Hope for Homeless Animals

Posted By animalman on February 23, 2010

Over the last few weeks, we have featured several cases of neglect and cruelty – Councillor Woods’ dog, who was starved, and her puppies died; Lucky Lucy who escaped with her life after being tied to a railway track; the little fox terrier buried alive, also named Lucky; the horse that was still being used to tow a vehicle after having been involved in a collision with the same vehicle; and lastly Maggie, the Rottie who was being dragged by her neck in a state of starvation when she was rescued. There were plenty of others that we did not feature, and we have no doubt plenty of others who either died or are still out there somewhere…

The causes of events like these are complex, in some cases negligence combined with ignorance, in others a lack of resources, in yet others a complete absence of common sense and sensitivity.

Whatever the causes, there is a significant problem when we see so many examples of this nature and their volume seems to be increasing, But we who work in animal welfare know this, we deal with it on a daily basis as we see so many animals being surrendered to shelters or abandoned. The death toll rises and we do not have the resources to stem the tide…

But we have another problem and it threatens the core of the society in which we live. A just society is one in which the civil liberties of all are defended equally, and the rule of law prevails to ensure this. Animal-loving people’s values are not being defended by our government. It does not matter that we are a minority. Democracy should be less about majority rule than about protecting the rights of minorities.

Fact is, the SAPS seem to be ignorant of the Animal Protection Act. We have had many reports where they seemed unaware of the laws as if they had never heard of the APA. In other cases, they simply refused to take down the particulars of the complainant, and follow-up is scarce if it ever happens. In addition, SAPS personnel have been known to walk straight past an animal which is clearly being neglected, as if it does not matter, since it is ‘only an animal’. We know the police are busy – after all, we have one of the highest crime rates in the world – but to argue that animal legislation should be ignored because there are more important issues is to say that we should ignore rape because there are less rapes than robberies. It’s an absurd argument. If you are a law enforcer, your job is to enforce all laws.

While the existing APA is a document in need of revision to make it more in line with modern thinking, it is still workable as legislation as long as someone is actually aware of it and proactively identifying and proceeding against perpetrators of crime against animals. Our immediate problem is not the revision of the APA, it is getting the SAPS to DO THEIR JOBS.

To this end, we have made a forum available so that you, the animal-loving public, can have your say – make suggestions, discuss issues, make resources available, introduce strategies that have worked elsewhere, but most importantly, do something to change the world our animals live in. At the forum, there is a link to a petition.

Animal Protection Act Forum

I do not normally support petitions, but in this case the issue is large enough in scope and urgent enough to warrant our participation. You will find the link to the petition both on our Facebook Group and at the Forum. You will also find a link in both places to the Animal Protection Act in pdf format. Here is the Facebook Group link:

Facebook Group

Please do not consider the petition to be the focal point of this campaign. Get involved, particularly if you are knowledgeable in the areas of the law and government. This will not be an overnight campaign, it is going to require commitment over a long period of time.

I will be involving people at certain stages of this campaign – people with specialist skills and knowledge who know how to get the attention of key personnel on government. If you believe you can add some value, contact me at derek@hopeful.ws.

A Light in their Darkness,

Derek

Hopeful Homeless

Category: Animal legislation, animal welfare | Comments Off
Tags: animal care, animal cruelty, animal law, animal neglect, animal rescue, animal welfare

Posted By animalman on February 14, 2010

(Yet another case of neglect makes the headlines, and it’s too easy to blame the economy or say it’s an isolated incident. There are too many of these, and the situation is not improving. It’s time somebody took action, since clearly our SAPS do not intend to.  – animalman) <<Hi there, Yesterday I was on my way to work when I passed an arab man dragging this poor beast with a piece of leather around her neck. Needless to say I stopped and managed to get the dog away from him. She is a soft natured creature who has endured 6 /7 years of hell and really needs a loving home. I took her to the Pinelands Veterinary clinic as the Vet there is the deputy head of the Animal Anti-cruelty league. He said that she would probably need (more…)

Category: animal cruelty, animal neglect | 5 Comments »
Tags: animal cruelty, animal law, animal neglect, animal welfare

Posted By animalman on February 12, 2010

It’s a question I get often, and there are so many ways you can help that it’s truly easy to get involved. Every time you take action in even the smallest way, you add your efforts to those of others, and together we can start moving this mountain that is the domestic animal crisis:

1. Tell others about the Hopeful Initiative, whether by sending them to the Hopeful Intro page (http://hopeful.ws/intro) where they can get an understanding of what we do, or on Facebook by sharing the Hopeful Homeless group with your friends. In this way we expand the Hopeful Network, thereby increasing it’s potential…
2. Get the Animails in your email and send on the Lost/Found/Homeless animals on to your own personal network. Register for the Animails here: http://hopeful.ws/intro/networkerreg.htm
3. If you’re on Facebook, share one homeless animal from the Hopeful Homeless group with your Facebook friends every day.If your friends do the same, we get more people to see our orphans, Easily 10 000 people could see the animals every day, such is the power of social networking. If you’re not on Facebook, you (more…)

Category: animal welfare | No Comments »
Tags: animal care, animal rescue, animal welfare

Posted By animalman on February 8, 2010

(It’s great when the public respond to situations, and it’s even better when the animal escapes what would have been a slow and agonising death. What kind of person does this to an animal? In my opinion they should be behind bars, since they are a threat to society. I would like to point out further that it was not Jabu that saved this animal, he was merely doing his job – this dog was saved by a person who took action and DID SOMETHING. – animalman)

Once again Animal Welfare Inspector Jabu has come to the rescue of a dog, this time a little fox terrier (more…)

Category: Animal legislation, animal abandonment, animal neglect, animal welfare | 4 Comments »
Tags: animal cruelty, animal neglect, animal rescue

Posted By animalman on February 3, 2010

The American SPCA has published the TOP 10 Pet Toxins of 2009- and here they are:

1. Human Medications

For several years, human medications have been number one on the ASPCA’s list of common hazards, and 2009 was no exception. Last year, the ASPCA managed 45,816 calls involving prescription and over-the-counter drugs such as painkillers, cold medications, antidepressants and dietary supplements. Pets often snatch pill vials from counters and nightstands or gobble up medications accidentally dropped on the floor, so it’s essential to keep meds (more…)

Category: animal welfare | No Comments »
Tags: animal care, education