THE adoption office is certainly one of the happiest places at the Durban and Coast SPCA – it is where lost pets are reunited with their owners and strays are matched with their ‘forever homes’.
Last week the Northglen News caught up with the heart-warming department’s leading lady, kennel manager, Juliet Nadaraja, to find out what makes her tick.
The Chatsworth mum has been a member of the SPCA family since 1996. “I applied as a receptionist, and 10 months later I was promoted to the clinic hospital. I worked there for a few years before finding my home within the adoption office,” she said.
But it would seem that even at home, the 42-year-old has a knack for adoptions as she recently became the proud owner of a mother cat and her two kittens. “Smartie, as she is now known, gave birth at my home. She was a stray who made regular visits to my house. So we eventually decided to adopt her and her two kittens, Smokey and Ginger,” she explained.
Nadaraja said she has always loved animals, so working for the SPCA was a natural progression. “I never saw myself working for the SPCA, but when I saw the advert I thought I would just give it a try. Now it is a match made in heaven,” she said.
While Nadaraja and her team focus a lot of effort on finding the owners of lost pets and matching people with the stray adoptees, they also have a responsibility to educate the public on the needs of the various breeds and the responsibility of owning pets.
“Most people think that owning a pet is easy. You feed it and give it a bit of attention and that is enough. But that could not be further from the truth. Huskies, for example, are one of the most energetic breeds. They are worker dogs and need regular stimulation and training, or else they end up digging up your garden or jumping the fence,” she said.
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