Sandton SPCA appoints new general manager

The Sandton SPCA recently appointed a new general manager that will ensure the smooth running of the SPCA.

Jaco Pieterse grew up in Vereeniging in a household where they were taught to love animals and care for them like they would care for themselves.

“I always had a passion for animals. I used to own chickens and dogs when growing up. They were all my pets and were part of the family.”

Pieterse wanted to work with animals since the age of 15 when he saw Animal Cops Houston on Animal Planet. “I told my parents this is what I wanted to do – rescue animals. I then started to volunteer at the SPCA when I was 15-years-old.”

Pieterse has been with the SPCA for more than 12 years and came from the National SPCA to Sandton SPCA because they needed a manager with good management skills.

“I always believed the Sandton SPCA had such great potential to become one of the best SPCAs in Gauteng but needed the right manager. I believe I come with the skills and with the support of my committee we will be able to achieve this,” said Pieterse.

His duties at the Sandton SPCA is to ensure that the SPCA runs smoothly and to ensure that the staff do their jobs properly.

According to Pieterse the biggest challenge at the Sandton SPCA is financial support.

“There are so many projects we want to tackle, like sterilisation outreaches, sterilisation of feral cats, employing more inspectors to get to all the abused animals – but all of this costs money.”

“In terms of animal welfare issues – there is so much work out there and the animals need us!”

Some changes will be made is to ensure the organisation operates smoothly and more effectively.

“We are changing over to computerised systems to make the traceability of animals and animal cruelty complaints much easier.

“Our clinic also no longer vaccinates or treats animals unless they are sterilised or if the owner allows us to sterilise the animal. We cannot make an animal healthy for breeding and then end up with the offspring.”

“Sadly there are not enough good homes out there and we need to start sterilising somewhere. I am very passionate about sterilisation – I believe everything with four legs should be sterilised so that we stop the vicious cycle of unwanted animals being born and euthanised.”

The Sandton SPCA is planning a sterilisation outreach in Alexandra township. “We will assist the impoverished with the sterilisation of their animals. This was made possible because of a large donation we received from Nafisa Karani-Desbois.”

“We will be sterilising a hundred animals, but in order for us to continue with this outreach project we need more support and donations in order to sterilise more animals over and above the hundred.”

Pieterse said they need the support of the public. “I am inviting our community members to visit our facilities to come and see what we do. Come adopt a dog or cat from our SPCA and do not support breeders or pet shops – they are merely adding to our euthanasia list. We need to end euthanasia and we cannot do this as long as people breed animals and people buy animals from breeders and pet shops,” Pieterse ended.

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