Here’s how you can help:

Sponsoring an animal: The total average cost per animal is R280. Times are tight and this is unaffordable for many of the pet owners who wish to have their animal/s sterilised (and some have more than 1 pet). Sponsoring a spay or neuter will change that animal’s life for the better FOREVER! Please consider making a donation in this regard.

Our bank details for EFT payments: CHAIN Boland, Standard Bank, Tulbagh. Account : 085958557, Branch : 050307. Please use “Spayathon” as a reference.

Alternatively cash may be given to any of the committee members. Identifying an animal: Maybe the dog or cat of your staff on your property needs to be sterilized. Perhaps you can encourage them, assist them with completing the booking form and possibly cash flow arrangement for payment? Booking forms are available from Gaynor (@ Spar) or email chain-boland@mweb.co.za.

Blankets & Newspapers: We require old blankets and towels to keep the animals warm while they are recovering from surgery. The newspapers we use to try and keep things clean as we go through the day. Both are very important. Should you be able to assistance with blankets, towels or newspapers please drop them off at Mari Lane in Van Der Stel Street (they have kindly agreed to be a collection point for us).

Cages: We require additional carry cages for cats and dogs as most pet owners do not have these. We use these when collecting animals from the homes, keeping them separate before surgery, if they are aggressive or excited, during the recovery process and for delivery after surgery. Should you have any cages or secure baskets that we could use, they can also be delivered to Mari Lane (make sure they are marked with your name and number so we can return them to you). Thank you for your support!!

Kind Regards

Gaynor Saayman

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This is the story of what happened to my beloved dog Tyson from the 26th March – 3rd April 2012.

Tyson slipped out of the gate while I was busy carrying goods in from the car and as I left immediately after for the evening, didn’t notice his absence until late that night on my return on Sunday 25th March. Tyson never had a collar on while he was at home due to his skin problems, the collar chafed his neck which then always become inflamed.

The Cape of Good Hope SPCA in Grassy Park was notified on the morning of Monday 26th of his disappearance as were many other animal shelters. They were given his full description and the name he responded to. I was assured that they would keep an eye out for him and if he was brought in, would notify me.

On Thursday 29th March, another notification was sent via email to them with a photograph attached:

“Good day,

My dog went missing from the Harfield Village area on Sunday night, the 25th March and I would appreciate your contacting me should he be found.

Contact: ………….

Male cross Staffie
Neutered
Black with a grey face (much more grey than in the picture)
+-13 years
No collar, no chip

He’s very friendly and responds to the name Tyson. He’s also a special needs dog who has respiratory and skin problems, he is also on diuretics.

Thank you very much.”

On Friday 30th March at 11pm, I received a call from a young lady who had seen his poster that had been put up and assured me that she had taken this same dog to the SPCA in Grassy Park on the Sunday evening already as he had followed her home.

On Saturday 31st March I drove to the SPCA in Grassy first thing in the morning. I was assured that he hadn’t been brought in but invited me to have a look at all the strays in the different sections which I did and he wasn’t there. The young lady went through to the hospital and quarantine to have a look in those areas and in the meantime another lady (name known) looked at the emails received and confirmed that it had been received. I never saw the written telephonic notification which had been given to them on the Monday morning of the 26th, but I do have a witness to this event having taken place. The young lady returned after quite some time and informed me that my dog wasn’t there and that there was no record of him being brought in anywhere. I again reiterated the description and specifically emphasized on his ailments, his skin problems, his respiratory problems, his heart problems and the fact that his nose was always running.

On Sunday 1st April I received further confirmation that my dog had most definitely been taken to the SPCA and on Monday morning of the 2nd April, I returned to them and demanded that they recheck their records for my dog. I spoke to a nurse? Vet assistant?, Beryl and she assured me that if my dog was there, they would have a record and I would have been notified. In the same breath she stated that they had put a Staffie down during the last week, but couldn’t possibly have been my dog as they had compared the picture and description I had sent very carefully. I demanded that they go through their records again and let me know what their findings were during the course of the day. I was told that I would be called before 4pm that day.

4pm came and went and no call, so I called to speak to Beryl at 4.30pm. She was “not available” but they put me through to her superior who wanted to know what the whole story was and so this was related to her as well. She assured me that she would check and get back to me as soon as possible the same day. Well, guess what? No call.

