Cradlestone cares for feral cats
Cradlestone Mall and Game stores have heeded the call of its feral cats.
Since the launch of Cradlestone Mall’s Operation Feral Cat initiative, their aim to help the cats as well as educate the public on the importance of having pets spayed and neutered has been a positive and successful journey.
Cradlestone’s public relations manager, Katlego Maseloane, said there are feeding stations and shelters where the cats receive routine veterinary care, including vaccinations, injury treatment, spaying and neutering. Cradlestone donated R10 000 towards this campaign, which was initiated after a cat had been beaten to death inside the Game store in the mall in May.
Tinabo Majaye-Khupe, public relations and communications practitioner for MassDiscounters (Game and DionWired) said they also donated R10 000 worth of cat food to Friends of Rescued Animals (Fora), an animal shelter that cares for cats and dogs that have been abandoned, abused or neglected. Fora has also given the team members of Game Cradlestone an educational talk on how to handle feral animals. She further said the appropriate disciplinary action has been taken against those involved in the tragic incident.
Read the initial article here: MUST READ: Game employees accused of bludgeoning a cat at Cradlestone Mall
According to Katlego, the trap-neuter process is not about rescuing cats per se; it is about controlling the population and reducing the number of feral cats at Cradlestone Mall by stabilising current colonies and preventing new litters. It is possible to find homes for some of the younger and the less fearful older kittens, however, rescue efforts in the majority of cases are futile, given their staggering numbers and the workforce required to attempt the process of rehabilitating and socialising some of the tamer adults.
“We are so grateful to Annatjie van Niekerk for caring and loving the cats, and a very big thank you to all the people and businesses who generously donated the wonderful gifts for this campaign.
This is a double victory – we stopped the cat population from increasing, and enabled the community to adopt a fury friend.”
Those interested are welcome to contact Annatjie on 082 920 7022. For further details, visit Cradlestone Mall’s Facebook page or website.
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