NGO at loggerheads with Transnet

CATS of Durban are at odds with Transnet over their new strategy to manage stray animals. The non-governmental organisation (NGO) have decried the policy released in February by Mirriam Tenyane, Transnet Engineeering’s Compliance and Regulatory Affairs Divisional Executive.

Tenyane released a directive intent on enforcing the prohibition of stray animals on Transnet premises by requiring that animals such as feral cats, be removed from its property and ‘handed over [to] animal NGOs/SPCA where they can be cared for’.

Cats of Durban contest that this directive flies in the face of adopted practice world-wide for dealing with problem animals. The organisation, who have been managing the feral cat population on Transnet’s property in Durban, say the solution is to sterilize cats so that they can no longer breed. They call Transnet’s new strategy a ‘counter-productive procedure’. “Because animal welfare agencies cannot remove animals on this scale, and in any case endorse sustainable management rather than removal, the work is done by pest control companies who trap the cats inhumanely and take them away for euthanasia. Within months, more cats move into the vacuum that has been created,” read a press statement released by the NGO.

Transnet’s media liaison, Viwe Tlaleane, did not reply to the Northglen News’ request for a comment, however we did manage to obtain a copy of the directive which states that its purpose is to enforce legislation with regards to keeping and treating animals within premises, as well as those sections of said laws that protect animals from any hurt or ill treatment.

The directive also stated, “Stray animals should not be encouraged either by feeding, nurturing and caring for them”. It went on to say that animals in the workplace constituted a hazard and that it was responding to numerous complaints made over the years.