After being given the name of the manager of the centre, Allan Perrins that evening, I phoned and asked to speak to him early on the morning of 3rd April. I was told that he was unavailable by his assistant and that she would give him the message to call me. 3 hours later, still no call and I called to speak to him again. His assistant once again said that he was not available and that he would be attending a board meeting shortly but would give him the message. A couple of hours later I received the fateful call, but not from Allan Perrins.

It was from one of the resident vets by the name of Carla who had nothing to do with the issue and who was the one chosen to break the news. In short, I was told that they were sorry, but my dog was put down in error during the previous week. They suspected that he had distemper and put him down so as not to infect the other animals. So why didn’t they test for this? You can’t put an animal down on “suspicion” of any disease until proven! I was also told by Carla that they only keep ALL animals delivered to them for a maximum of ONE week and then put them down. This, was explained to me, is due to lack of staff and lack of funding. I want to know if this is standard practice in all of your operations. ONE WEEK?

I question the competence and integrity of the staff and management as there was obviously an attempted cover up when they realized their mistake, but when it was clear that I wasn’t going to go away, passed the buck. I have to this day not had a call from anybody with an apology for their grave error as not only was my beloved pet traumatized unnecessarily by their negligence but I was as well and still am.

I hold the SPCA accountable for the unnecessary death of my dog. I don’t care that he was old, I don’t care that he had medical issues, what I care about is the lack of empathy from the SPCA which was totally unexpected. They are seemingly shrugging their shoulders and washing their hands of this matter but being a believer in justice for all, including animals, I will not let this matter slide.

Dee Bratuchin

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We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. And like they say you will never know unless you try and that is why we work our tails off, no matter what and it also is why, when we are in need and things aren’t going well, we would rather tell you what our difficulties are coz only then will you know if you can help or not – and from my last plea, we were immensely blessed to have people suppawt us, hear our cry for help and stand by us when we face a tough time, without such communication how can anything go right so let me tell you ALL how eternally grateful we are for your help from our last plea and it was absolutely brakking awesome to see how many people suppawt us and how many care, we can do so much but can do nothing without any of you and this is how you helped us:

From our donors we got R61,738 and through our droolicious Recipe Book sales we raised another R20,000 that gave us R81,738 and although  some bills still add up and we have R48,662 outstanding, it doesn’t make us despondent at all knowing we could amazingly do this, because of you: R28,000 paid to Tygerberg Animal Hospital; R14,110 paid to Dr Roos for our sterilization bill; R8,227 paid to Vetsol for our sterilization bill; R5,980 paid to AWS for our primary health care bill; R5,431 paid to Norpharm for our medicines bill. With so many ways we can continue raising the very much needed funds and during March Lucky Lucy was invited to many events, we visited many schools, we received massive support from Legalwise who did the Cape Argus Cycle Tour for us and Hospice, we could do a 2nd re-print of our ast’hound’ing Recipe Book that is selling like hot cakes, we launched one awesome raffle and so much more!

Above all this, we have shown once again what second chances really mean as we changed 3 little lives completely and i am sure you remember them, Uncle Craker, Rinnah and Shayara(first known as Bob Marley), here they were before:
Uncle Cracker came out of Wallacedene simply wasting away in the dust……..

Bob Marley (now Shayara) was picked up close to Nyanga by one of my  members, Joanne Brune, after it looked like some rubbish blowing across the road…….

Rinnah, came from one of our Kalkfontein Mass Sterilizations, they believed she was possesed so she was thrown with stones, kicked and beaten and left for the dirt…….

But look at them now:
Uncle Cracker soaking up the sun until he finds his own place to call home!

Shayara cuddling up on the bed until she has her very own!

Rinnah strutting her stuff making sure she gets noticed!

So here with us at LLF, every life comes in at the end of the road but when we put our hearts out on the road for them, with the hands of our supporters, suppawting us, they take a turn to where their lives begin and speaking of new beginnings, 15 of our rescued and reahbilitated orphans found their Happy Ever Afters in the month of March! We many many more, deserving orphans waiting for their forever homes too, so have a look at our adoption site to see if you can find the companion you are searching for and email adoption@luckylucy.org.

