NPO needs your help
The number of neglected, sick and homeless animals that animal welfare organisations who rely on public funding struggle to rescue, treat and rehome every year is increasing.
Spaying and neutering is a relatively quick surgical procedure with a long-lasting impact on animal welfare and overpopulation. It reduces the spread of zoonoses (diseases transmitted from animals to humans) in densely populated and water scarce, poor communities.
Tears Animal Rescue, which has been operating in the Cape Peninsula’s far south for the last 18 years, is a registered Tears Animal Rescue (NPO) whose aim is to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome abandoned, abused and neglected dogs and cats. The organisation operates a veterinary clinic and provides subsidised veterinary care. It provides free sterilisation and subsidised medical assistance to pets in communities such as Masiphumelele, Ocean View, Mountain View, Red Hill and Vrygrond, seven days a week. The organisation also provides care to feral cat colonies across the Western Cape.
Tears Animal Rescue’s chief veterinary surgeon, Dr Patti Foster, says they treat hundreds of animals monthly. Foster advocates sterilisation as the primary means of reducing domestic animal overpopulation. “Sterilising humanely reduces the number of unwanted pets and homeless animals, and indirectly the amount of contagious pathogens for diseases such as rabies, parvovirus and canine distemper virus in dogs, and feline enteritis, feline panleukopenia and feline respiratory disease, or snuffles, in cats.”
In the last financial year, the Tears clinic sterilised 5314 dogs and cats for free. Currently Tears’ two vets are sterilising an average of 400 animals a month, with approximately 300 or more rescued or surrendered animals homed at its shelters.
In addition, its 12-year-old Tears Feral Cat Project, a trap-neuter-return policy that ensures that feral cat colonies all around the Western Cape are humanely trapped, brought to the clinic for a health check, are sterilised and released back to their original home. Populations are supervised, fed and monitored by caregivers. Tears launched their “Pay-for-a-Spay” campaign via the www.tears.org.za website in January, with Hill’s Pet Nutrition donating R50 000 towards the cause, which has since enabled 143 pets to be sterilised.
Tears co-founder and director, Marilyn Hoole says: “Our mission in 2018 is to engage with the corporate sector to create sustainable and impactful programmes that will allow us to extend our service footprint.”
Donations from community member make a big difference, says Hoole.
V To donate to the “Pay-for-a-Spay” campaign and support the work being done by Tears, visit http://tears.org.za/pay-for-a-spay/
Source: News 24