Animals Of Our World

We could never in our wildest dreams have expected to open Siem Reaps FIRST animal shelter just seven months later. We used all our travel funds to build our first shelter which we very quickly outgrew.

GEORGIA Kaczorowski & her partner Billy run Animals Of Our World & House of Strays, a Rescue/ Rehabilitation/ Rehome mission in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Animals Of Our World is an anti-speciesist animal rescue organization and UK-registered charity. A community outreach mission to sterilize and prevent future suffering whilst rescuing those struggling most along the way. We also provide FREE medical treatment and education to local poverty-stricken families to treat their sick and injured animals. We aim to make a difference in individual’s lives through rehabilitation and thousands of lives through sterilization.

Before Covid-19 our shelter ‘House Of Strays’ was sustainable through donations, our rescue bar, and our pet boarding service. We created a rescue bar for travelers to come and stop by along their travels to learn more about our essential work, how we started, what we are now doing, and most importantly what you can do on your travels to make a difference. The bar was a huge success amongst the backpacker community and it was a great way to increase our exposure and support. Then when tourism was non-existent, so was our rescue bar. Our support system dwindled away and we have struggled immensely to keep our sanctuary alive. Small non-profit shelters everywhere will have been impacted by Covid and some will not have survived through the struggle. We’re very lucky AOOW is still here and the fight continues.

We were hoping to be moved into our new shelter by 2021, but now I think that was a very hopeful dream. We are getting there but a build this big takes a lot of time and even more funds.

We currently have 105 rescues that we must safely care for and that requires separated areas and specialized enclosures. We would love to complete our paralyzed enclosure and our onsite hospital area in the next few months, but this is completely dependent on if we raise enough funds. After we complete the build we can finally get back to pushing funds into the community and restarting our desexing missions.

After rehoming an orphan kitten and rescuing a monkey held captive in a cage in Luang Prabang, Laos... we made our way to Cambodia. Four kittens were rescued in the capital Phnom Penh and again we had no plan. We bottle-fed them until they were strong and then vaccinated and desexed. It was time to find them a loving home and we traveled throughout Cambodia with them in search of that person. We then arrived in Siem Reap and realised that we’d be staying here longer than we’d thought. Finding a loving home was proving harder than our previous successes. Then came along Baloo the rescue dog in desperate need of help and just like that ‘House Of Strays’ was born. Those four cats and Baloo still live at our sanctuary today. Just alongside another 100+ rescues!

Background

We both grew up in Romford, Essex but Billy was born in central London. We went to primary school together and lived on the same block. I (Georgia) have an amazingly supportive family who is very much a part of Animals Of Our World. My dog Harley Rae was the reason I turned vegan. He was the realization I needed to finally WAKE UP. The bond I share with him is different from anything

I’d ever experienced. I trusted him and he trusted me. There was nobody I’d rather be around than my dog Harley. Understanding me in ways no humans seemed to. Veganism was then the only thing that made sense anymore. How could I eat animals when I say I’m an ‘animal’ lover? Harley would be considered food just a plane ride away. What is the difference between a dog and a pig? I couldn’t answer those questions and my whole life just changed quite instantly. There was no gradual process, just a lightbulb moment.

I only ever dreamed of one thing as a child and that was to be a performer - not an animal rescuer! I studied musical theater my whole life and graduated with my degree just before I left for my travels. Life changed pretty quickly and I now just sing and dance to my rescues and they all must think I’m crazy!

My partner Billy was a builder living In London. He gradually made the shift from vegetarian to vegan on our animal rescue journey. His morals were always aligned with veganism but his daily choices were not. We can happily say we are 100% a vegan organization and household.

Cambodia

From day one we were exposed to human and animal suffering that we just couldn’t blindfold ourselves from. Soon our days were consumed by daily feeding strays and soon medicating them as we gained more experience.

We didn’t choose Cambodia, Cambodia’s animals chose us! We began our travels in 2017 across South East Asia and arrived in Bangkok on our one-year anniversary. From day one we were exposed to human and animal suffering that we just couldn’t blindfold ourselves from. Soon our days were consumed by daily feeding strays and soon medicating them as we gained more experience. We visited every rescue shelter we could in every destination we traveled. In most areas, they were non-existent and the suffering was endless. We could never in our wildest dreams have expected to open Siem Reaps FIRST animal shelter just seven months later. We used all our travel funds to build our first shelter which we very quickly outgrew.