GENERAL:
During March we had a wonderful invitation to the Diemersdal Wine Festival. Volunteers of the Lucky Lucy Foundation started Saturday morning 17th March 2012 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the annual Diemersdal Plaasfees in Durbanville, ready for action and to create maximum awareness for the Foundation.

7 000 to 10 000 were expected for the day, but it certainly felt like much more, as our stall was soon engulfed with interested public, local sponsors and delighted supporters, happy to see us and give Lucy and the “three-legged gang” a big hug.

Everyone wanted to meet the famous Lucky Lucy and her furry team as we stepped back in time for a quick visit to the 1800s. Thank you all who suppawted us and thank you Diemersdal for inviting us – hopefully we will see you there next year too!

CURRENTLY IN NEED OF:
We are looking for assistance in the following areas, simply because, as we grow we are stretched and we simply don’t have enough paws to do it all, so if you think you would be able to become part of the pawsome LLF team please email me at richelle@luckylucy.org:
•    A dedicated Market Team – consisting of 3-4 individuals who do all our Market days and Market events for us.
•    We are searching for an Adoption Assistant – helping us with the most important task of all, advertising, keeping our Homing List and ‘Stock’sheet updated, photo albums etc.
•    And most important of all a Fundraisee – a person who becomes the LLF Fundraiser helping us continually raising the very much needed funds.

UPCOMING PROJECTS:

These are very important days for us because we are woring hard at the upgrading and upkeep of our farm and rehabilitation centre, this is our base and we need it to be fully functional for all that we do – these are physical working days and we always need hands to help!
•    Completion of the LLF Cattery – we need men for this.
•    Clean that Farm – this will be our cleaning day on the farm, packing, throwing away all the rubbish, finding/bringing/building storage solutions and simply helping the face of the farm look beautiful – we definitely need men for this day too.
These projects should be happening from the 14th of April but if you can assist, donate, help or would like to be a friendship circle or corporate team on the days please email project@luckylucy.org.
We truly hope to achieve this and make it a huge success.

WAYS YOU CAN HELP US: http://www.luckylucy.org/donate

NPO-091-636
PBO-930-036-404
www.luckylucy.org
Richelle Graham and Lucky Lucy

To Donate:

Lucky Lucy Foundation Standard Bank
410 514 039
Milnerton 02 65 09
Cheque Account
Swift code: SBZAZAJJ

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We are glad to let you know that we will be having another great evenings entertainment in aid of our fundraiser for animals in need in Mozambique.

The concert is at the Heritage Theatre and the Artists have been invited back to perform again, as the show Dire Straits was such a huge success the last time they were here!  The evening will be great entertainment as well as a lovely 2 course meal….. and LOTS of lucky draw prizes!!!

We go up to Ponta Malongane every two months where we have started a regular feeding program for animals that are unowned, and for the community who do not have the means to take care of their animals.

We set clinics up between Ponta Do Oura and Ponta Malongane where we sterilise, vaccinate and treat these animals.  We are hoping to begin an educational program at the schools in the near future.

The exciting news is that Joanne and Oscar (www.worldwooftour.com) will be there too!  They were held up in America the last time they were due to be at our Barnyard fundraiser, so for all of you who didn’t get to meet her….. now is the time!  She is doing unbelievable work and travels all over the world with Oscar – she has written a book (The World Woof Tour) which will be sold on the night ….. and Oscar will be there to “Paw Print” them!

Joanne and Oscar will be spending the next few weeks travelling around our provinces and various radio stations will be broadcasting from her hot air balloon!  She will be giving away tickets to take a ride with them during the week they are here too!  East Coast Radio will be mentioning all the excitement a week before she arrives – so stay tuned from the 21^st April 2012.

Help us to help these animals!  It really is a much needed cause!

Thank you!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-Ponta/170790959649113?sk=info

Regards,

Shannon Mathie

0824643223

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Klipplaat is a little farming town in the middle of the Karroo, the scenery in the Karroo is so powerful you cant photograph it, on the dirt road to Kipplaat you can park in the middle of the road and have a picnic the chance of meeting another car is very remote.

The reason I am sending out photos of this outreach I am so proud of what this community has achieved in a year the animals were in amazing condition compared what we had to go through last year.

328 dogs and 5 cats were vaccinated, dewormed, and dipped and vaccinated for rabies -  we had 1 dog with mange one dog with ticks and one thin dog absolutely incredible.

