TOWNSHIP REPORT 2009

If I have to sum up the past year in a sentence, the only expression that keeps popping into my mind is “Never a dull moment”!

It has been a year of extremes from bad to good. We ended last year hoping to say good bye to Infectious Canine Hepatitis (ICH), but alas it wasn’t that easy. It still lingered around a bit causing misery to all it came across, but I’m pleased to say that I think we’ve seen the last of this terrible disease for a while. I have been so strict in vaccinating all puppies & moms & removing anything that is brought into a previous infected area.

As I said last year this is such an unknown disease & we are still learning. What I recently discovered is that it seems not to be the mother who carries it, but rather the area that infects the puppies. Cinders is evidence to this. She was the mom of the 10 puppies left stranded during the big fire in Nomzamo 2 years ago. We removed those pups at about a week old. They had no problems with ICH. We couldn’t catch her & she had another litter. They weren’t so lucky & only 2 survived. When I came across her in May heavily pregnant I knew I was not going home until I had her with me. Luckily for me she was too fat to escape & I loaded her up, racing to the vet to get her spayed asap. I was too late & she gave birth to 8 healthy puppies!

Catching her was the highlight of my year! Catching another poor creature was one of the tragic times of my year. The kids (always a big problem) decided to “help” catch this terrified mangey thing beating him with sticks. I lost my temper with the owner & in the process got bitten. I immediately called in the help of the police who were nothing short of useless & watched me struggle while they giggled with the owner. Needless to say the case I made against the owner for cruelty never went anywhere & was mysteriously “lost”. Now I know that the law is not behind us & one of the reasons why I accepted an invitation to a review of the Animal Protection Act in August.

Looking at our figures for veterinary bills & medications, its actually not surprising that it is so high. We have dealt with countless TVTs (Tranvenereal tumours), broken legs & pelvis’s, biliary (including a few cerebral cases), hotwater burns, tumours & plenty car accidents. These all need long term treatment & can work out costly, even at the reduced rates we very gratefully receive. Tygerberg Animal Hospital was very kind to us recently when they diagnosed Cilla with a nasal tumour. Dr Ketner went the extra mile with Cilla, but we were too late & decided not to do chemotherapy, but rather to give her extra quality of life. We sadly had to say good bye to this gentle girl a few weeks ago. As Amy says- she is now sleeping on the moon!

We also lost some friends in Nomzamo this year, all of them men, which makes it very hard on the families left behind. Danie was one of the few white men living in Nomzamo who I got to know. In the beginning I would steer clear of him, as he was always drunk. He was harmless, but irritating. Then the dog, he called Ounooi, who’d been left behind at his neighbours house, gave birth on his doormat. He became a changed man! He made her a kennel & cared for those puppies like they were his own children. From the day they were born he gave up drinking & would call me every week to check them. At 6 weeks old I took them away to rehome & have the mother spayed. They had no problems finding homes as they were healthy friendly puppies. I took Ounooi back after her spay & congratulated him on a job well done. That night he died in his sleep. A sad or happy story? A bit of both I guess.

The donated tick collars are still being given out & help enormously. We received a fantastic donation of Revolution as well as Frontline spray, which helps tremendously to keep the fleas, ticks & mites at bay.

The day of filming for Free Spirit was such fun for all. We laughed through most of the day & the locals were so proud to have the crew there, showing an interest in their pets & themselves. It was quite coincidence that there were so many injuries that day!!

Another “fun” day was when the rioting started at the entrances to Nomzamo & Lwandle. I was actually inside grooming some matted dogs, when a lady came to tell us that I’d better not leave for a while. It felt like I was in a spy movie as we found ways of getting information on the status of the riots, & then to get a message through to the exit so that I could leave peacefully.. 

The overall outlook of township people is not a good one, but believe me there are some wonderful caring people there. One of these is Moses, who dangerously let himself down a manhole to rescue a black bag with a mother & her pups who’d been dumped there.

Recently I was in the squatter camp when a man called me to look at his dog who was giving birth. She was lying on a piece of cardboard against his shack with a large piece of cardboard over her. She had 6 puppies with her, but her stomach was still huge. I was worried that something was wrong with her, but it was too late to get her to a vet so I promised to return the next morning. That night a horrendous cold front hit & it poured with rain. I had a warm, but sleepless night thinking of her with those pups out in the rain & cold. Next morning I returned with a large kennel. With a feeling of dread I lifted the cardboard to find nothing underneath. The shack door opened to a grinning couple. There in one corner was “Mommy” with 15 pups! Around the shack were buckets to catch the leaks. They had taken her in when the rain & cold came. How many people do you know who would share their room & duvet with their dog while she gave birth?

We unfortunately had to euthanase 15 animals, but managed to spay 144. Already our spay numbers for this year are increasing. How fantastic it would be to have a totally sterilised Nomzamo & Lwandle- Can you just imagine….. a wonderful dream that I strive towards…..
Thank you for dreaming with me!

Vanessa