SPCA going strong

Even though the SPCA faces a lot of challenges they are still going strong and doing the best they can for stray and abandoned dogs and cats. SPCA Manager in Windhoek, Ms Hilary Du Plessis, said the main challenges they face are financial but they also do not have sufficient space to accommodate all the abandoned and unwanted pets so they focus on educating people about the benefits of having their pets sterilized. Currently, the SPCA housed between 100 and 150 cats and between 140 and 170 dogs. The animal welfare organisation keeps the dogs for four months and the cats for six months before euthanizing them.

They try to do it in a humane way by injecting the animals letting them die peacefully. Du Plessis argued that pet owners should take their animals to a veterinarian for vaccinations and not only for rabies. She stressed that there are other essential vaccinations the pets need. She said the SPCA is trying by all means to educate the public on this. But they no longer have a clinic or a veterinarian where vaccinations were done at a minimal cost, therefore, she said it is understandable that many pet owners can not afford the cost of proper clinical treatment. She urged the public not to keep pets if the owners can not afford them and treat them humanly, with proper shelter, food, water and love. She also stressed that pets must be kept in the yard and not roam the streets. She advised that pets should wear collars with name tags and contact telephone numbers to make it easier for the SPCA to locate the owners once the animal lands in their care. The SPCA runs with the help of volunteers from the age of 15 to help with the basic work at the shelter.