Township Adventure

Last week I dragged my friend Jen along to Phillipi to feed some township dogs. I had to go to a school in the area for work. We had a huge bag of adult dog food sitting at home (my digsmate works at a pet vet shop and gets free food quite often) and as my puppies are too young for adult food, I decided to donate the food to some hungry brak bellies.

This is Lexi. She's a 7 month old jack russell x rat terrier (I think...), and I've had her for just over 2 months. 

Lexi after hearing she is getting spayed on Thursday. The result - chewed phone charger (7th this year), chewed tin foil roll, and 4 hubbly coals in her belly. 

This is Benjy - I've had him since he was 4 weeks old. He's a maltese x sausage dog x yorkie. 

Benjy modelling his Christmas present from my cousins, Andrea and Zia.

Both of my dogs are rescue babies - Benjy is from AACL, and I've had him since he was 4 weeks old, and Lexi (or Lexifer/Flexi) is from DARG in Hout Bay. I have been fortunate enough to have grown up surrounded by a menagerie of animals, including but definitely not limited to 2 pet sheep, a horse, birds, and mice, but I am definitely a dog person to the core. Even though I volunteered at SPCA when I was at school, I still cry every time I go to an animal welfare centre or see sad dogs, and this time was no exception.

When we arrived in the township, we realised that we did not have an actual plan as to how we would go about feeding these dogs. In the end, we just dumped large piles of food on the ground in areas that had lots of dogs scrounging for food.

We were a bit worried about how the dogs would react to us, but we were greeted by nothing other than wagging tails and hungy bellies. I did not hear a single growl or snap, and the dogs were very good about sharing the food - there were a few dogs eating from the same pile, and yet their tails wagged on.

Om nom nom!

I have no idea what this dog is, but he was beautiful!

We were also a bit worried about how the locals would react to what we were doing, but again we were pleasantly surprised. One guy even called me to his neighbours house so that she could fill a big bucket of food for her dog. Some of the dogs were actually well fed, yet still had hundreds of fleas and ticks. We all know that this medicine is quite costly, and is not a once off treatment. Another thing I noted was that not a single dog I saw was neutered, and I'm assuming that none of the females were spayed. This is a huge problem that is relatively easy to fix by the government, and would solve alot of issues with animal welfare centres in South Africa.

Some of the local inhabitants watching their dogs eating what was possibly the first proper meal in quite a while.

Just as we were about to leave, we came across a tiny puppy wobbling her way towards the food. She was far too young to eat the adult food we had provided, and to top it off she had a huge gash in her head and was so badly infected with mange that most of her fur on her underside, head and ears was missing. I (being the wimp I am) immediately burst into tears.

We asked the guy in the above photo if we could take her to the vet, and he said no. Jenny then offered him R50, and he caught her, smashing her head into the sidewalk in the process, and offered her to us. Luckily I had a blanket in my car which we wrapped her in, (she smelt somewhat less than appealing) and we then made the tearful 20 minute journey to the nearest SPCA in Goodwood. The poor little girl did not make a single sound throughout the journey, and she did not struggle either - she was probably so terrified as to what was happening to her. In her mind, humans only brought pain and hatred.

In these pictures you can see the gash in her head as well as the extent of her mange. The vet told me that they would keep me updated as to her progress, but also stressed that she might be put down if it was decided that she was too sick and too young to be rehabilitated. We named her Pippa, after the area in which she was found (Phillippi).

When we put her down to weigh her, she immediately retreated to the corner and started shaking uncontrollably.

This picture breaks my heart. Every time I tried to stroke her she would shy away.

This is a cause that I feel very strongly about. This experience changed my entire life plan, and now my ultimate goal in life is to one day start a Non-Profit Organisation to tend to the welfare of animals in the townships. The NPO would travel to the townships and do mass sterilisation, de-flea and de-worm the animals, and in extreme cases, euthanise animals that could not be saved. Obviously I am against euthanisation, but after seeing a large breed dog that we simply could catch with a missing foot and a broken ankle on which it was trying to walk, I have realised that sometimes it is simply kinder to put the animal to sleep. As we all know, All Dogs Go To Heaven!

I hope that these pictures, if not my words, have moved you in some way. I hope that the next time you are warm and snuggly in your house with a hot water bottle or electric blanket, that you think about these animals who have no shelter against the raging winds or sideways rain that Cape Town winters have to offer. In anyone would like to donate a bag of food, a blanket, or any money, I will gladly take it to the townships and distribute it. Even if its just R10, I will match the difference between that amount and the price of a bag of food, and I will take it to the townships. This is something that is really close to my heart and I simply can't not do anything about it anymore.

Benjy and Lexi say thanks for helping their township friends :) I can't even imagine not having them. And to think that Lexi actually came from the township - she was confiscated from someone who abused her very badly.