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To halt overpopulation of animals in an area that lacks animal charity or veterinarians, local animal shelter Change for the Better Foundation last week reached out to rural Piketberg with a mass sterilisation.
During these two days between 9 and 10 April, the lives of 140 animals were changed for the better by the Bottelary-based organisation.
The small team pulled out all the stops and left no stone unturned caring for the animals.
In total 103 cats and 37 dogs were sterilised by the team of Envirovet CVC from Joostenbergvlakte thanks to National Sterilisation Project and Cape Town non-profit Dancers Love Dogs who fully funded the project.
Annelie van Wyk from Changing for the Better Foundation says this is the first stage of a two-year project to break the breeding cycle.
“The impact of an overpopulation of cats in itself is detrimental. Its leads to starvation and a risk of diseases that can also spread to humans. One unsterilised cat can produce 15 kittens per year, a number that can multiply by five within less than a year.
“The sad truth is that 200 healthy animals are euthanised in South Africa every day, a grim reality that can change with every sterilised animal. These animals were either surrendered by owners or simply left behind when they moved. We can’t adopt ourselves out of this massive overpopulation crisis, but we have to fix it,” she says.
They have no owners
Many of the cats sterilised over the weekend were feral, semi-feral or stray, meaning that they are not indoors or have pet owners.
“They are just there, completely reliant on the good faith of someone leaving food out or discarding of leftovers. They are lucky if they have a warm place outside to sleep.”
One one particular farm 20 cats were sterilised but there are so many more but not enought resources.
And within 48 hours of leaving the area, Piket Animal Care was bombarded from every direction by people begging to get help. In a few days 75 more animals were added to the waiting list.
“We can now start planning phase 2 to take place hopefully within six months as a target of 70 to 80% of sterilisation needs to be reached to control overpopulation.
“What would the fate of these animals be without public funding? By your support to them they are enabling projects which have sterilised an incomprehensible number of animals.”
Change for the Better Foundation can be reached at 083 505 5193 or info@changeforthebetter.co.za
