Sharron Dingle from Hirsch’s Fourways and Jaci Tibbit, winner of Mrs Mzantzi Africa 2018, ended the first month of this year by paying a visit to the Midrand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) offices with donations on 31 January.
The pair donated a number of different items to the shelter including blankets, beds and animal food. Jaci Tibbit was also able to bring donations given by Palm Gardens Vet in Fourways of syringes and other medical supplies.
“I live in the area,” explained Dingle when asked why she decided to collect and hand over the donations. “And while animal shelters are generally well supported [by the public], the SPCA may not always get the support as consistently as they need it.”
Both Tibbit and Dingle spent about two hours going around the premises and interacting with the animals.
During this time, they came across one dog in particular that they fell in love with. The unnamed dog is yet unnamed female dog was dropped off at the organisation the day before their visit with her eight puppies, and was severely undernourished.
The SPCA is focused on getting this dog back up to a healthy weight and will wait a few weeks until the six-week-old puppies are completely weaned before trying to find all nine dogs their forever homes.
According to Melissa Bailey, who works for the Midrand SPCA, their shelter cares for about 50 dogs and 40 cats at any one time, and about 400 animals in total are given to the SPCA in an average month.
Bailey said, “We would really appreciate any and all support from the public. We want to make a lot of changes here, to kennels etc, but we need the funding to do that and other repairs.”
Details: www.midrandspca.co.za
Talk to us by emailing Robyn Kirk at robynk@caxton.co.za