The 2016 Seychelles Animal Welfare Society (SAWS) pet funfair organised last Sunday at Grand Anse Mahé was a first of its kind and attracted more than 300 people. Many pet owners had the opportunity to bring along their pets to have a good time with other pet lovers.

After the event, the founder and chairperson of SAWS, Ella Rene, told Seychelles NATION “we want to help the advancement of the canine and pet culture in Seychelles and show people that there are many things you can do with your dog. Secondly we want to provide activities owners can do with their dogs apart from driving around and going on the beach.

Our main aim of course though was to raise funds, not only for our current animal welfare activities but also to go towards being able to buy land and get our small shelter up and running. Right now all our animals are kept in foster homes and there is a limit as to what we can do. We wanted to approach government but we do know that it has already given land to two other animal welfare associations so we decided we'll go private.

It may be the hard way but hopefully with enough support we can make it.” Talking about the time and energy invested in this show, Ms Rene stated that “being a first of its kind in a country like Seychelles where no one knows what to expect, it was very very hard. In the last week all of us were running everywhere, getting registrations, chasing up participants and getting equipment.

But on D Day, almost everything was positive. What people do not understand is that this is a first for Seychelles. We cannot start with international standard shows. So many of our participants would have been disqualified on the spot. We have to do it in stages. It would not be fair on our canine owners community if we start right at the top. Progress is gradual. We have learned so much from this fair