As part of her birthday wish, Brakpan SPCA chairperson Sanette Bosman recently challenged the community to raise R25 000.
If the target was reached, Bosman, who celebrated her birthday on August 25, would spend 25 hours in one of the kennels at the SPCA – one hour for every R1 000 raised.
An astounding R17 000 was raised and Bosman spent 17 hours behind bars this past weekend with her son, Brandon Bosman (15), who refused to let his mother sleep in the kennels alone.
“The money that was raised for our ‘chairman challenge’ will go towards our monthly vet bill, which is generally a large amount,” Sanette explained.
“People are not always aware that we have various bills to pay like water and electricity, salaries, petrol money and microchips to name a few.”
According to Sanette, the night in the kennels was quite the experience.
“The highlight for me was when Charlie, a little furry friend, spent the night with us where he could sleep peacefully for one night,” she said.
“Little Fifi, who mostly hides under the pallets out of fear, visited me during the day and the time together helped bring out her personality.”
“The hardest part was to hear the rest of the animals cry through the night, knowing that we are there but they can’t be with us. It broke my heart.
“On another note, the kennels were warmer than I expected but we will definitely need better lighting as it is extremely dark during the evening.”
A welcome note was left for Sanette and Brandon in the kennels, along with bottles of water and some blankets.
The mother and son slept on stretchers and had a restful night without any fear.
“We are lucky to have an electric fence around the premises and 16 security cameras thanks to the recent donation from NGK Angels and Expert Technology Solution,” she said.
Just like his mother, Brandon enjoyed spending the evening in the kennels as he is also extremely passionate about animals and wants to become an SPCA inspector one day.
According to Sanette, she will gladly do this challenge again.
“The experience made me realise once again why the SPCA exists,” she said.
“Without the SPCA, there is no place for these animals to go and raising awareness is a big part of why I wanted to do it in the first place.”
