Edenvale Ferals group aim to educate community about cat colonies
“I think it is just something inside of us that drives us to help those in need.”
With the hopes of assisting animals in need, community members recently came together to start Edenvale Ferals, a new non-profit company (NPC).
The NPC intends to reduce the feral cat population in Edenvale and surrounding areas in addition to educating the community.
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The brainchild of Christopher Mynhardt, Sue Ashford and Darrian Rogers, its official launch will be at the Tails and Whiskers Charity Shop on March 9.
Christopher, the chairperson and founder of the NPC, said the idea to launch the NPC started as a volunteer for an organisation which conducted similar work.
He said at the time he was volunteering the organisation was not registered.
“I thought to myself that in order to help more cats I wanted to start a registered NPC,” said Christopher.
“As a registered NPC, we should be able to raise more money as people will have more trust in us.”
Director of Edenvale Ferals Sue said the organisation would focus on trapping, neutering, releasing and maintaining the animals.
“Once the cats are released we will continue to monitor them to ensure that they are healthy,”said Sue.
The NPC currently monitors and maintains about 113 cats in Meadowdale, Greenstone, Horwoord’s Farm and Edenvale’s industrial areas.
Christopher explained that in Edenvale all rescue organisations have agreed to mark neutered cats in a specific manner to prevent confusion.
He said male cats have the tip of their left ears trimmed while females have the tip of their right ears trimmed.
“The trimming doesn’t harm the cats and doesn’t affect their nerves,” said Darrian.
“The trimming is less likely to get infected, unlike an ear tag.”
Sue said the desire to help cats is something that just came naturally to those involved in the NPC.
“I think it is just something inside of us that drives us to help those in need.”
Christopher said since the NPC started doing work a few weeks ago, it has slowly gained support and grown.
One of the initiatives he has in mind includes working in partnership with schools to promote awareness.
“We want to work hand in hand with the community,” said Darrian.
To ensure that volunteers and members of Edenvale Ferals can help the cats, the NPC relies heavily on donations from the community.
Financial donations will be used to establish funds for veterinary bills, buy traps and other equipment.
Christopher said each trap costs R900, this amount excludes delivery costs.
In order to ensure the NPC provides high levels of care and attention to the feral colonies, it has an in-depth vetting process for volunteers.
Christopher said anyone who has broken the animal protection act will definitely not be allowed to volunteer.
“We don’t want to associate the organisation with people like that.”
For more information about the NPC visit its Facebook Page or www.edenvaleferals.co.za
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