THE cash-strapped Empangeni and Richards Bay SPCAs continue to operate pounds on behalf of the City of uMhlathuze without being remunerated.
This despite a Council resolution nearly eight months ago to acknowledge the SPCAs as service providers to the City and pay them accordingly for services rendered.
The animal organisations applied earlier this year to be considered as service providers and no longer grant-in-aid beneficiaries after the municipality approved a reduced amount of R105 000 to be divided between the institutions in December 2012.
The institutions were outraged at the R52 500 allocation for the 2012/13 financial year, which had drastically dropped from the R146 900 allocated the previous year.
Richards Bay SPCA treasurer GTC Burgess said they had already sent the municipality an invoice for the past year’s expenses (July 2012 – June 2013) and a monthly invoice for July 2013.
‘It costs us approximately R90 000 a month to run the Richards Bay SPCA and we have suggested that the municipality pay us 75% of our monthly costs.
Part of the expenses is covered by our fund-raising efforts and the public still provide support in the form of pet food, but we are only getting by day-to-day. We have not received a formal response from the municipality to date,’ said Burgess.
Public safety
Senior Inspector at the Empangeni SPCA, Roland Fivas, said their projects had not ceased as public safety was paramount.
‘Through the rural outreach project, about 700 dogs and cats have been sterilised. Sterilisation usually costs in the vicinity of R1 000, but we provide the service free of charge. We cover a vast area and have been called out late at night to remove rabid dogs.’
Fivas said there was a serious problem of pit bull breeding at uMhlathuze Village, where large numbers of dogs were being sold to the community.
‘We often remove dangerous dogs killing goats or posing danger to the community. We conduct weekly dipping, de-worming, anti-parasite and rabies inoculation in outlying rural areas where there is a huge problem of hunting dogs,’ said Fivas.
Both SPCAs are responsible for the control of stray animals in the respective areas, ensuring that all animals are vaccinated against rabies while issuing licences, administering the pound and caring for stray animals.
The City of uMhlathuze was unable to respond on the matter at the time of going to print.
