SPCA full to the brim due to torrid festive season
The Germiston SPCA had a terrible festive season with over 500 animals being brought into the kennels.
The Germiston SPCA had an incredibly bad festive season.
Manager and senior inspector Burt Coetzee told the GCN that compared to 2014 the intake increased by 65 per cent.
“The total amount of animals we received was over 500 dogs and cats.
“The majority of these animals were either surrendered, strays, cruelty-related cases, abandoned or people going on holiday and leaving animals behind with no or very little care,” Coetzee said.
“The cruelty cases and injured animals received increased mostly due to the abandonment of pets, severe heat, thunderstorms and fireworks-related injuries.”
Coetzee added that the number of animals found on the highway increased by 500 per cent compared to 2014 and that the 500 animals received only included the animals taken into the society, not those animals assisted in the community by the SPCA.
“Christmas Day presented one of the worst scenes we had for the festive season.
“A pit bull was found in a ditch next to the main road in Wychwood, with its back leg and its front toes cut off.
“The dog was weak, barely able to breathe and extremely emaciated and left for dead,” Coetzee said.
New Year’s Eve was another nightmare day for animals in the Germiston area.
“In the space of 24 hours the Germiston SPCA received 109 calls related to animals that were somehow affected by the fireworks.
“These were for animals that had escaped out of properties or injured themselves in fear.
“Several animals died from self-sustained injuries due to the fear of the fireworks, some injuries were also caused by human negligence or barbaric behaviour where people intentionally injured animals with fireworks.
“We thank all our supporters for their contributions to our Christmas Cheer Fund and their support all year round.
“If it was not for these funds or these silent heroes, we would not have been in the position to be able to do the work we do and assist these animals,” Coetzee said.
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