KCL Students for Strays

Disclaimer: this interview was conducted before Covid-19 and any future plans by KCL Strays is likely to have been affected by the pandemic.

In December 2019, KCL Strays Society was founded with the goals of bringing KCL students closer to animals and supporting NGOs who work with stray animals. iMPAK interviewed the committee of KCL Strays - Mara Darivaki (President), Shivani H. Lemon (Treasurer), Elizabeth Reynolds (Volunteering Officer) and Aki Ho (Events Officer).

| “Stray animals are not just limited to those on the streets, animals that are currently in shelters or even animals whose owner is homeless are also included”, Mara highlights.

Efficiency

KCL Strays organised ‘Volunteering with Celia Hammond (CH)’ where students can volunteer in a cat shelter and increase their exposure to animals in the City of London, where time and space for animal interaction is limited. KCL Strays takes pride in the fact that this event was the first of its kind to be organized in KCL as it takes a more long-term approach in comparison to one-off trips to shelters.

Mara and her team were very willing to share about CH’s background and the reasons for choosing to partner with them – the team was firm that they would only work with no-kill shelters and the shelter’s needs had to match what [the society] could provide. In CH’s case, it was a match because the shelter not only required manpower but also helped with marketing which was a skill that the student volunteers were able to provide.

One key fact highlighted from this event was CH’s requirement for volunteers to have a minimum of 4-5 training sessions. With this qualification, volunteers are now cross-compatible for other cat shelters who accept the same training, and this created greater value for KCL Strays members. The members were able to be equipped with the necessary skills which are transferable to other shelters if they wish to volunteer elsewhere.

The training was conducted by experienced volunteers in CH and a strict emphasis on hygiene was placed. CH ensured that all safety precautions such as cat vaccination and constant usage of gloves were adhered to and these safety rules were communicated clearly to the volunteers. KCL Strays highlights that CH was very welcoming to student volunteers and were keen to conduct the training sessions because they wanted to equip the youth on taking proper care of animals. The society experienced a minor hiccup where there were a few instances of last-minute training cancellation from student volunteers. Since then, they have a stricter policy where volunteers must inform the committee 48 hours in advance if they were not able to make it and they also must find a replacement.

When asked about the selection criteria of volunteers, Shivani told us that the committee’s internal selection method which was largely informed by herself seeing as she has previously undergone training for rescuing strays. Among the qualities they look for in a volunteer are enthusiasm, determination and commitment which is shown by the number of hours they can commit to in a week/month. There were a total number of 40 applications for the CH volunteering project which is a commendable amount for a new society.

Elizabeth frequently holds check-ups with CH and she would even go to the shelter itself to check up on the volunteers and the animals. They also discussed about the continuity of volunteers and how this partnership is to continue which reflects a long-term outlook for KCL Strays. Elizabeth tries to get as much feedback as possible from CH staff and volunteers are also asked to share their experiences in the society group. The committee hopes to do a questionnaire at the end of the year to have a batter gauge of the benefits and points of improvement to be made.

| KCL Strays was very transparent in disclosing some constructive feedback they have received where ‘the training session was a bit rushed’. The committee reflected on the feedback and rebooked another training session to ensure the feedback was heeded.

Transparency

For fundraising, KCL Strays has chosen to partner with Dogs Trusts (a worldwide veterinary service) – where they plan to raise and channel funds for a project in Ooty, India. When asked about the reasoning behind this partnership, the committee stated that this decision was made after an in-person visit to Dogs Trust UK. During the visit, the committee found that the UK branch appeared to be self-sufficient hence they decided to pivot to fundraise for Dogs Trust in Ooty, India instead. Shivani highlighted that she is confident that any funds raised will be properly channelled to the Dogs Trust branch in Ooty – she has previously worked with the Ooty branch and vouches for their work.

[The society] was transparent in informing iMPAK that their fundraising efforts in March have hit a roadblock due to university strikes; where their initial plan to collaborate with the Student Bar to charge £1 per entry has yet to be rescheduled. Another initiative [the society] wanted to execute was donating leftover Student Newspaper editions to Celia Hammond which can be used in the shelter – this move supports environmental sustainability and is something [the society] hopes to do more of. However, it must be noted that these plans have yet to materialise and the impact of these initiatives are yet to be seen.

Lastly, Shivani was very open and honest about the state of the society’s finances – as a newly ratified society by KCLSU, Strays was given £75 to start off with. Additionally, they applied for the KCLSU Development Fund and were successful in obtaining £200. Shivani was also very open to receiving suggestions given by iMPAK to increase transparency by publishing future fundraising efforts and the amount raised.

Sustainability

Post-volunteering, other than CH’s public website, there is not much avenue for KCL Strays to get updates about the welfare of the 100 cats in the shelter. CH doesn’t really provide information e.g. number of cats that are adopted, unless there are major incidents which require some assistance from [the society]. | KCL Strays asserts that the purpose of the society is primarily focused on encouraging more students to volunteer and to provide some form of help to shelters in need as compared to keeping tabs on all the strays in the shelter.

Regarding continuity of members in the society, there is currently no shortage of volunteering applications but moving forward the committee intends to emphasize the importance of a longer commitment because many people think volunteering is only a one-off thing. The society also tried to engage a wider group of students by organising cat café socials – they acknowledge the negative implications of cat cafes but made sure to only visit cafes which are charitable and have rescue cats up for adoption. However, KCL Strays made it clear that they do not support zoos and will not be organizing any visits to zoos.

Sustainability in terms of environmental awareness is also important to KCL Strays – in a bake sale collaboration plan with Hot Chocolate Society, they highlighted the usage of vegan products and bamboo cutleries. Unfortunately, the bake sale fell through as there was not enough manpower, but they emphasized that they are aware and committed to being as sustainable as possible. As for the animal shelter, the carbon footprint remains but unfortunately that is not within the society’s control.

As for collaborations with other KCL societies, there have been talks with KCLSU and KCL Economics & Finance Society to organise ‘pet therapy’ but the plans did not materialise as KCL Strays wanted the dogs to come from a shelter.

Finally, to achieve their aim of raising awareness and compassion, KCL Strays is in the works of creating a blog with the goal of formalising the definition of strays through a multicultural perspective to better reflect the international makeup of the committee and also the KCL student body at large. The blog would be split into 3 sections: (1) animal welfare (2) personal volunteering experiences and (3) animal-related news section and would be open for members to post in any section they see fit.