Kilpplaat is just over 3hrs drive from PE so it’s a very long and hard day for the team but the results are worth it.

The donkeys were in good condition but in dire need of new harnesses.

Also nice to see the dogs still wearing the collars.

That’s it for another week of township work.

This outreach was fully sponsored. Donations for our township work go out as soon as they come in so if you know anyone that can help please tell them about us.

Drop of points all around the country just e-mail me.

Mike Kerr

kerrs@telkomsa.net

Animal Outreaches

Registration Number 078-410-NPO

Winners of the Eco Angel Award 2011

We are the voice for all God’s furry creatures, great and small, who have been neglected, abused and abandoned, and assist the impoverished community in taking care of their animals

Cell 0826549124 Landline +27 41 3721899 Telefax +27 41 365 5606

PO Box 457, Hunters Retreat, 6017,

South Africa

Banking Details:

Animal Outreaches

Standard Bank of SA Limited

Cheque Account No. 080 177 182

Port Elizabeth Branch – Code 050-017

Swift Code – SBZAZAJJ

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Since 2003 I have been actively involved with animals. And yes, most people are animal lovers but I think people are uninformed of the fact of how many animals really get homed and adopted and how many get put to sleep just because there are simply too much animals. Everyone loves to take the puppies, but all those puppies GROW UP… and that is where I want to make a difference…

I started a sterilization project and received support from Vets – giving me discounted rates on sterilisations. We try as far as possible to give poorer people the opportunity to sterilise their animals giving them affordable prices.

We do between 8-25 private sterilisations weekly. People will bring their animals to us on Tuesdays between 7 and 8 and we will take them to the vet to get sterilised and will return them the next day.

There are 7 white informal settlements in Pretoria North and we are currently busy sterilising the 4th informal settlement’s animals. We go to the informal settlement, talk to the people and explain to them why it is important to sterilise. We then pick up the animals, take them to the vet to get sterilised and then take them back to their homes. If we have a lot of sponsored animal food we will give it to these people. We leave our contact details with them should their animals get sick, need food, help or advice, so they can contact us – and believe me – they do!

We also help with trapping and sterilising wild cats living in warehouses, houses etc. Most of the time the cats are returned to where they are caught.

We regularly send out emails seeking stables where people would require wild cats since not everyone wants the wild kittens back. We NEVER get involved where animals are euthanized and if we get asked to euthanize a bunch of wild cats or kittens – we will not do it! We are only involved in sterilising and re-homing animals.

We also take in a lot of strays and animals that has no homes to go to. We would take them to the vet, sterilise them, see that everything else are fine and will then advertise and try and find a home for them. If we do not find a suitable home we make use of kennels, but while we are doing this we will still try and find them a home. We will help the kennels with dipping, cleaning the cages and giving food. No animal will be send to a kennel without being sterilised.

For this project we make use of unemployed people. Angelique helps with the telephone calls, admitting the animals; catching the cats… she really helps a lot! When an animal is hurt she will take them to the vet, she gives advice, visits informal settlements with me (or alone) and she really connects with the people! Her father in law, Paul, is doing the driving – we received a bakkie as a gift! Luckily my private vehicle can rest and not get more kilo’s on the clock – believe me, we drive a lot!

We receive no fixed income from any person or institution and only rely on donations. We are very fortunate as up to now we have had people giving donations to the informal settlements, otherwise we will do functions to raise funds.

Every weekend we give food to 200 wild cats! There are between 120 and 150 wild cats at Nissan. I also give food to the cats at Wonderpark Shopping centre and Akasia Hospital. We have already sterilised most of these animals, but are still busy. Then there are one or two firms in Rosslyn were we also give food to the cats. We also have a current account with a vet, and he waits patiently for his money…

I brought my 8 wild cats with when we moved from Midrand. Nissan arranged for a special cage to keep the wild cats in. They were released a few months later and they are all doing well!

Cilla Trexler

Wollies Animal Project

CillaT@nissan.co.za

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The rural township outreach starts to get bigger now as most of the seasonal work is over so unemployment is high, which means more people bring dogs. The ticks and fleas on this outreach were the main problem with the animals – a few mange cases and as always thin hungry dogs.

The amount of pups is alarming and township people want their dogs sterilised and I don’t have the answers for them.

