By TEARS Animal Rescue
Six animal welfare organisations unite to sterilise 180 pets on World Spay Day, 25 February.
Lavender Hill, Cape Town – Rescue group Aid4Aid recently discovered 41 dogs, of which 32 are puppies, crammed into two small yards. This heart-breaking situation is what happens when dogsare not sterilised.
In one yard, four unsterilised females and one male had produced 17 puppies. In the second, three unsterilised females and one male produced another 15 puppies. These numbers will keep multiplying unless something is done, immediately.
That’s what’s happening on 25 February, World Spay Day, when six animal welfare organisations are attempting to sterilise 180 animals in Lavender Hill. Paws-a-While, Cape of Good Hope SPCA, Howlelujah Foundation, TEARS Animal Rescue, Afripaw, and Aid4Aid, are working together to make a tangible difference to prevent animal cruelty in this under-resourced area. On the day, they will transform the Levana Primary School Hall into a field hospital, where 100 dogs will be sterilised, receive parasite treatments, collars, name tags, and food to support their recovery.
Carolyn Dudgeon, the founder of Paws-a-While, the organisation spearheading this collaboration, says, “The SPCA’s ‘We Step In’ campaign inspired me to unite the animal welfare movement in the same way I do for pet adoption drives. This is the only way of preventing thousands of unwanted animals from being born into neglect, abandonment, and cruelty. The SPCA can’t fight pet overpopulation alone, we have to work together to break this cycle. ”
Last year, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA took in 23,621 unwanted and stray animals — far surpassing their worst projections.
Belinda Abraham, spokesperson for the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, says “These animals are more than just numbers, each one was once wanted, until they weren’t. When that happens, these pets have nowhere else to go but to us. We see an average of 65 animals a day arriving at our doors, and the cycle is endless—unless we step in and stop it where it starts,” she says.
Considering the Lavender Hill Scenario
One unsterilised female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in just six years. Four females and one male can produce at least 60 puppies every year—from just one yard. Three females and a male in the next yard, is another 45 puppies, year after year.
“We are in the midst of a pet overpopulation crisis,” says Abraham. “Rescue without sterilisation is not a solution—it’s a temporary fix that ignores the root of the problem. Any animal rescue organisation neglecting sterilisation is not part of the solution, they are enabling the crisis.”
Donate to stop the cruelty
This lifesaving effort comes at a cost. The organisations are asking 1,000 hearts to save 100 lives. “R100 may not seem like much, but if 1,000 people each give R100, we can change the future for these animals. R1,000 sterilises one pet and prevents the birth of thousands more. One mother dog sterilised means generations of suffering prevented,” says Abraham.
TEARS Animal Rescue will focus on feline sterilisation
While five of the organisations focus on the dog population, TEARS Animal Rescue is focusing on cats. Mandy Store, TEARS Animal Rescue Operations Manager, says “We are pledging to sterilise at least 80 cats from the area at our own animal hospital. With kittens able to reproduce as early as four months old, and cats producing up to three litters of three to five kittens annually, felines are notoriously prolific breeders that contribute significantly to the pet overpopulation crisis. This initiative will prevent the birth of at least 960 kittens in the next 12 months, more if males with limitless fathering capacity are targeted.”
Store says, “The biggest challenge that animal welfare organisations, like TEARS Animal Rescue are faced with is the increasingly high number of homeless, sick, neglected and abused animals that need to be rescued, treated, rehabilitated and rehomed as a direct result of animal over-population and uncontrolled breeding. The only way to mitigate the ongoing animal welfare and indirect community health issues related to animal over-population in the Western Cape is to fund mass sterilisation and vaccination programmes in tandem with pet care education” she says.
How to help
Donate R100 (or more!) to the organisation of your choice—your contribution will change a life and prevent the birth of thousands of animals into circumstances of suffering and neglect.
About the ‘We Step In’ campaign
The We Step In campaign was launched by the Cape of Good Hope SPCA in response to the devastating reality of pet overpopulation. With adoption rates at a dismal 9% for dogs and 19% for cats, and backyard breeders continuing to fuel the crisis, sterilisation is the only way to break the cycle. “Sterilisation is a game-changer,” says Abraham. “Every sterilised pet is a step closer to the world we dream of—a world where every animal has a loving home, and the concept of ‘unwanted’ no longer exists.”
About World Spay Day
World Spay Day, observed annually on the last Tuesday of February, is a global initiative to promote the life-saving benefits of sterilisation. It raises awareness about pet overpopulation and the suffering caused by unplanned litters, urging communities to support spay-and-neuter programs as a humane solution.
About Cape of Good Hope SPCA
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA is the oldest animal welfare organisation in South Africa, committed to preventing cruelty to animals through rescue, rehabilitation, and education. Every year, the SPCA sterilises thousands of animals, preventing exponential growth in the unwanted pet population.
About Paws-a-While
Paws-a-While is a dedicated animal welfare initiative focused on pet adoptions, sterilisation drives, and community education to reduce the number of homeless animals. Through collaborative efforts, they unite rescue organisations to maximise their impact in saving lives.
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