Amanzimtoti’s pet care training outreach pays off

LOCAL animal outreach programme, Edu Paw is reaching heights and making a difference to the lives of many township dogs with each passing day.

Despite all the challenges faced throughout the year, founder Cathy Keegan and her team of passionate volunteers continue to push on and educate rural youngsters about pet care.

Animal rescue shelters like the SPCA are struggling, trying to quell the tide of unwanted, abandoned, abused and neglected animals. Many who take their dogs to Amanzimtoti SPCA are children from the townships and rural areas. Due to a lack of knowledge and resources, the dogs they care for are in poor condition.

Edu Paw is an educational programme run in partnership with Amanzimtoti SPCA. While the SPCA provides primary health care for the dogs, Edu Paw teaches the children basic canine care and instills love and compassion for animals.

Founder Cathy Keegan volunteered at the local SPCA for some three years before she started Edu Paw over a year ago. She and a team of volunteers meet at Amanzimtoti SPCA every Saturday morning and tend to between 15 and 30 children and their dogs.

Read also: Edu Paw NPO makes a change in lives of rural dogs 

“Some of our isiZulu-speaking volunteers originally came to Edu Paw with their dogs for help,” said Cathy. “Many of them have now offered to assist on the Saturday mornings with translating, which is a great help.”

Cathy explained the township dogs often arrive with rope and chains around their necks, which are soon replaced with collars and leads.

“The dogs enjoy a meal while the volunteers chat to the children about taking proper care of their animals,” she said. “The children are given beautifully illustrated educational leaflets covering all aspects of canine care in isiZulu, which they take home to their parents to read. Edu Paw thanks PR Printers and Impact Print for making this assistance possible.

Read also: Edu Paw outreach project stretches into Umgababa

Cathy was impressed to notice the notable improvement in the general well-being of the dogs who visit the SPCA regularly.

“Their owners have learned and are applying what they have been taught. One of the things we speak about and teach is the evil and cruelty of dog fighting rings which is rife in the townships,” she said.

The animal outreach programme faces a constant shortage of finances, as many non-government organisations do.

“The ideal would be to have all these dogs sterilised, as every week there are growing numbers of puppies and pregnant female dogs,” said Cathy. “We have collection tins available at Toti SPCA where we hope to raise much-needed funds for our outreach sterilisation programme.”

Cathy invites the community to become a part of the movement and collect a tin.

Edu Paw appeals for support from the community and businesses to contribute toward this educational outreach programme.

Donations of dog and puppy food, dog blankets, dog shampoo, collars and leads will be gratefully received. These may be dropped off at Toti SPCA at 1 Nyati Road, Athlone Park marked ‘Edu Paw’.

Monetary donations toward the sterilisation programme can be deposited into the following account:
SPCA Amanzimtoti
Standard Bank Prospecton
Branch code 057827
Account number 053211189
Ref: Edu-Paw

Follow Edu Paw on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with the organisation’s progress to to find out more.

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