Cape Town - The Cape of Good Hope SPCA is pleading with fellow Capetonians to open their hearts and donate dog food. With the increasing number of animals walking through their premises each day, the organisation is now running low on food.
The SPCA’s communications and fund-raising manager, Marisol Gutierrez, shared her concerns over the amount of dog food they have compared with the animals at their premises.
“It’s not the first time that we have had an appeal over the last couple of months. We usually do have enough supplies, but because of the dogs that have been surrendered to us we have to make sure that we have enough.
“Our stock is running low, but we’re not at the critical stage yet. We would not allow ourselves to get to that stage, but we need to be prepared,” she said.
With an average of 300 dogs at their premises and roughly 100 animals making their way into the building, the welfare needs tons of food to feed them monthly.
“We have a lot of stray dogs who are waiting for their owners to claim them and if they are not claimed most of those dogs will come through to the adoption, so that swells our numbers even more.
“The call for donation is not only for our kennels; we also have an animal hospital which sees to a lot of dogs that stay over for operation or treatment purposes
“Another thing is, as the organisation, we are here for people who are underprivileged, so those who bring their pets to us are people who cannot afford private vets, so we obviously cannot expect them to bring food with them,” she said.
Having to appeal for dog food every now and then, Gutierrez showed gratitude to those who keep coming through for the organisation.
“From the last donation we received we had a good response. We found the community very generous, as soon as we put up an appeal for food people respond with such open hearts and we are really grateful to them for that.
“The problem is that it's not a renewable resource. Once it’s gone its gone, so we have to ensure that we always have the stock because every day brings a new dog,” she said.
Those who would like to donate can either drop off the food at their premises in Grassy Park or at their vet shop in Plumstead.