Donations fail to keep Lady the goat alive

A conversation concerning fur babies is one that Angelica Ehlers loves to engage in. She is a learner by day but as soon as the school bell rings, she takes off her uniform and gets down to business as the owner of Puppys’ Heaven, an animal rescue centre that she started in Fourways.

Something significant happened as we rang in the New Year. Angelica received a call informing her about a goat that ran for its life during a ritual at the river in Jukskei Park.

She said upon arrival, “Lady [the name of the goat] was not in a stable condition when we picked her up. She was very skinny and quite jittery, traumatised, and dirty. Sometimes goats are sacrificed for cultural purposes. Fortunately, Lady got away somehow, and people found her. We were then called and asked if we could rescue her and immediately took her in with open arms. After a couple of days, it looked like she was getting better.

“We dewormed her, gave her goat medicine to fatten her up and she was eating a lot. She took a turn for the worst and her condition dropped overnight. She was struggling to stand, and we immediately took her to a Muldersdrift vet where they were able to assist us as always. Her blood was as thin as water and had a lot of parasites. but we were ready to pay any price to get her into a stable condition.”

She then called on the community to help her save Lady’s life through donations.

“I tried raising as much money as I could. Lady’s vitamins cost around R1 600 and to put her down was R800. We could have tried to do a blood transfusion, but there was a very small chance that it would have worked and would have put her in more pain. We also had to find another healthy goat to draw blood from for her blood transfusion but reached out and no one was able to assist.

Unfortunately, she was not getting better, “We could not put her through any more pain. So, we put her down.”

“Maybe it was time for Lady to go when she was going to be sacrificed on New Year’s Eve. But as one lady told us she got love and care the last week of her life at our animal rescue. We were glad to have comforted her and spent time with her. We held her tightly when she was put to rest and cried a few tears.”

Angelica was only 11 years old when she started rescuing and finding homes for puppies. “But as I have grown older, I opened it a bit more to all sorts of animals. What I do is that I find animals with no homes because a lot of people immigrate and do not wish to put their fur babies down.

“So, I do home and charge a small adoption fee, which covers petrol for home checks and extra money for another rescue. I have officially homed my 19th animal, and I love every minute of it. Joy comes inside of me when I see an animal find a new loving home. My favourite animal is a Doberman. For any donations please contact me on 065 967 0051.”

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