Donations needed to help feed stray, homeless cats
LAST week’s edition of The Independent on Saturday carried a story that highlighted fears of rabies in greater Durban’s feral cat population (“Rabies fears for feral cats”).
This is naturally a concern for those organisations like ours that care for these cats in and around the city.
As people on the “front line”, we are alert to these outbreaks and see to it that the greatest care is taken to minimise the exposure of infected animals to other cat colonies in a bid to stop the spread of the disease. Between last Friday and Monday, 142 feral cats were sterilised and inoculated.
However, we’d like to comment on a bigger and more ongoing crisis: the number of kittens in the city that fight for survival every day.
We spend days trapping these cats and kittens, sterilising them and getting them inoculated, and trying to find homes for them.
The adult cats are often returned to their homes because stable cat colonies play an important role in controlling vermin in the city.
The colonies, and the kittens that are cared for by volunteers, need support, and we appeal for donations of food.
Of particular concern at the moment are kittens having to scavenge for food from rubbish skips at RK Khan Hospital. If there is somebody who can assist with donating food, I will set up a feeding station.
We also plead with cat owners to sterilise their pets: there are so many animals that need homes, there is absolutely no need for more kittens to be born and abandoned.
To donate food for any of our colonies, please contact me at 083 270 0238.