Susana Jumali is a doctor who lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. Because of her love for dogs, she has dedicated herself to a life of rescuing them. She knows that many dogs are abandoned and brought to slaughterhouses, so she decided to create an animal shelter that will take care of these poor dogs.
It was in the year 2009 when Susana established the Pejaten Animal Shelter. In the beginning, there were only 70 dogs under the shelter's care, but the numbers soon increased to 1,400. Some of the dogs were surrendered, some rescued from abusive owners, but the majority of them came from slaughterhouses.
Susana tries her best to save as many dogs as she can from the slaughterhouses, but she admits that it isn't an easy task. Seeing the condition of the dogs at the slaughterhouses breaks her heart. The people in those places tightly tie the dog's paws and mouth with ropes. The sad reality is that many dogs were sold to slaughterhouses by their previous owners because of poverty.
Indonesia is known for selling dog meat in restaurants, and it has been reported that the number of dogs being slaughtered goes up to about 1 million each year. But Susana is never giving up. When she first started her rescuing mission, the shelter was able to take in one or two dogs each week, but now, the shelter has been saving twenty dogs a week.
But, according to Susana, the most challenging part of rescuing the dogs is taking care of them. Susana has a hectic schedule as a doctor, but she always makes time for her dogs. Though what she does for the dogs is hard, she won't stop because she feels that it is her calling.
At the shelter, about 30 people are working for Susana in taking care of the dogs, but having that many staff members is not cheap. Susana needs about $29,000 to pay her employees and buy food for the dogs. But this does not discourage Susana from continuing to save more dogs who are in need, and for that, we admire you, Susana Jumali! If you would like to support Susana and her team in helping more dogs, please visit their shelter's Facebook page to donate.
Credits to Pejaten Shelter