Siem Reap (where our sanctuary is located) is incredibly vegan-friendly. We are surprisingly spoiled for vegan options and even completely vegan restaurants! Good friends of Animals Of Our World - Vegan Food Quest - are able to point you in the right direction of the incredible plant-based food Cambodia has to offer. The supermarkets even stock VEGAN CHEESE these days!

We believe an understanding of Animal Rights is growing and have definitely seen a change in the mindsets of the younger generation towards cats and dogs. There is a LONG way to go before that same view is extended to chickens, pigs, cows, and so on. We hope to be a part of that education. Our most recent rescue is a chicken who is currently receiving treatment in hospital after being hit by a motorbike. Ultimately his current suffering has saved his life! If he pulls through he will live out his life at our House Of Stray’s sanctuary.

We are still very much building our shelter and cannot move on to any other projects until the build is complete. Any support that we currently receive goes towards running our shelter and continuing the build. It’s just such a huge project and we really need as much support as possible to just get the build completed so everybody at our sanctuary is safely sheltered and happy. Having so many animals at our sanctuary we must ensure they have their separated enclosures and currently we are doing the best we can.

Learning to cope

If you cannot find a way to cope, this work will slowly consume and destroy you. It’s not for the faint-hearted and little by little, death by death, it chips away. Truthfully the only way we have learned to cope is by reaching rock bottom and realizing how unhealthy our minds and lifestyle had become. Our work is endless and physically and mentally draining. You have to find your limitations and not forget about your own needs. I live and breathe animal rescue and despite how challenging it may be, life isn’t worth living without it. I live on-site with my partner at my sanctuary and I don’t know what a ‘day off’ means. I cope by doing little things in my day like making sure I take my lunch break. Going to see a sunset or going for a swim when I can. Sometimes it’s just calling my mum, sister, and dad in the UK. Making time is key and I’m still useless at it. Every hands-on rescuer with a full sanctuary will know that it can be easier said than done with our unpredictable lifestyles.

There is a dark side to animal rescue where rescuers feel shame and judgment for leading a ‘normal life and having nice things. You will always fall victim to judgment when working in this industry with expectations to slave away day and night and have nothing in order for the animals to have everything they need. My team’s mental health is a number one priority. Without us, there is no Animals Of Our World. It has taken years to reach this point and we hope we help others understand the importance of caring for yourself whilst caring for others. It is the only way you will be able to work in this industry for a long time. We are dealing with the sickest and most injured of animals and death is a huge part of the job and our lives. It’s not something that gets easier, but it’s something you unfortunately get used to through experiencing it so often.

How to support us

Follow us, share our content to reach more animal lovers, volunteer with us if you’re ever in town by getting in touch with us through our social media pages/email, and of course donating towards our organization/ shelter. Your support makes what we do possible. You are an essential part of our mission.

We are a non-profit charity/ organization and rely solely on donations to make the work we do possible. It has been incredibly difficult and nearly impossible to continue at times but there truly is no other choice than to just keep going. To not continue is to give up on what we know we can do, what we live for, and each and every one of our rescues lives.

We have recently set up a way for supporters to become monthly patrons to help us fund our sanctuary running costs. If we are able to raise enough funds to run our sanctuary on a monthly basis, we can do more in the community! We do not receive any government/ business funding or financial support from any other charities/organizations.

Our long-term plans include Increasing our community outreach all over Cambodia by holding desexing missions as regularly as possible. Completing our facilities and expanding our team to care and shelter for our rescued animals is also a hueg priority. We know that House Of Strays will always be needed even if there will hopefully be less of a need to shelter rescued cats and dogs in time. We care for many rescues with ongoing needs/disabilities such as paralysis, vision and hearing impairments, severe anxiety, and PTSD. These rescues have nowhere else to go and need to live out their lives in a peaceful and safe environment. However, we are an ANIMAL RESCUE organization that will not draw our line of compassion to just cats and dogs. We plan to eventually have a completely separate space for a farm sanctuary - The first one in the whole country. Our long term plan is to offer refuge to many different types of animals who will have definitely died without their rescue.

We would like to thank Kim and Victoria (Georgia’s mum and sister) for all the work they have put in even overseas to help Animals Of Our World. We would like to thank ALL of our supporters locally and overseas for allowing us to rescue and rehabilitate hundreds of animals that were in desperate need. We hope that you will continue to support us to make more of a difference, until we eventually make an impact in Cambodia.

To help, visit:

www.facebook.com/aooworld

www.animalsofourworld.co.uk