ANIMAL CARE TEAM SA (ACT SA) has been on a mission to sterilize as many “needy” animals in the Greater Oudtshoorn District as possible, since 2017.
“We have thus far sterilized over 4 000 animals! We believe that this is one of the best ways to combat animal welfare problems including animal cruelty, neglect, various health issues and gross overpopulation of unwanted animals in our town,” says ACT’s Vanessa Engelbrecht.
But, as Engelbrecht explains, ACT SA is an animal welfare non-profit organization (NPO) and their mandate dictates that they are only able to help households that can’t afford a private veterinarian.
“Sometimes we have people who are able to afford private services, bringing their pets to our sterilization clinics, but these are strictly aimed at people who earn under the ‘breadline income level’. We do still charge a nominal fee in order to maintain this clinic and because our funding is limited,” she adds.
In order to provide this discounted service to the needy, Engelbrecht says ACT SA has developed a “memorandum of agreement” with the State Vete-rinary Office to form a welfare clinic. “Over the space of four years we have set up, registered and funded a mini sterilization clinic with the State Veterinary Office’s support and assistance,” she says.
According to Engelbrecht the welfare clinic gets allocated a “community care service veterinarian”. “These are veterinarians that have finished their studies, and for one year they are placed at facilities across South Africa in order to get a year’s practical experience. This allows them into private practise and similar fields,” she says.
As ACT SA is an NPO, they are – as Engelbrecht puts it – “unfortunately” only able to assist a limi-ted number of needy cases per year, based on funding and resources that are donated. Therefore they need the community’s support in order for ACT to in turn support the community. “We can be contacted for assistance and we will do our best to help as far as possible.”
Contact ACT at 076 544 5934 / oudtshoorn.act@gmail.com. (By Stefan Skapie Goosen)