Rescue organisation does all to save stray dogs on Durban Beachfront

THE Blue Bundu Brigade (BBB), a registered animal rescue non-profit company (NPC), has, for the past two months, been following a case of two stray dogs which have been spotted on the Durban promenade since May.

Speaking about the case, which has peaked the interest of the community, Karen Janisch from BBB said the story of these furry babies has changed through varying reports.

“It is alleged that they were dumped on the Durban promenade by Suncoast Casino prior to the initial lockdown, and it was also alleged during lockdown that there was a sighting of a third dog, however there was never any confirmation of this or any photographs to support this. It has recently been alleged that there is a pack of dogs along the Umgeni River and that these two dogs are part of this pack, however this has not been confirmed,” she said.

The strays were spotted by feral cat feeders from the Feral Cat Rescue Trust who feed cats at Suncoast Casino, and were reported to BBB, who were asked to assist in capturing them.

Karen, along with BBB partners Shelly Tanner and Maria van der Merwe, went to the site on 3 May.

“We knew they were street smart and we would have to win their trust. We sat together, consulted with a vet and made a mix of food and allocated medication. We hid and waited for the dogs, a mom and a younger dog, who we then saw roaming on the grass. They went into the nearby bush, which we couldn’t get into.”

“We made a trap to catch the dogs but then after the third week, we saw the local cats and monkeys started coming back to the area, which meant the dogs had likely moved on,” she said.

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She said Tracey Hartley from the Feral Cat Rescue Trust had kept in touch with updates, and BBB heard the dogs had been spotted between Blue Lagoon, Suncoast Casino and the area around Durban Country Club, however after a while there had been no sightings and the trap had been uplifted.

“We did hear from Tracey that recently they had been seen on the other side of the river in Riverside Road. It is costly for us as a rescue organisation to have to go three times a day to check the trap, and we decided we couldn’t carry on. We would’ve loved to have rescued the dogs and did all we could,” she said.

Karen urged anyone who spotted the dogs to keep in touch via the organisation’s Facebook page.

About Blue Bundu Brigade

BLUE Bundu Brigade was started in February last year, and was registered as a NPC in June.

“It all started when a friend of mine in Westville, who has three power breeds, contacted me after her nephew left the gate open and her dogs had gotten out. One returned on its own, another was found, and the third, Blue, was missing for more than 10 days,” said Karen.

The dogs had run into a reserve near their owner’s home and a WhatsApp group was formed to find Blue. People searched from 6am to 6pm and the incident went viral.

Karen said she injured herself during the search and had to be airlifted to hospital.

“I fractured my rib and had to go to hospital. All for the love of a dog! When I was in hospital Blue was found and I sobbed my heart out! I started a Facebook page in hospital and decided I had something going and wanted to register as a NPC and get going searching for lost pets,” she said.

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“We were just going to carry on looking for missing dogs, working with Kim Tully, an animal communicator, who is someone who works on the energies of animals. We are now also involved with adoptions, and take stray and surrendered pets in to find them homes,” said Shelly Tanner from BBB.

She said lockdown had been a bad time to try re-home pets as more people were surrendering their animals due to financial reasons.

“We would rather help these people with food for their pets than for them to surrender them due to the expense of feeding them,” said Shelly.

The public can assist the organisation with donations of food, blankets and any donations towards vet bills.

Join the Blue Bundu Brigade Facebook page and contact the women on either of their numbers found on the page, or via inbox.

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