SPCA
WINELANDS
Recommended
- We dip an average of 100 dogs a week at our dipping stations. We revisit each station every second week. Farm visits are made by prior arrangement, so that all workers can be gathered together for advice and primary health care of their pets and livestock.
Sterilising is done as often as funds permit, with animals being brought in the night before operating day, and returned the day after the operation, to ensure a smooth recovery.
- Some animal books we have loved in 2007:
“Walking Ollie – Or winning the love of a difficult dog” by Stephen Foster.
“The Good Good Pig –the extraordinary life of christopher hogwood” by Sy Montgomery.
“Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog” by John Grogan.
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What we do and how we do it:
Education: We encourage schools to visit us. Such visits offer a talk on basic animal care and slide shows to reinforce the talk. Colouring in, drawing and question and answer sessions are included and the whole visit is appropriate to the age of the children. We also visit schools and libraries, offering the same programme, and enjoy visits from adult groups. We give talks to workers’ groups at their place of work, with suitable slide presentations.
Education is a very strong tool in our effort to reduce animal cruelty. Often seeming cruelty, abuse and neglect are simply a result of ignorance. It is also important to foster a respect for animals and the environment in children, as abuse of animals in the young frequently turns to abuse of people in adulthood.
A new education course started this month. It is aimed at animal-loving high school pupils and last for three weeks, two afternoons a week. It covers basic animal care, domestic, farm and wildlife. A test is given at the end of the course and a certificate awarded to successful candidates. Please contact us if you would like to take part or help with the teaching of the course.
Pro-active Inspections: We carry out regular primary health care and dipping sessions throughout our district. Advice is given on correct feeding and handling. We are then able to monitor the health and well-being of the animals, pets and livestock, in each community and, if necessary and with the consent of the owners, remove those that are no longer wanted, uncared for, sickly or just too numerous.
Complaints of cruelty or neglect of animals reported to our office are dealt with as soon as possible. However we do not have a resident vet, so every effort should be made to get a sick animal to the nearest vet for attention. Sick animals should only be brought to us if the owner genuinely cannot afford the services of a veterinarian, and we can only offer very basic care such as bed-rest for that animal, or as a last resort, euthanasia to end the suffering.
Sterilising: As important as education, our sterilising programme is for pet owners in the indigent communities of our district. Caring owners are able to have their pet sterilised at a very reduced fee. A local vet carries out these operations in the fully equipped theatre at our premises. The list of patients is always oversubscribed.
For those of you who do not qualify for our subsidised service, please do not avoid having your pets “done”. It is an expense that must be budgeted for when acquiring a pet. It is cruelty in the extreme to allow your pet to produce offspring and then to hand them out to all and sundry with no concern for the quality of life these babies may have to face. We frequently have to face the result of such irresponsibility.
Re-homing: This is often the happiest part of our work. Our kennels and cattery are always full of wonderful characters and to watch a prospective owner find a new friend is a great privilege. Sadly we receive many more animals than we can find homes for. Our re-homing policy is strict – a pre-home check is carried out as we must be sure the animal will be safe, loved, exercised, and cared for correctly for the rest of its natural life. Adopting a pet is a serious commitment and should not be undertaken casually.
Our fee to adopt a pet has had to be increased to R250 for a dog or puppy and R200 for a cat or kitten. However this still includes initial vaccination, de-worming and compulsory sterilisation. Thereafter veterinary expenses, such as annual booster vaccinations, sickness or injury, are the responsibility of the new owner. The adoption fee is considerably lower than our costs for the care, medication and sterilising of the animal. This is to encourage the public to adopt a pet in need of a home, rather than buying from, and thus encouraging, breeders who sell puppies/kittens for financial gain.
If you are considering adopting an animal, please come and talk to us. As a general rule, we adopt only to homes in our municipal area.
Headstart Programme
| The aim of this programme is to give the dogs in our kennels basic training, such as walking on a lead, sitting on command, being groomed, not jumping up when excited and so on – in other words to give them a headstart in life, and to make them more adoptable. The dogs are responding very well, as they love the individual attention. The programme is conducted by volunteers every weekday morning. |  |
“Don’t take that animal to the SPCA. They will just kill it!”
This ill-informed and cruel remark is heard all too frequently. In fact if “that animal” has a chance of being re-homed, we will keep it as long as we can. However the number of animals admitted to SPCAs, especially due to uncontrolled breeding, means that euthanasia will continue to be an unavoidable responsibility.
Euthanasia is generally accepted as a means to end suffering. The SPCA definition of suffering includes lifelong incarceration, lack of bonding with humans or its own kind, compromising any of the Five Freedoms including the freedom to express natural behaviour, plus mental suffering – i.e. kennel stress.
It is inhumane to confine animals for long periods. Stress results and this may lead to behavioural problems which may never be overcome, rendering the animal even less likely to be “adoptable”.
At Winelands SPCA we do our very best to care for each and every animal admitted to us. When euthanasia becomes the only option, it is a heartbreaking decision for all concerned. Every member of staff, committee member and volunteer is a dedicated animal lover – spare a thought for their feelings, before accepting such a casual dismissal of our work.