Cape Town - Community outreach organisation IndiPam has taken the SPCA and the City to task for allegedly allowing stray animals carrying diseases to be left in the Flamingo Heights informal settlement, which it said has resulted in illnesses and infestations and led to the death of starving dogs and puppies.
The organisation’s founder, Pam Tosh, said the lack of care and services needed in this disadvantaged area also posed a health risk to children.
The SPCA, on the other hand, said it doesn’t have the capacity or the funding for an entire outreach in the area and sterilising of all their animals.
Following an article published in the Cape Argus last year where children developed sores on their bodies thought to be monkeypox, Tosh said the City’s Law Enforcement: Animal Control Unit and SPCA conducted an assessment.
A report from the assessment indicated that the City would request animal services to attend to the mangy animals in the settlement.
After the report, Tosh said they mobilised another assessment on September 16 by the SPCA where a list of all dog owners, including those of dogs that needed sterilisation, was made.
“A promise was made that those dogs who were young and already up to the second litter of puppies and also putting stress on the boys and families owning them because they were not getting the care or the vaccinations, would be sterilised.
“The SPCA’s response that there is no funding allocated to this area does not make sense. If so, why are assessments done with no follow-up from the City,” she said.
Tosh said funding seemed not to be an issue, but there was either no manpower or failure to implement between the City, ward councillor and the animal welfare organisation.
SPCA chief inspector Jaco Pieterse said they had responded to every call for help from Tosh and the community.
However, he said the organisation does not have endless amounts of funds available to conduct outreaches continuously in a single area where people do not want to sterilise their dogs.
Pieterse said the SPCA cannot force any person to sterilise their animal and that this was a by-law issue that the SPCA had no jurisdiction to enforce.
Pieterse said they currently had four mobile clinics stationed across the city to assist impoverished communities and that there was no manpower or resources to cover every area.