As always funds food collars and leads blankets are needed to help our township animals drop of points all over JHB-CT-Durban and PE.

So this year let your passion for animals become your obsession and help when you can.

Township work is not for everyone, I have taken so many people out on an outreach that they never go back again.

You see so much suffering some days then other days you find so much good in people looking after their animals.

Do you ever get to the point that you don’t feel the pain, no you don’t you still shed the tears. The last photo in this batch is of a mangy scarred mother with her one remaining pup, that still brings a tear to my eye.

Take Care
Mike Kerr
Chairperson
Animal Outreaches
Registration Number 078-410-NPO
Winners of the Eco Angel Award 2011
We are the voice for all God’s furry creatures, great and small, who have been neglected, abused and abandoned, and assist the impoverished community in taking care of their animals kerrs@telkomsa.net Cell 0826549124 Landline +27 41 3721899 Telefax +27 41 365 5606 PO Box 457, Hunters Retreat, 6017, South Africa Banking Details:
Animal Outreaches
Standard Bank of SA Limited
Cheque Account No. 080 177 182
Port Elizabeth Branch – Code 050-017
Swift Code – SBZAZAJJ

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WE TREATED 368 DOGS THIS MONTH ! Not bad for two people…

Lets face it , it’s all much of the same in these Newsletters, just with different stories and Dogs and People . . . unless of course ‘you’ were the one that;

· The Old Lady smiled at and said ‘thank you’

· Or you just lost another one for want of a simple R6 pill

· Or you met a gorgeous Vet hiking down a remote village road with a 3 legged rescue dog named ‘POD’ from Khayelitsha

·  Or a young black girl redeems your belief in human kind and gives you hope to carry on

it just does not have the same ‘feeling’ if these ‘miracles’ are not happening to you personally.

But I really try to make you ‘feel’ the joy, relief, passion (hope you notice, I don’t include the sad parts).

Because we ‘do it’ on your behalf  knowing ‘you would if you  could’!

AN ANIMAL ANGEL!!!

How is this to start our year? It has got to be a first here in the Transkei. . A 15 year old local schoolgirl ‘rescues’ a sick pup off the streets of Port st Johns with a totally altruistic reason. NOT to bring the dog to us to care for . . But for us to treat it so she can take her back home to love and care for. . WOW !  This really lifted our spirits after a rough Festive Season of resultant  trauma & neglect of animals in general.

How good do we look in our new uniforms. A very special thank you to Bernie Stevens. Without donations of various sorts from you and others alike, we would have a very difficult time contunuing with our work in the rural areas, helping educate owners and improve the lives of all the dogs in the rural villages around the Transkei

BRING YOUR DOGS ON HOLIDAY

In order to become more self-sustainable, TAWI are working towards setting up a ‘BEACH COTTAGE for DOGS’

Where you can take invigorating  walks  that refresh the body and soul. (You can come too)

TAWI are working towards turning our lemons into lemonade. Running an AWO in this remote beautiful area is both operationally & financially  extremely challenging . However the area is ideally suited for city bound dogs (and their owners) to break from their boundary walls and run free on 5 miles of beach and indigenous forest.

We plan to have 4 ‘holiday bungalows’ on this beach that will cater exclusively to those who wish to take their pets on holiday with them. The idea came from trying to find a way to ’give back to our donors’ so either be rented out or Donor ‘Time Shared’.

GOALS FOR 2012 .

STERILISATION DRIVE: We are eagerly awaiting the outcomes from Santa Paws from their very successful 2011 year end Fund Raising initiative , of which TAWI is one of 3 selected beneficiaries. In conjunction with CLAW the proceeds will be used to sterilise as many Dogs as possible in 3 Transkei villages as well as fund the following event.

VILLAGE DOG SHOW: As part of awareness and education of caring for their Dogs, We will be running the first ever ’Dog Show’ in a rural village.

MOVE PREMISES: We have to vacate the temporary facility we are operating from at the end of March. We are presently arranging an alternative.

DOUBLE DONOR BASE: Presently +-12 individuals donate a total of +-R4100 pm , but at a cost of +­-R27 to treat each Dog @ +- 400 dogs pm (and climbing), we are running at a loss of  +-R6700 pm. We need to find at least another 12 benevolent supporters to continue until we can get the Holiday Cottages up and running.

