Pacho after he was found and nurtured by TEARS. SUPPLIED
Cape Town - Animal organisations are concerned about the number of animals coming in.
TEARS Animal Rescue has experienced a significant increase in surrenders since the beginning of Covid-19. Since lockdown began, they have seen a 40% increase in surrenders as compared to pre-lockdown numbers.
“Pet owners are not able to afford their pets. In response, TEARS has launched the Feed Hungry Pets Campaign in order to help bridge pet food insecurity in low-income communities. By giving parcels of pet food to community pet owners, TEARS hopes to help keep pets in homes. Support for the programme has helped us be able to purchase pet food at a cheaper rate and thus increase the amount of food that is distributed,” said Wendy Scheepers, a spokesperson for TEARS.
She said that food insecurity extended to pets. “While not being able to provide for a pet has been a reason for surrendering a pet in the past, TEARS has experienced a 30% increase in this being reason for surrender,” she said.
Meanwhile, chief inspector for Cape of Good Hope SPCA Jaco Pieterse said that in the past three months they had reports of dogs being abandoned. During these three months, they received 15 cases of abandonment each month.
“During school holidays, we see an increase in this figure with people going away on holiday and leaving their pets unattended. With the high cost of living and the increase in fuel, food and other amenities, we are seeing an increase of animals being handed in at the SPCA as unwanted, because people simply cannot afford to look after their animals anymore,” said Pieterse.
He said that the SPCA was concerned about the issue. The SPCA has an open-door policy and will never turn an animal away.
“This means that when a person can no longer keep their animal for whatever reason, no questions asked, then they can bring the animal to the SPCA. There is no need to abandon the animal,” he said.
“To abandon an animal is a criminal offence in terms of the Animals Protection Act 71 of 1962 and a person found guilty will have a criminal record and can be sentenced to a fine of up to R40 000 and/or 12 months imprisonment.”
In the past three months, they had received 45 cases of where dogs have been abandoned. That figure did not include the number of animals being dumped or abandoned next to the road. In the last three months they have taken in more than 1 700 unwanted animals (and that doesn’t include the stray animals).
“Space will always be an issue. Unfortunately, the SPCA does not have unlimited space and due to the high volume of animals we receive daily, we do not have any choice but to humanely euthanise those animals that are not suitable for adoption or when we run out of space,” he said.
“Euthanising an animal is one of the hardest things to do and not an easy decision to make. Many people will crucify the SPCA for euthanising animals, however, this is beyond our control. We have an open-door policy and by law cannot turn any animal away. We do not have the luxury of saying no when we are full and cannot take in more animals.
“We have to take in each and every stray and unwanted animal brought to us. The other question one also has to ask is: if we did say no and refused to take in animals when we are full, where would they end up? In an abusive situation, or abandoned next to the road, given to someone that cannot care for then and would be subjecting them to abuse,” said Pieterse.
Allan Perrins, a spokesperson for the Animal Welfare Society of South Africa, told Weekend Argus that what saddened and infuriated them was that there was absolutely no reason for anyone to dump or abandon their pets, and they believed this was a cowardly way out.
Since the start of the year, the society has admitted and offered sanctuary to 101 unwanted dogs and puppies that were voluntarily surrendered.
This averages out at 17 surrendered pets every month and represents around 11% of all dogs and puppies in the Animal Care Centre at any one time.
“You would be forgiven for thinking that all of these pets come from impoverished areas on the Cape Flats, but the truth of the matter is that we are receiving pets from across the Cape Metro. There is a misconception that only cats and dogs are surrendered, whereas over the past year or so we have taken in a wide variety of pets, including goats, hamsters, parrots and even snakes.
“No one and no specific species of animal is immune to these tough times, but that does not give anyone the right or excuse to abandon or dump their pets,” said Perrins.
Weekend Argus
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