Allan Perrins, head of communications and resource development: Animal Welfare Society of South Africa
Since the start of the holiday season our out-patient clinic case-load has more than doubled.
(Members of) our nursing team barely have time to catch their breath between cases.
We have conducted almost 1 000 consultations since December 1. This equates to between 60 and 80 individual cases a day with the demand for our services peaking over weekends and public holidays.
This increased case-load coupled with the inability of a growing number of indigent pet owners who cannot afford even the smallest of co-contributions places our budget under enormous pressure and we appeal to those fortunate enough to make a difference to please help those less fortunate by supporting the Animal Welfare Society of South Africa.
Our constituency comprises the poorest of the poor but in our experience, for many of them, their pets are their soul mates and come first.
Many of them would go hungry and give the shirts off their back for their pets and we have witnessed first-hand just how loyal these pets are to their devoted, desperate owners.
As far as the type of cases go, we are still seeing far too many sick, unvaccinated pets, especially puppies and kittens and pets suffering from avoidable tick-bite fever. Prevention is always better than cure and we urge all pet owners to vaccinate and regularly treat their pets for parasitic infestations which are harmful to people as well as their pets.
Over the past few weeks we have also offered sanctuary to many unwanted and abandoned pets.
Some were found tied to our gate or dumped and found wandering around our car park.
In many of the cases of surrendered pets, we got the distinct impression that the owners wanted to “get rid of” their pets that had become a “liability” and an “inconvenience” while in other cases owners had fallen upon hard times and could simply no longer afford to keep a pet.
Our admissions policy is non-selective and anyone wanting to relinquish their pets is, in fact, encouraged to surrender them to us or their nearest animal shelter. I would also sincerely appreciate you helping us to once again remind pet owners not to leave their pets in motor vehicles while they go shopping and not to drive around with dogs on open load bays.
Our banking details are Nedbank current account: Account number: 114 822 2588, branch code: 198765 Swift code: NEDS2AJJ
Call the Animal Welfare Society on 078 631 5126 to find out how you can help.