Richard Norton

Find TAWI on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/TAWI-Transkei-Animal-Welfare-Initiative/134625569972543

Networking Needs:

Any contacts or ideas you may have  for a tough Agricultural Four-wheeler . .  The gearbox on our Kombi is packing up and this would better suite our pocket & purpose.

· Factory reject/Unused +-250 containers that could be used as ‘Community Dip Tanks’.

· Other surplus plastic containers from Tupperware  and larger  for rat proof storage. Even  refuse bins, water tanks or old steel stationary cabinets .

· Planking , decking, pallets , trusses, treated poles, fencing , pvc water piping or other easily transportable building material..

· A handheld megaphone to  call hunters from the forest.

Banking Details: PsJ Animal Welfare Initiative,  Standard Bank,  Mthatha West,  2621;   Account no: 061047562,  B.code: 052621

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We could see that something was seriously wrong with her and fortunately we managed to catch her with a blanket, as she refused to go into our traps.  We took her to our vet, Dr Shelagh Hahn, who confirmed that she must have been hit by a car some time ago, as she had multiple fractures.  She had a broken pelvis right through the hip bone, a broken ankle joint, a broken right tibia and a dislocated kneecap! Amazingly and beyond our understanding, her body managed to “repair” all the fractures, even though the bones grew on all skew.  The only thing her body did not manage to heal was the dislocated knee cap, which our vet attended to.

This poor cat must have been in the most excruciating pain and we simply cannot understand how she managed to get to food and water with her broken little body!  Also, it is a miracle that none of her organs had been damaged in the accident.  This cat obviously wanted to live!

But, our vet pointed out, that despite the fact that her body had recovered, she was not sterilized and her body would not have been able to carry her kittens to term or give birth.  If we had not found her in time, she would have died eventually when she became pregnant.

Our vet assured us that she is no longer in pain and therefore there is no need to put her down, especially not after she had fought so long and hard to survive!

After she had been sterilized by our vet, we took her to our shelter where we are working with her to try and tame her.  As soon as she is tame, we are going to need a very special home for this kitty.  Please contact us if you can offer her a good home.

As always, we are in desperate need of funds for her and the other animals in our shelter, medical bills and care. Please help us to help them by making a kind donation?

Thank you and kind regards,

Merinda Brits

Banking details:

FOUR PAWS

Nedbank, Fourways

Branch code: 168405, Acc no: 1684110750

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Mere words can never describe our sincere appreciation for the kind donations made towards our Derdepoort Sterilisation Project, as well as our own foster care program during the past year.  To know that there are still people out there who are willing to donate so kindly from their hearts to animal related causes are really heart-warming and are so meaningful to the lives of these little furballs who need our assistance so earnestly, and does make the light shine brighter at the end of all our tunnels (the “mole” tunnels created by our doggies in our garden as well!!). Thank you also to all the people that so tirelessly assist in making this life passion a success with the time and expertise they contribute to this cause (Dr. Janisch, Janine and team in particular)!!!

There are rescuers, networkers, people providing foster /animal (medical) care and /or forever homes and financial donors when it comes to animal rescue but in the end, we’re an integrated, interconnected and interdependent team who is only as strong as the weakest link in our strive to achieve a single goal of our shared fondness for animals.

Just a short reminder of what our life passion is all about: We are basically operating within a broader network of kind-hearted, voluntary caregivers as a two person, independent rescue, foster care and re-homing “team”.  Many of the rescue animals regrettably do not get rehomed to a forever loving home easily.  The reason is simple, in that there are just not enough loving and suitable homes willing and able to adopt any of thousands of abandoned, stray or abused animals currently in care with various animal rescue organisations, and the PTS (put to sleep) alternative is just no option for us if these poor, voiceless animals are healthy enough to get adopted. They have such an abundance of unconditional love to give and we just cannot let that love die or shrivel away for no reason. For instance, we currently have a family of nine kitties that we took into our foster care program when they were a mere 4 weeks young, extremely ill and taken in to be nursed back to health for adoption.  Six months later (and after endless efforts to try finding suitable homes for the little buggers) seven of them are still in our foster (albeit now seemingly more permanent) care and we had to unavoidably start with their spaying and neutering earlier than expected to steer clear of further unwanted litters.

