Charity campaigns and donations

It was really touching to read Karmela's story (The Sunday Times, March 11).

How good of Go Mobile to team up with our friends of Island Sanctuary and make a happy ending possible in her case. Although it is more an advertising venture than a philanthropic one, the gesture succeeded to return Karmela to her owner.

Anyone who loses a dog has my utmost sympathy. It is most certainly a most distressing experience.

We have been clamouring for microchip identification to enable enforcement of the law against those who abandon their dogs. But meanwhile, I would recommend that all beloved pets are microchipped. In this way they can be identified and returned immediately if they got lost.

The Veterinary Association had donated microchip scanners to the sanctuaries so that they can co-operate in performing this task. The cost of this microchip is very reasonable but could be even cheaper if enforced on a large scale. Only last year, Minister George Pullicino set the ball rolling when he promised that the government would give free microchips to all sanctuary dogs. We hope to see this materialise shortly.

It is time that one examines the genuine philanthropic attitude of giant companies. We too at Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary have mobile numbers for donations. Both Go Mobile and Vodafone charge us 10 per cent out of every lira donated: we only get 90c from every Lm1. Go Mobile go one step further and charge us Lm35 per annum to provide us with this service.

Vodafone's latest advert boasts that Lm200,000 were donated to charity last year. If giving charity makes good advertising, then all well and good. It would be interesting to see how charity is distributed.

For example, a small percentage of donations made to L-Istrina in December 2003 were finally allocated by the Malta Community Chest Fund to animal welfare organisations in March 2005. Only this week, and this is 2007, Yelp for Help announced that it raised Lm3,400 to distribute in a neutering campaign. It also announced that the MCCF have contributed a mysterious sum of money not spent in 2005 towards the Yelp for Help fund.

I raise my hat to the industrious Yelp for Help team but I cannot understand why MCCF were sitting on this money for so long. I had made public enquiries about this shortfall more than once but there doesn't seem to be any transparency on this matter.

We hope that there will be no commissions charged to charitable donations and that they reach the needy without unjustified delays.