Survival of Animal Welfare Charity in Zimbabwe

Summertime Sadness (thank you Lana Del Rey) and the Lockdown Blues, March 2021

Mutare SPCA is in the prettiest town in Zimbabwe. You enter from the North, through a gap in the hills called The Christmas Pass. The crest of the road has spectacular views over spiritual Murahwas’s Hill and the city in the valley beyond. Summer is fading, and we begin a period of cold nights, hot days, with less rain.

The warmth of Summer, however, was a twin edged sword for homeless or unloved animals. It’s a period when breeding escalates and the SPCA picks up the pieces: the pregnant, the puppies and kittens!  We cannot hope to home them all, but we try hard. We can’t count the number of cats in the cattery, but they are all, bar none, beautiful.  The puppies! What fun we have with them. Their first yap, their first sprint around the yard, their first nudge for attention. They give us so much pleasure, and we owe them to work constantly for homes. Meanwhile, having children to come and play with them is such a bonus, and it seems to me that pups understand that children are trustworthy, and they make behavioral breakthroughs that, sometimes, we cannot. Savanna, a young teenager runs energetically with the puppies and I love watching the happiness in their body language. I swear they are laughing! These are rewarding moments. Little Harry, like a pup himself, crawls into the dog bed, and names his new pals: Softy, Sweety, and Spot! These moments are priceless……

We are already well into 2021, and I just wish that there was less widespread starvation of animals. There is an unrelenting surge among the get-rich-quick folk who deal diamonds from the copious fields to the South, and drugs from who knows where. They speed in their unregistered Mercedes Benz, Audis, their countless Honda Fits, so that driving in town is an experience to avoid. One of the “benefits” of this exponential growth in wealth is the need for status symbols, and this is where we come in. Every second youth becomes a dog breeder, and there are no laws locally to prevent this.  Beautiful dogs are smuggled in from South Africa, in unimaginable conditions. From then, they are bred to death, (sometimes literally,) or abandoned when their fertility cycles slow.  There is no understanding of inherited disabilities like hip displagia.  A friend recently came upon a dog lying on the road. At first she assumed it had been hit by a car and was dead. When approached, the starved and broken dog seemed to understand they would help her, and, resigned to whatever fate, she climbed into the car with no argument. At the SPCA, she accepted the kennel, and the food and water offered, staring into the faces of the people helping her. She had pressure sores, a broken ear, (HOW does that happen), long leathery teats, and was very scarred. Was she a “bait” dog? Sadly dog fighting has become popular.  We named her Swayzie. She is gaining weight, and faith, and she is a favourite of mine.

We have in our care no less than 6 Boerbuls in shocking condition, so thin they have pressure wounds where their bones have lain on cement too long. They have not known love.  But if they do come in to us with puppies, they are adoring mothers. We have found good homes for 2 of them, and a third was not home-able. We always knew Amber would be chosen. Her beautiful eyes are the same reddish brown I have seen in elephants.  Being good natured, she soon became the matron of the pack, unfazed by the antics of the spirited, but quick to discipline the aggressive! We are lucky to know her, and are very grateful to the lady who has chosen her. Our biggest hound, Mr Mutley has been adopted too. We are delighted as he had been with us for over a year. Another gentle giant of a brindle Boerbul has been homed too, and I know he will be happy. Tonight we homed two little Jack Russells who had been surrendered due to financial constraints. Another 2 young dogs have gone to a great home, and I will be able to “keep in touch” as we all walk around the Golf Course in the early mornings.

Our little farmyard area has grown, and we now support 3 goats, (believe it or not a baby, a middle sized and a BIG bossy billy goat. We also have 1 little pig, 1 duck and several chickens.  The pig spends his days at the fence, confusing the puppies!   (“He is our size but speaks a foreign language, they think!”)

Lastly, a few words on why this is a lovely country to live in. Our ancient but gigantic pot had finally cracked along its base rim. We had it mended, (yes we still have tinkers here) and it does work after a fashion, that is to say, when hot, the repair job expands and seals the join. So we made an appeal for a second hand pot. A week later, we were given a one! Then 2 smaller pots were donated from Harare. We are now kitted out with pots for the next few decades!

Thank you for taking time to read our report. It has been a tough few months for sure, and maybe lockdown wears one thin. But would I be anywhere else than volunteering for Mutare SPCA? No. There is too much joy in being a part of this great little team, and too much delight in the days when an animal remembers how to trust a human again.

Written with gartitude as aalways from

Jane and Lynne

Christmas is expected to be the happiest time of the year. People just seem kinder, more willing to make eye contact, and to smile and wish you well.  However, on the contrary, December can be a difficult month for people working at animal shelters. People go on vacation without making safe arrangements for their pets. Others get a playful new pup or kitten, and the old pet looks perhaps a little uninteresting now. This can potentially result in a wave of new animals at our safe haven. To add to this, in Zimbabwe, the majority of the population has been wiped out financially, thanks to Covid19 fall-out, and the status quo here.  There is no furlough or assistance given to people here. It’s a very hard time all round, as 3rd world Africa abides by 1st world advice, but is unable to provide 1st World support. Covid regulations have squashed our resolutions for community programs, but we are looking forward to launching them as soon as we are able. I know this is important to some of you, as it is to us, and we will get going as soon as we are allowed.

