Tears addresses violence against animals
TEARS animal rescue has called for compassion, education and training for pet owners in low-income communities in order to reduce violence against animals.
Last week, an Ocean View man was charged with bestiality after sexually violating the family dog.
Tears operations manager Mandy Store said the organisation was seeing an increase in animal abuse and neglect, especially cases involving minors. He said this could be countered only through compassion, education, pet-care training and youth enrichment at a grassroots level.
Fundraising head Lara Van Rensburg said Tears had received funding to launch a pilot Community Education and Pet Care Training Programme in Vrygrond next month.
It will combine curriculum-based and in-the-field learning in the form of weekly educational and dog training workshops at Capricorn Primary School. The idea is to help children become “ambassadors” for animals and consider careers in the animal welfare sector, which will provide an alternative to gangs, drugs and violence.
“The Programme will include free sterilisation and vaccination of dogs and cats within the area to pro-actively prevent the spread of infectious animal diseases and curtail illegal breeding,” Van Rensburg said.
Store said: “The Tears Veterinary Clinic was recently forced to remove both eyes of a female cat, Pandora, which had been found in Retreat after being shot at close range with a pellet gun. While Pandora was fortunate to survive and has since been adopted by her rescuers, the perpetrators have never been caught.”
Cape of Good Hope SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abraham said dog fighting in disadvantaged communities needed greater attention because the organisation’s inspectorate division was inundated with cases of juvenile offenders involved in horrific crimes against animals. She said this underlined the importance of the organisation’s Humane Education Programme.
Those interested in donating to Tears to help extend its education mandate and reach more at-risk youth, should visit https://tears.org.za/community-education