Don't Furry, Be Happy Animal Rescue
About
WHO AM I?I am Dr. Donia Heider; I have a Masters in Child Psychology and a PhD in Psychology (focusing on the impact of divorce on attachment and child
development).History: I have lived in many places around Ontario, and around the world, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt & England. I know first-hand the devastating state in which animals live on the streets in places like Egypt. The cats are everywhere, in garbage
dumpsters, eating out of the bins and living on the streets whilst facing abuse, neglect, and violence. The dogs are treated even worse. Dogs are thrown from roof tops, sexually abused, physically abused, abandoned for no reason at all, and most of the lucky ones are kept in shelters for their whole lives. I grew up knowing
that they needed to experience love, care, and compassion, which in many cases is only possible through overseas adoptions. The rescue started as a mission to
save animals from countries in the Middle East, but as the rescue evolved and grew, we began helping all over the world and locally as well.
Our current efforts: You will find a lot of our rescue efforts focus on saving felines from countries in the Middle East. However, due to the Canada-wide ban on
importing dogs commercially from over 100 countries, we no longer rescue dogs from Egypt. With regards to canine rescue, our current efforts are focused on
saving dogs from high-kill shelters in the USA (e.g., Texas), Barbados, and we also rescue many Northern Ontario & Manitoba dogs from remote communities, as well as from within Southern Ontario (local shelters and owner
surrenders).How the dream started:When I was about 8 years old, living in Saudi Arabia where we relocated for my father's job, and attending an all-girls' school, I found a kitten behind the water
fountain (no doubt trying to stay cool in over 40 degree heat), I quickly put her in my backpack and went to catch my ride home. We also had our beautiful
Canadian family cat Cairo, with us at the time. Anyway, I brought this kitten home, unloaded her into my bedroom and closed the door, I still remember to this day
how smitten I was with her (unbeknownst to me that she had no fur on one side of her body, which now I know was ringworm or mange). I would wait until
everyone was asleep and I'd take her out into the kitchen and let her eat from Cairo's bowl of food and have a drink of water. I carried this on for about three days.
On the third day Cairo started losing some fur around his mouth and my mother was getting worried, she kept asking if anyone else noticed his fur loss too, I
started to feel extremely guilty and spoke up. My parents told me that the kitten had a disease and she had infected Cairo, too. I was devastated that we had to give
her up but I knew right then and there what I needed to do. As a kid I had no control over which animals stayed in our home and which didn't, and I shouted at my
mother, whilst tears poured down my face, "One day when I grow up I am going to save all the kittens in the world and let them all live with me!", she just smiled,
as if to say, "Well, we'll just have to see, won't we."HOW THE DREAM IS GOING:
I officially started my rescue mission in May 2021 and have expanded my reach domestically and internationally. I have rescued approximately 4000 dogs, cats, and small animals to date.Rescuing is a team effort-- a
collaboration between all those who care for these vulnerable, voiceless beings, and I love working with other organizations to make a difference for animals
around the globe.
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