Susan Smith, guardian angel over city’s feral cats
Susan Smith is a cat lover who uses her spare time and money to care for these cats and she urges local businesses to not chase the cats away.
POLOKWANE – One of the most common misconceptions people have about cats, is that they can look after themselves. While this is true to a certain point, cats still need humans.
In the city, we have several feral cat colonies living at shopping centres, factories and other industrial areas. While these animals have a daily diet of rats, mice, insects and lizards, they still need more in their lives and this is where Susan Smith often comes in.
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Susan is a cat lover who uses her spare time and money to care for these cats and she urges local businesses to not chase the cats away. “The cat colonies will help to control pests in the area and if you do get rid of them another colony will move in. Rather care for them, by providing a sleeping place and neuter them,” she explains.
Frequent visitors to Mall of the North might have noticed the cats living near the entrances at the mall. There are six colonies in total and even though they are part of pest control, they need other food and sometimes even medication. Every day while most people are going home for the day, Susan takes time to go to the mall to feed the feral cats, give them their medication and sometimes even catch them in order to get them neutered.
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She’s been doing this since 2016.
Anyone who has ever tried to catch a wild cat will know that it is not an easy job, but it one Susan does with love. A friend of Susan’s, Tania le Roux explains the process:
“You have to see Susan at work to appreciate the patience she has when working with the cats. She waits patiently for the feral cat to go into the cage, then releases the trap door and quickly covers the cage with a blanket to calm the cat down. After entrapping the cat, Susan takes it to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals where the cat is kept overnight, sterilised and vaccinated. Susan will then collect the cat the following afternoon and return it to where she caught it.”
This year alone Susan has Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) 30 cats. It may not seem like a lot but if you count the number of babies these cats would have had, it would have meant 360 new homeless cats and that number would be ever-growing.
Tania adds that Susan does not receive compensation for this and encourages local residents to assist Susan in her passionate quest to TNR feral cats in Polokwane. “She has a normal day job, cats of her own and yet she spends most of her free time and hard-earned money to help the voiceless cats of Polokwane. She never asks for anything and on her behalf I would like to encourage the cat lovers of Polokwane to help her reduce the ever-growing cat population and donate towards this worthy cause.”
With more cages she could catch more cats, with cash donations she could pay for more sterilisations, Tania concludes.
Donation can be done as follows:
Nedbank Cheque Account
SPCA Clinic
Reference: Susan – Ferals
Account Number 1183477953
Branch Code 14184800
