Editor
I refer to a letter printed on January 9, in which a reader complains that the “SPCA does nothing.” The letter is entitled “Roaming dogs such a menace”. Unfortunately there is no name attached to this letter but rather a nom de plume referring to the reader as “Estcourt Resident”. The resident has been asked to contact us directly, in order that we may respond to the complaint. We would also like to respond via the medium of your newspaper.

Please understand that the SPCA is a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals and not a society to collect roaming dogs. That responsibility lies with the municipality. Please refer to the KZN Pound Act no 3 of 2006 for details. As we have tried to communicate on more than one occasion, there are pamphlets available from our premises and from the NSPCA outlining the functions of the Society. We as a committee urge you and the public to educate yourselves in this regard.

We can only respond to an injured animal or to a cruelty complaint. If the member alerting us to the stray dog is prepared to stay with the dog until such time that our inspector can get there, we do try and attend to those calls. But many times, the animal in question is long gone, and valuable resources have been wasted in trying to track down the animal.

To say that the “SPCA does nothing”, is both defamatory and unfair. Our inspector keeps daily records of every call out, and complaint he receives. He documents every time he uses the SPCA vehicle and he also keeps accurate record of his activities with the animals currently in our care. I once again remind everyone of the vastness of the area he is expected to cover.

May I add here that these records are checked regularly by a member of the committee, and that Nelson has never once faltered in his record keeping, or failed to explain his whereabouts fully. He works tirelessly each working day and many weekends too. The committee is made up of volunteers and we invite “Estcourt Resident” to join our committee and assist us in meeting the objectives laid down for us by the NSPCA.

We further invite him or her to peruse the records kept, thus informing them of some of the work undertaken by the SPCA and the volunteers that make up this group. On a more positive note, we would like to thank all those that donate regularly, if it is by depositing money into our account or by supporting our collection tins or our little doggie statue outside Spar. Special thanks go to Spar and PicknPay for their continued donations of food.

Thank you to Richard Drewitt from the pet shop for his generous contribution of cat food. We are thus able to say that no animal in our care has ever gone hungry. We have also been able to re-fence most of the broken kennels, they have all been repainted and we have reopened the spacious dog runs. The cats play kennel has been spruced up and re-fenced. Broken pipes and leaking taps have been attended to. Currently we are working on the electricity connection to the office. All this has been made possible simply using monies donated by caring residents.

Thank you must go to Rodney and the Hunter Smiths for their donation of fencing materials. Maintenance is ongoing and any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Please contact any member of the committee if you would like further details. Dave McFie (Chairman), Jeanine Raciti (Vice Chairperson), Christine Tratschler (Secretary), Graham Moor (Treasurer), Estelle Goosen, or Michelle Geldenhuys.

Estcourt and District SPCA