Animal Lovers Project Swing (ALPS) saves animals
ALPS (Animal Lovers Project Swing) is a registered non-profit animal welfare organisation that was founded in January 2012, with the specific objective of “helping Etwatwa animals”.
Swing was the very first dog that ALPS worked on, hence the name of the organization.
The Etwatwa township is situated 30km east of Benoni, and lies on the Mpumalanga border.
Founder of ALPS, Cassandra Barbosa, said the community is largely impoverished and generally uneducated or uninformed when it comes to basic animal and pet care — which, she explained, coupled with Etwatwa’s remote location, makes it challenging for pet owners to have access to veterinary care for their animals.
This often results in outbreaks of disease, overpopulation and cases of cruelty associated with the socio-economic factors of the community.
As a registered ALPS is dependent on public donations and support to perform their work and to be able to provide the animals in Etwatwa with the access to veterinary treatment and nutritious food they need.
They are also heavily dependent on vets who are willing to volunteer their time and professional expertise to the community project, and they struggle to find such willing veterinary professionals.
“So much so, that even though we are based on the East Rand and border Mpumalanga, the vet who partners with us is the Bromhof Vet Clinic, in Randburg, 125km away,” Barbosa added.
“We at ALPS and the Etwatwa community deeply value the relationship with Bromhof Vet, and the difference that the ALPS and Bromhof Vet partnership is making to the animals and people of Etwatwa is significant,” said Barbosa
“The community is fully on board with the programme; they willingly call on us for help, and one of the local schools has asked us to get involved in education programmes on animal welfare, for their learners.
“The school has also opened its doors for ALPS to use its premises for our activities and work.”
Together with their vet, ALPS focus on educating the community in basic pet care, thereby enabling them to care for their animals in a responsible manner.
Barbosa explained that they have discovered that very often the perceived “cruelty” cases are due to a lack of knowledge and correct resources.
“We equip the owners with the basic know-how, so they are not only able to look after their animals’ well-being, but are also empowered to proactively recognise instances where animals need medical or any other assistance – our motto with the community is ‘prevention is better than cure’,” she said.
ALPS provides the community with access to a support system they can reach out to for day-to-day care and emergencies, ranging from animals involved in road accidents to poisonings, tick bite fever, various types of injuries sustained in their living environment, etc.
The organisation also provides a feeding programme for approximately 100 dogs and they are able to dispense between 500kg to 600kg of dog food on a monthly basis.
Barbosa said they are heavily dependent on donations of dog and cat food to collect this significant amount monthly, and very often 600kg is not enough, as there are always new dogs arriving.
If you would like to get involved with this organisation, contact Cassandra Barbosa on 082 771 0511, email to cassbar@live.co.za, or visit the ALPS website at: https://www.animalloversprojectswing.co.za.