Here in Mutare, too many of the animals we rescue have had their very souls crushed.

To recover, they have much to learn: To gain courage. To trust. To believe. To accept love, and finally, to love. We begin by letting them watch us at play with our longer-term residents from their kennel. Initially, they may hide, or try to sleep their fear away. After a few days, they spend time at the gate, watching the antics of the pack. If they are aggressive, they have to come out alone, when the pack is indoors. But if their behaviour shows confidence, they tend to be satellites to the group for a while. Eventually, they lean in for a sniff or nudge, till finally, they are ready for us to touch or stroke or lean on them. Then we know we have made it, and the restoring of their souls begins.  It may seem like we have a hard or unenviable role, but in truth, we are blessed to be able to experience this alongside our animals. It’s often a slow process to get them to the point when they are ready for homing, and we cannot expect them to make the necessary growth in a predictable time frame.  I firmly believe their time period to heal should not be set in stone.  Having a resource like GlobalGiving, to give us the direction and financial safety net we need through their forum, gives us the confidence that we can survive. And we do. Homes are few, but regular, and shortly we will try more Instagram usage, to add to our facebook posts. FB: @SPCA-MUTARE

Rescues abound, but not just on mammals. We rescued a little fledgling bird, a White-eye, and it was raised by local fundis, Rob and Barry Truscott. Followed by a good member of the public bringing us a Tortoise. The staff had set the “big tortoise” to range free in our quarantine section, and from then on he was difficult to locate, so I did not get to see him. Just before we left for our family Xmas, he was found and put in a grass cushioned box to await his forced migration from easy street back to nature.  It is important to us to relocate wild animals for the best end result, so we decided that a sanctuary with space and other tortoises of both sexes was the way to go. The trip went well, with this unidentifiable animal (presumably a rare species?) buried deep in the soft grasses. When we arrived in Harare, we removed him to let him stretch his legs in a safe courtyard. Legs pumping for a quick escape, we found he looked most uncommon. Black skin, with a fairly smooth shell had us wondering if he was perhaps a Terrapin. I put him at the pond edge, where he dived into the water, and swiftly swam to the far side. Not a Tortoise at all!  The re-home was now complicated. Luckily our nephew was there, on a break from the remote and magical Malilangwe Reserve, and he took the terrapin off to a place that was suited to his species. Being pragmatic, life will be tougher for him, but he will get a chance at a normal existence. To range free, reproduce and have loads to do with his time will be what he deserves.

We also have homed the dearest dogs, Harry and Sally, to a plot in Chimanimani, where we homed Petal Pig. The drive there was very beautiful, from tawny bushveld near Mutare to the blue mountains of the rural village of Chims.   We were very aware that this was not a conventional home, but they had a wooden cabin with a good sized fenced area for the cool mountain nights. We took the two dogs for some happy walks and we were very proud of their courage and ability to get back to base. At the plot, we wandered through the knee-high gold grass fields to a crystal clear and feisty stream below the livestock corral, where the dogs and Lynne waded in the chilly water. It was hard to say goodbye to these two affectionate rescues, but such good ambassadors they were that 2 more dogs have been adopted in Chimanimani, Ricky and Curly. We just have the best animals!! On their first night in their new home, they foiled a burglary, when they barked relentlessly till the lodge manager came out to check on them. Much of the haul was recovered, except the small refrigerator. The following morning, a young herd boy espied a “coffin” draped in a cloth. He ran home in terror. His mother immediately sent him back to unveil the scary box. THE FRIDGE! So that was recovered too. We homed a friendly and loving dog called Lily too. At some stage in her life, she had been caught in a wire snare. Her struggle to free herself must have been fierce, as she not only sliced a deep wound around her whole neck, but double twisted a flap of skin which now flaps loose on her neck. How she survived I do not know, and yet she is as affectionate a dog as we have ever had. Lily arrived with 2 well taught pups who are as delightful as their mum, and one has a home, but not the other sadly.  We have 4 puppies from different litters too who are going to make fine pets, and I have added a pic of Shadow, a character is ever there was one. 

We have had extreme rains this December, which is wonderful for our farmers, but not for our sanctuary. The blankets get damp and are hard to dry, the animals feel cold, we feel cold, and it’s miserable.  Well, not really…. The dogs are always delighted to see us, and eager for cuddles. The kittens rush the gate like a wall to wall shaggy pile carpet. Then it’s a love fest. A warm and contagious and rewarding love fest!

So, THANK YOU GlobalGiving for giving us wings, and your generous community who has supported us. You have been an integral part of providing us with these special moments.

From Jane and Lynne

SPCA Mutare/Survival of Animal Welfare Charity in Zimbabwe