We’ve also since been under pressure to take in several other unwanted /abandoned batches of kitten litters,  left to fend for themselves by uncaring people in a veld or by a railway line taking us to a current total of 28 unwanted kitties waiting on their forever homes (and we have 11 of or very own rescue furbabies, bringing the grand total to just less than 40). We also have 8 (hhhhmmm.. 9 since yesterday) orphaned doggies, some of which that have been in our foster care program for periods longer than six months after little or no interest have been received to get them adopted (apart from our own 12 rescue bundles of joy with whom we could not part over the years – or put differently – epic foster care failures).  In total, we subsequently care for just or less than 40 orphaned animals up for adoption (and just more than 60 including our own rescues), and that excludes the stray cats in the “hood” that seem to prefer to come and have their breakfast, lunch and dinner at our house.  All of their food, medical care etc. is currently funded from our own pockets.  Donations received are primarily used for the sterilisation project and medical expenses and your kind donations assisted tremendously to lift the financial burden, for which we are extremely grateful.  Whilst we would like to ask, personal donations for our foster care program will also be appreciated (are used for day-to-day expenses, i.e. feeding, transport, specialist vet bills, etc.).  Please be assured that we leave no “rock” unturned in trying to find them forever, loving homes and would find no greater joy than to see them all finding forever loving homes as soon as possible.

We are also very actively involved with what we refer to as the Derdepoort Project.  With our sterilisation project in the low cost housing Derdepoort area, so many people has been educated and they are also forever grateful for all the assistance we are offering to aid in their plight to care for their pets.  Without donations from caring, sincere people like yourselves, this would also not be possible.  These people truly love their pets, but do not have the financial means to sterilise or provide medical aid for their animals.  In some instances, these animals are all these families have left.  Even though it can rightfully be argued that these people should not have pets in the first instance if they can not afford their medical or day to day care, this is unfortunately not the reality and the best we can do is try to assist to make the lives of the animals (who have no choice in where they end up) a bit more bearable, whilst at least receiving love from caring people that no amount of money can buy.

We are also contemplating to expand this sterilisation program to other low-income parts north-east of the Pretoria region where sterilisation of animals seem to have become of crucial importance based on several pleas received from people in these areas to date.

So lastly, again (we have to emphasise that we cannot repeat this enough), we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kind contribution in making the lives of our furry friends worthwhile!!  So on this topic, we kindly refer you to our foster care wish list below (with a carbon copy sent to Santa Paws….nudge, nudge) if any of you would like to contribute to our voluntary friends of the furry ones’ programme….

Dorette Smit

Foster Care Program by Dorette & Co.

Cell: 084 581 2383 (after 16h00)

Fax: 012 548 5142

E-mail: dorette@sagateway.com

FOSTER CARE WISH LIST:

As most of you know, we are a “solo flying” two person rescue team operating within a broader network of very kind-hearted, sincere rescue volunteers.  Some of our foster doggies and kitties have already been in foster care with us for periods up to 6 months and longer    Our (or should we rather say the “fur tribe”) wish list includes:

Financial donations (donations can be paid directly into the vet account and will be used for sterilisations, vaccinations and other medical treatment as and when required) OR a personal donation can be made to our foster care program if you so wish (please send us a separate e-mail so that we can assist with the aforementioned).

FOSTER PROGRAM BY DORETTE & CO.:

Banking details:

Dr. C E Janisch

Standard Bank

Branch: Hatfield

Branch Code: 01-1545

Account No.: 012 625 647

Reference:  Dorette Smit + Your initials and surname

DERDEPOORT LOW COST ANIMAL CARE, STERILISATION PROJECT:

Banking details:

Dr. C E Janisch

Standard Bank

Branch: Hatfield

Branch Code: 01-1545

Account No.: 012 625 647

Reference:  Derdepoort + Your initials and surname

Proof of donations must also please be e-mailed / faxed to me (e-mail: Dorette@sagateway.com / Fax: 012 548 5142)

OTHER

-  Good quality dog and cat food (wet and dry).

-  Cat Litter sand.

-  Toys for kittens and cats, including scratch poles.

-  Blankets and towels.

-  Anything else the hairy ones will enjoy.

-  Foster Caregiver Families (sincere thank you to Crystal Hunter and her family for joining our foster program).

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