The Benoni SPCA urges anyone who cannot take care of or does not want their animal any longer to bring them with no judgment or charge, as they may not turn an animal away.
If you can afford a donation towards the upkeep of the animal while in their care, it would be greatly welcomed.
Vicky Finnemore, manager of the Benoni SPCA, said approximately 60 animals are surrendered in a week and 25 stray animals are brought in a month.
As per by-laws, any and all strays are supposed to be surrendered to whoever the appointed pound is, the Benoni SPCA is the official pound for Benonians.
“The animals (if it is well and not sick) are kept for seven calendar days, if not claimed after it will be put up for adoption,” she said.
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There is a pound fee per day as this helps them to cover the overheads that come with any animal that is deemed ‘lost’, the pound fee is R250 initial fee, R35 per day thereafter.
She mentioned that animals go astray for various reasons, which include:
• Little escape artists, carelessness like gates being left open, bad or unsuitable perimeter fencing.
• Animals on heat, male dogs for instance can smell a female on heat from quite some distance, while male cats are famous for roaming and can mate with any other female they may come across.
• People cannot afford to keep their animals any longer and simply abandon them, or possibly just simply don’t want the animal anymore.
These are the following measures owners can take to try and prevent their animals going astray and how they can be found easily:
• Always ensure your property is well secured, no holes in fencing or broken down walls. Palisade is easy for little dogs to get through; one can put smaller fencing mesh up a certain height so they cannot jump through. This applies to manual and motor gates as well.
• Micro-chips are stable, they cannot get lost pending that owners keep their details up to date with the micro-chip company they are with.
If you cannot afford to get micro-chipping done then any form of identification in the form of a metal tag with a name and contact number is better than nothing, but collars can be removed or get lost.
• Always take photographs of your animals so you may be able to use them to identify on social media lost and found pages and other means.
If you’re considering adopting an animal (cat or dog) the Benoni SPCA welcomes you to come and socialise with the animals.
Currently, adoption fees are R700 for cats and R900 for dogs, this includes sterilisation, first vaccination, deworming and micro-chipping.
A home check is always done before adoptions are approved.
If you have existing dogs we recommend, once you have chosen a dog, that you do a socialisation at the SPCA with both animals. You don’t want to take the new dog home and then there are problems getting along.
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