Animal Ambulance founder steps down due to stress

Founder of the Animal Ambulance Maria Conradie has stepped down and handed over the reins to her daughter Katia and son-in-law Barend Van Dyk after she suffered a mental breakdown and was rushed to hospital.

The shelter has been around for 21 years. It has been in dire need of funding for the past couple of months, which pushed Conradie’s mental state over the edge as the stress became overwhelming.

In the best interest of her mental health, it was decided that she step down from Animal Ambulance, which has been very difficult as she had given her heart and soul to the organisation for over 20 years.

In a post on social media, the organisation assured their supporters that Katia and Barend will uphold the high standards because they share the same passion for animals.

They will also not be closing down.

Daughter Katia said everything will stay exactly as it was.

“We have been working with my mum at Animal Ambulance since I was six when she opened Animal Ambulance. When my husband and I met he also found a passion for animals and started assisting.

“She has been grooming us for several years already for when she is ready to step down. The time just came a bit sooner than expected.”

While the organisation is left to deal with the change of power, raising funds is still one of the shelter’s biggest challenges.

“People don’t prioritise charity anymore because unfortunately there have been so many fly-by-nights that have opened and turned out to be scams. This puts us all under one umbrella.

“Our vet bills fluctuate between R10 000-R20 000 per month depending on which animals need medical attention. We are currently still short of R8 000 for our farm animal vet and R12 000 for our domestic animal vet,” she said.

There are various ways you can donate to the organisation as they are facing uncertain times.

“We have many options available on our website www.animalambulance.co.za where people can find our banking details, SMS line, credit card facilities and even PayPal.

“We also have our merchandise, which we make ourselves to raise funds, and our ambulance transportation service from home to vet or vet to vet. And then we also offer volunteer programmes for individuals and schools/old age homes.”

They also have fundraisers on Quicket.co.za where one can search for Animal Ambulance. Every ticket purchased on Quicket gets a free entry into their competition to win prizes.

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