Memorial wall to honour four-legged heroes

THE story of the new memorial wall that was unveiled at the Kloof and Highway SPCA began a little over 10 years ago.

The remembrance wall is for all the dogs that served in the police dog unit.

Coordinator for Durban SAP K9 past handlers, Adrian Ash, said it all started when he received a call from Captain Ryan Chalton informing him that the Cato Manor SPCA was being demolished, and that he had single-handedly taken into custody 156 urns as well as the two statues.

“The dilemma we faced was: Where would we keep the statues safe, and what would we do with 156 urns, bearing in mind each urn weighs around 15kg and both dog statues need around four people to carry them? So began the long journey to where we stand today.”

Ash took custody of the dog statues. “The 10 long years marking the wall of remembrance kicked off with the initial R1 000 deposit that was made fittingly by Laurie Kaplan, more fittingly renowned for being part of the first class to serve in Durban.

Moving along swiftly, following discussions of where to rebuild the wall, Ash said the Kloof and Highway SPCA kindly allocated a plot for them.

He highlighted that this was a team effort, and there are many people who dedicated their time and services. The team was also grateful for the donations.

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Ash gave a special mention and honoured the builder who was involved in building this remembrance wall, Bruce Barr.

“Bruce passed away, literally as the last brick was laid,” said Ash.

The urns were moved with the help of Theuns Willemse who assisted with his company truck. “We invited a group of ‘wise elder handlers’, and the urn group was formed.”

He added that what the public see is a testament to the long hours and sweat and toil that has gone into honouring the four-legged heroes.

“They truly do have a wall of remembrance and legacy wall. A very big thank you to everyone that was involved in this project,” he said.

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Ash added that there is a space for plaques where people can engrave names of the dogs that are not on the wall.

Former Metro Police officer, who was also very involved in this project, Shane Cox, said he was approached by the SAPS Dog Unit who requested to seek permission to build an SAPS K9 memorial wall at Kloof and Highway SPCA.

“We held meetings and then submitted the proposal and plans to our Kloof and Highway SPCA committee of which I am vice-chair. The decision was made to allow the trust of the property to give permission for the proposal,” he said.

This is a project very special to Cox as the other Metro Police wall standing next to the new SAPS K9 memorial wall was built by hand by Cox’s late sister, Cherise Cox and her team members from Metro Police K9.

“This wall is very close to my heart as we lost many legendary K9s and K9 handlers while fighting crime and protecting the community. Metro K9 and SAPS K9 worked together as a team.” he said.