Wildlife Conservation South Africa Project #31792

CAPE TOWN DROUGHT RELIEF FOR THOUSANDS OF ANIMALS

by The Cape of Good Hope SPCA

CAPE TOWN DROUGHT RELIEF FOR THOUSANDS OF ANIMALS

Project Report | Mar 27, 2018
Water As Precious As Diamonds

By Belinda Abraham | Communications, Resource Development Manager

Meet Diamond

Dear Animal Loving Friends,

Today I met Diamond and I would like you to meet him too!

He is a chestnut stallion, approximately 15hh and has the most beautiful soulful eyes. He is also our latest victim of the drought.

Our Horse Care Unit Manager, Lindsay, came upon him quite by accident. She was responding to an unrelated call when she took a wrong turn that brought her directly into Diamond's path. She was shocked, Diamond had clearly been left to fend for himself - something we are seeing more and more often as the drought has pushed the prices of horse feed beyond the reach of many horse owners. The drought has done more than that though, it has also taken from the animals the naturally occuring lush, green grazing that they could usually find on their own when food resources ran low.

Diamond is emmaciated, he has clearly not had a good meal or a drink of clean water in months, he also been badly neglected and has untreated wounds on his back and a broken leg that healed on it's own. He is now safely at the SPCA, has been treated by our resident vet, is warmly stabled and is enjoying an all he can eat oat hay buffet with an extra large serving of fresh water.

His road to recovery will be along one but Diamond is lucky - we were able to find him in time. Wondering how many more we will have to care for over the coming months is keeping us awake at night. We are going to need piles of oat hay and supplements and will have to provide 40 litres of fresh drinking water for each horse in our care every day. It's unthinkable that we may only be able to stand helpless in the event of our taps running dry but thankfully, because of supporters like yourselves, we are getting closer and closer to our goal and will soon be drilling for our own water source.

In the meantime your goodwill has enabled us to buy 20 000litres of water that is keeping our animals hydrated and our facilities clean and we can't thank you enough! Every single drop is precious, as precious to us as a Diamond!

Thank you so very much for helping us get this far!

Yours for the love of animals

Belinda

Diamond is emmaciated

Diamond's untreated wounds

Enjoying his all he can eat oat hay buffet

The water we have been able to buy with your help

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Mar 20, 2018
Jerry Cans deployed

By Belinda Jean Abraham | Communications, Resource Development Manager

Inspector with Jerry Can

Dear Animal Loving Family and Friends

We are so excited! Yesterday we were able to purchase our very first 25L Jerry Can, fill it with donated water and load it into an Inspector's vehicle to ensure that he could carry enough water with him to cater for every animal he came into contact with.

One of the animals he came across who was wandering the streets in search of water, was a tiny Jack Russell crossbreed who we called Bethany. Our Inspector had never seen anything like her - she had clearly survived a horrific injury that left her with only a bony protrusion for a left leg - and she was surviving as a stray on the streets.

Inspector Norman coaxed her over with the irresistable promise of a drink of fresh water and once he had won her trust he was able to scoop her up for a closer look. Horrified, he brought her into our animal hospital where our head vet Dr JC Botha examined her. She had likely been hit by a car, which had left her with a serious injury. This injury had never been treated and her leg had simply dropped off over time. Dr JC called her a miracle - in his 25 years as a veterinarian, he had never seen an animal survive an injury like this and Bethany, although tiny, clearly had a spirit bigger than the room and was quickly winning hearts! She has now undergone a complete amputation of the affected limb and will live a full and happy life once she is placed in a loving home.

Dogs like Bethany, who are physically weaker than others will have no chance when it comes to competing for water resources when our taps run dry. We are so glad that because of your kindess, we could not only quench her thirst but also give her the treatment she needed and the opportunity for the kind of life she deserves.

Water is indeed life at the SPCA - in many more ways than one!

I look forward to sharing many more exciting stories with you as our project progresses.

Yours for the love of animals

Belinda

Bethany

Links:

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