Campaign aims to sterilise 1000 cats
Cats of Durban is appealing to the community to help it spay 1000 feral cats in the next 100 days.
FRIDAY, 31 July is D-day for Cats of Durban, as it launches the 1000 Cats campaign which aims to sterilize one thousand stray and feral cats over 100 days.
Cats of Durban is an association of volunteers who care for the wellbeing of stray and feral cats in the city. Founder, Niki Moore, said:” Durban has seen a population explosion of stray cats over the last year. This has caused a lot of problems when stray cats invade homes and businesses in search of food, but it has also been extremely distressing for animal lovers, as unwanted cats are vulnerable to starvation and abuse.”
She said the explosion in the cat population is largely due to irresponsible owners who fail to sterilize their pets.
“They then dump the unwanted animals. Cats are not wild animals, they cannot fend for themselves. Unwanted kittens face a terrible existence of disease, starvation and cruelty,” said Moore.
Cats of Durban subsidises the sterilizations of feral cats, and R350 will pay for a sterilization through the subsidised programme to prevent unwanted stray and feral kittens.
“We call on all animal lovers, or anyone who wants to help us prevent cruelty to kittens, to please sponsor a spay. If we can get one thousand people to sponsor one spay each, we can sterilize most of the feral cats in Durban. We have teams of trappers who go out and catch the cats and then return the sterilized cats to their colonies. With funding, we can do this in 100 days. Simply removing the cats is not the answer, as within a few months new cats move in and the cycle begins again,” she said.
If you would like to help, email: catsofdurban@gmail.com
Learn more about the organisation on the Cats of Durban Facebook page. The organisation is also selling souvenir T-shirts to raise the necessary funds.
Sponsors are named in the Cats of Durban Hall of Fame.
