Pet Rescue provides safety for stray animals

PET Rescue Pinetown, which started as a small Facebook group, has grown rapidly in the past few years because of the volunteers’ dedication to this project.

Pet Rescue was started in 2011 as part of the Pro Act Neighbourhood Watch by Andreas and Nikki Mathios as a network to report lost and stray animals.

Andreas, who is known as the Highway Superman, also the SACAN branch manager, said the main aim of the page was to get people to be active in the social media.

“It started very small as people would alert us if they came across a stray dog, and we would try to remove it from the roads with the help of our volunteers.”

He said another aim was to educate people on how to treat dogs. “People need to know that dogs have their place in the world, people should not be scared of them as they can smell fear.

“We have two volunteers who work very closely with my wife and I, Tracey Dragund and Lee Bailey, whom we value so much as we all have full-time jobs and find time to make Pet Rescue a success because we are committed and passionate about what we do.

“Now, there are between 50 000 to 70 000 people who are actively involved in this project on our Facebook page daily.”

Andreas said they have a good working relationship with the Kloof and Highway SPCA as most of the dogs that are rescued are taken there.

“We also network with lots of organisations and shelters and some people are always willing to foster the animals.

Pet Rescue has now grown into a franchise as there is Pet Rescue Waterfall, Pet Rescue Westville and Pet Rescue Ballito.

Andreas said one of the highlights since they started this project was when someone saw lot of dogs at the back of a van in Cape Town and alerted Pet Rescue.

“We then alerted relevant authorities, who traced the van and found out that those dogs had been stolen and were being transported to Angola for dog fighting. This really proved the power of the social network,” he said.

Andreas, who manages 28 Facebook pages, said Pet Rescue Pinetown is the top-performing page.

Their biggest wish is to have premises where rescued animals can be kept and a vehicle which can be used as ambulance for these animals.

“Our volunteers use their cars to transport the animals. We also need someone who can assist us register Pet Rescue as an NPO. People who wish to be involved with us can like our Facebook page, Pet Rescue Pinetown, or e-mail petrescueptn16@gmail.com.

Andreas thanked everyone who assist Pet Rescue on daily basis.