Beloved cat attacked at Melville charity shop

Managers and owners of stores and restaurants on 4th Avenue are appealing to the community to be careful when walking their dogs.

This comes after a Staffordshire bull terrier viciously attacked and killed a cat from Bounty Hunters Charity Shop last month.

According to the charity shop’s founder, Gail Millard, this is not the first time the man has allegedly tried to use his dogs to attack the cats at the charity shop.

But this time, she did not arrive in time to stop the dogs from carrying out their attack until it was too late.

Millard’s shop takes in abandoned cats and rehabilitates and re-homes them. The charity shop relies on donated items which are then sold and proceeds from the sales are given to different organisations including taking care of the cats.

“I am gutted and shattered because I miss that old cat,” said Millard. “He was a lovely boy and people used to come and visit him numerous times a week for five years. He was very badly injured.

“I have seen the man many times and I have asked him to walk on the other side of the road or use other streets because 4th Avenue is very busy but that’s the route he insists on using.”

William Pagel, the manager of Bambanani Restaurant, also witnessed the incident and said something needed to be done about people using their dogs to either attack other dogs or other animals while walking them.

“I don’t blame the dogs but I do blame their owners,” he said.

“Although they were on leashes, the owner of the dogs provoked his dogs to attack the cat and this occurred in full view of customers in different restaurants. The same thing happened before but Gail was there to prevent him from doing any harm to the cats.

“We just want to bring awareness to such incidents because now we lost a cat but next time it could be a child. We all love animals and Gail is taking care of so many cats and relies solely on donations. Such an incident is very heartbreaking for her,” said Pagel.

Although it has been a tough few days for Millard, she is still optimistic about the year and wants to improve the charity shop and establish better conditions for her cats and be able to sterilise and feed them.

“Ever since Cyril Ramaphosa came in, this year has been good.

“The day after he took office, business picked up for us and we are just a small charity shop. I think it’s because the mood in the country lifted and all the restaurants were full that day and it has been good since then. I want to send our president a thank you note. The country’s mood has shifted for the better.”

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