Bunny Park group continues work
Members of the Bunny Park Animals 911 Group erected three enclosures for goats and donkeys during the past two months for the well-being of the animals.
“We first built an enclosure for the two donkeys, Milo and Coco, because they had no adequate shelter,” said Tania Forrest-Smith, founder of the Bunny Park Animals 911 Group.
Forrest-Smith said after seeing the donkeys wet because of the rainy nights, the group was motivated to enclose an adequate shelter for the two.
“We appealed to the public for wood and pallets,” Forrest-Smith added.
A week after erecting the donkey shelter, they rebuilt the shelter for the goats in the goat/donkey enclosure in order to make it shelter and goat-proof.
“One goat was seen hanging from the wire of the thatched shelter,” Forrest-Smith said.
“Samantha Pinfold, Nicole Welsh, Joanne Christie and I spent a few hours removing the wire so some of the men in the group could rebuild the shelter.”
In the same enclosure, a goat had twins and the three were moved to the goat/sheep enclosure where another goat also had twins.
“The incident reoccurred in this enclosure where the twins were seen hanging from the wire,” Forrest-Smith added.
“Mark Forrest-Smith removed the wire and erected the enclosure for the goats and their twins.”
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) spokesperson Themba Gadebe said the EMM welcomes any assistance from any group, however all activities must be coordinated.
“The 911 Group stated through an SMS that they are going to enclose two of the animal shelters,” Gadebe said.
Gadebe added that building the animal shelters was not a problem; however, the municipality already budgeted for the upgrade of the park.
“The 911 Group is aware that R7-million will be invested in upgrading the park over the next two financial years,” Gadebe said.
“They refuse to participate in sharing ideas or suggestions for the upgrading, yet they go ahead and fix structures.”
Forrest-Smith responded to the EMM comment saying the animals cannot wait for upgrades.
“It is cold now and the animals need adequate sheltering now, not in the financial year,” she said.
“We get the job done now because it is needed right now.”
Gadebe also added that the EMM shared an interim diet for the animals with the 911 Group.
“The EMM asked for their comments and as to date they did not respond to the invitation for comments,” Gadebe said.
Bunny Park Animals 911 Group is still following through with their court case to have the animals removed and the Bunny Park closed down.
The court case is taking place on July 25 at the South Gauteng High Court.
Also read:
‘We will sleep here’ – Bunny Park interest groups
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