Pepe’s story is one of hope: from being collected by the SPCA as a stray, to spending weeks in the kennels, and finally on to a loving ‘forever home’.
Pepe is a mixed breed dog, appearing to have Yorkshire Terrier in his bloodline, that was found by kind staff at a medical practice in the area of Melusi Mission.
Inspector Kavish Ramcharan went to collect Pepe, and the SPCA
staff were hopeful that his owner would come forward: “He was in very good condition – well groomed, washed and recently clipped. You could see that he’d been cared for, although he was not  sterilised,” said Gail Crossley, SPCA Office Manageress.
After a few weeks no one had come forward to collect him, so he was put up for adoption. A kind member of the public, who assists the SPCA with photographs for the Facebook page (Dundee SPCA) and with advertising, took a special photo for media networking purposes, and christened him Pepe.
Pepe immediately captured the hearts of all who saw his picture, and the community of Dundee, as well as many individuals further afield, starting making his story known. SPCA staff and committee members were inundated with queries about Pepe’s plight, but sadly no one came forward as being in a position to adopt him for a long time.
For two months Pepe waited in kennel for someone to love him and take him home. Last week that person finally came forward.
Pepe has gone to a home in Glencoe, where he has immediately settled in as an accepted member of the family. Says Pepe’s new owner: “Last week my long-time pet companion passed away from old age; I was heartbroken, and decided that I needed time to mourn my Sharky. But then I heard about Pepe through an SPCA committee member as well as a friend from work, and when I saw him at the kennels I knew he was the dog for me.
“When I picked him up I found I could not put him down again: he gave me kisses, and was so very excited to get in the car with me to go home. Pepe brings me so much joy!”
Kelly Lippke, SPCA committee Chairperson, says this is the most fantastic example of how a community can assist the SPCA, and in
doing so help needy animals like Pepe: “It makes our work so worthwhile to see lovely pets like Pepe find good homes! Sadly, there are so many more that are not as lucky. The flip side of this coin is the number of stray pets whose owners never come forward to collect their missing pets – this happens far more often than it should.
“I thank each person that helped to give Pepe’s story a happy ending, and also everyone that assists us with networking and
donations.”
Angela Klusener, Secretary of the SPCA, appeals to the public to
help them with fund-raising opportunities. She says, “It is costly to maintain the running of the SPCA and care for so many animals. We have a willing committee of members who work hard to raise essential funds to keep the SPCA in operation, so please contact us with ideas or opportunities.”
If Pepe could talk, I’m sure he would remind us of the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “You can judge the morality of a nation by the way the society treats its animals.”