Finding that forever home

WHEN Mika was rescued off the streets of Phoenix at just five weeks old, she was too terrified to lift her head, cowering in a cardboard box, covered in her own faeces, with her head hung low.

This is just one of the heart breaking stories the volunteers from the Phoenix Animal Care & Treatment (PACT) see on a daily basis. Happily for Mika though, her story has a happy ending. Although Middlesbrough native and now Durban North resident, David Hanson, never owned a pet in England, it seemed it was divine intervention that drew him to PACT and to Mika.

“I was looking through the phone book for animal welfare organisations where I could volunteer my help. I came across PACT and helping them out has been a huge eye opener. Coming from a country where inhumane treatment of animals can land you in jail to now seeing animals being abused or not being fed and being beaten, was just horrific,” he said.

Hanson has now adopted two rescued dogs, Mika and Leah, and said the animals have totally changed his life. “My day revolves around my girls. You should have seen how excited they were when we fed them in those first few months. I’m just happy they’ve found their forever home.

“They are my life and I’m definitely taking them back to the UK when I decide to go back home,” he said.

One of three founding members of PACT, Neeri Naidoo, said the non-profit organisation is dedicated to providing care and medical treatment for the stray and abandoned animals in Phoenix, then re-home them in the Durban area.

“I’ve always been an animal lover. I grew up surrounded by pets, my mom would rather bring a stray inside our house and let me sleep outside,” she joked. “The main objective of our organisation is to facilitate the sterilisation and medical needs of stray and neglected/abused animals in Phoenix.

“On average we rescue more than 50 cats and dogs on a monthly basis. A huge part of our mission is education in terms of pet care, aimed especially at the youth. So many of the dogs we’ve rescued are seen as possessions and not pets. We’ve had cases where families feed their dogs three times a week because it allegedly keeps them more alert,” she said.

Hanson and Naidoo are appealing to the Durban North community to help foster some of the pets in their care or donate to the organisation. “A life in a kennel is no life at all. We are appealing to anyone willing to get involved. Donations of any amount are also welcome and volunteers are desperately needed. We have more than R70 000 in outstanding vet and kennel fees. This is a community led project and we can only succeed with the help of the surrounding community,” Naidoo said.

Contact them on 073 005 4275,email pact4068@gmail.com or on Facebook/Phoenix Animal Care & Treatment.