Tag: animal rescue

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BREAKING the CYCLE: The Animal Welfare Imperative

‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ – Benjamin Franklin

As a strategist and problem solver in the Corporate world, I was always somewhat dumbfounded by the degree to which problem-solving was directed rather simplistically at symptoms rather than root causes, effectively only solving part of the problem, or solving it only for a short time, or causing other problems that negated the solution anyway.

Animal Welfare SA suffers the same malaise. Many organisations and individuals focus on rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming, and of course there is a necessity that somebody do this, since there are so many homeless animals. This is an attempt at finding, for each animal, a ‘cure’ – a home in which they can live happy lives.  If we recruited more people to welfare, could we home more animals? That very much depends Continue reading “BREAKING the CYCLE: The Animal Welfare Imperative”

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THE TRUE UNSUNG HEROES

I would like to dedicate a short piece to those incredible people who take in our battered and abused dogs, and treat them with such dignity and love that they learn to trust humans again, and learn to accept a kind human touch.  Once every two or three years, we bring in a soul that had been destroyed by human abuse to such an extent that, in such a case, the dog cannot be networked to be homed, due to his/her extreme fear and accompanying behavioural problems.

In each instance, a human angel has come forward, willing to mend the broken spirit with unending and absolute love and commitment.

The most recent of these adoptions happened this weekend, to everyone’s delight.

I was called out to remove a Chow from a property earlier this year.  The so-called caregivers of Teddy, as we came to call her, had left her behind on a rental property when they moved. She had been on her own Continue reading “THE TRUE UNSUNG HEROES”

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A Letter from a Shelter Manager

This is an article that appeared a while ago in emails and was published on, among other places, change.org. It is from an American shelter manager but it is nevertheless relevant and applicable to the South African scenario. (animalman)

I think our society needs a huge “Wake-up” call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all…a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the “back” of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don’t even know.

That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it’s not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there’s about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 30% of all Continue reading “A Letter from a Shelter Manager”