When the battles raged across the country the people, when they could, moved away to a quieter place.

Farm animals and pet dogs were abandoned and left to fend for themselves. Some dogs became feral and roamed around in packs, making life pretty unpleasant with their scavenging and howling.

Now a remarkable Australian, Monique Fienberg, backed by organisations like UNMIK (United nations Mission in Kosovo) and SPANA - Soicety for the Protection of Animals abroad, is changing all that. The enterprise will be named the Kosovan Society for the Protection of Animals (KSPA/SPANA).

Not only is KSPA/SPANA going to care for the animals, it is also creating an educational programme especially targeting schools on a ‘be kind to animals’ theme. SPANA, established nearly 80 years ago, has veterinary clinics and teams of mobile veterinary technicians in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Syria, Mali and Mauritania, and runs educational programmes in most of these countries teaching children why it is so essential to look after animals and the environment.