JoannaSherwell AnimalLover

After a year of depression and grief over the loss of her two dogs, family dog, and a close friend, the universe answered the call of a young Melbourne woman needing healing, and offered her a live-in role at a dog sanctuary in the Thailand jungle. Without question, Joanna Sherwell packed her life into boxes and moved to Chiang Mai to start a new life devoted to animal conservation.

When her time is up at the dog sanctuary Joanna’s next visits will be volunteering at other animal shelters in America. However one thing is yet to be organised…. She’s fallen in love with a dog at the sanctuary and cant leave him behind!

Sunny's Story
Good looking young Sunny trotted into the elephant park from a neighbouring property a few kilometres away, where he was being fed but not owned by anyone in particular. He was swiftly placed in the park's clinic, desexed and vaccinated, and let go to resume his nomad life or stay at the park, whichever he chose.

His choice was to follow Joanna to her bamboo hut after work one day and a lifelong bond between dog and human began! Sunny would sleep in Jo’s room then disappear during the day, and return at night seeking shelter. He then started to appear at Jo’s favourite lunch table and lie casually at her feet while she ate, but disappear again when she went back to work at the shelter. Then having identified where Jo was each day when he couldn’t find her (at work), he would lie outside the clinic all day, trot along at a few metres distance while she walked the myriad of dogs in the clinic, and then happily trot with her to her bamboo hut, follow her to the shower block while she showered, and lie at the side of her bed while she read at night. They were instant best mates, destined to be together.... but how, with Sunny being a Thai dog and Jo returning to Australia at the end of 2013?

Adoption to Australia is complex, long and expensive, involving quarantine in Aust for 6 months OR fostering in an approved country for 6 months and then quarantine in Aust for 10 days. Jo would never put Sunny through 6 months living in a quarantine facility so plans to relocate her whole life to the US to then bring him home to Aust. Costs of all this exceed $5000 and as a self employed single woman trying to make a difference in the world, Jo is unable to adopt Sunny without the help of those who understand the bond between human and animal.

Thankyou!

Links you can forward

Adopting a dog into a household is one thing, but adopting a dog with a $5000 price-tag is unimaginable for most people. You can help bring Sunny home to Jo’s side by donating a small amount, or by sponsoring a specific element of Sunny's adoption such as his travel crate . Jo wants to make sure the world knows of your generosity so please check out the rewards section, and if there's something that would benefit you or your company don't hesitate to ask!

Ok. So whats the process and why does it cost so much?
- Sunny has tests by a govt approved vet 1mnth before existing Thailand. $300
- Sunny's freight crate is purchased in Thailand $200
- Sunny flies to the US. Approx $1000 depending on size and weight of dog
- After 6mnths Sunny has more tests and official paperwork to import him into Australia. $1500
- He flies to Aust. Approx $2500 - has to fly Qantas as they're the only airline quarantine accepts so Qantas has a monopoly on the market (know someone at Qantas who might be willing to help?)
- Quarantine in Oz for 10 days, $40 per day plus processing fees. $500
Approx total: $6000

Other Benefits
Not only will Sunny's adoption help him and Jo continue their friendship for the rest of Sunny’s life, it will establish firm grounding for others wanting to adopt animals into Australia. To this date only a few animals from international adoption programs have gone through the process to adopt into Australia as its so difficult to find clear information on what's required that most people give up. As an avid user of social media and someone who loves educating, spreading the word, and helping others, Jo is intent on making sure the steps, costs, challenges, outcomes, and contact people for adopting pets into Australia are spread across the internet and sent to relevant animal organisations.

What about Jo wanting to visit the other animal projects? How does this fit in?
Jo’s all too aware that she doesn’t have much worldly moving around left in her, she has a past back injury from a car accident which makes any kind of travel difficult, each occasion requiring extensive pain medication and days of recovery. Living with Sunny in the US for 6 months will be one last stint of travel and the animal projects most important to her, and then fly home with Sunny.

Why not just adopt a dog from a shelter in Australia? So many are dying wouldn’t it make more sense?
Yes! And she will. There's no doubt in Jo's mind that she’ll adopt older dogs who very few people would bother with, just as she planned to when she returned to Aust after the dog sanctuary. Sunny’s addition to her life will not change this plan whatsoever.