Daphne is Scottburgh’s ‘feral feeder’

Daphne Náslund (71) of Scottburgh is best known to locals as ‘the cat lady’ or ‘feral feeder’ as she likes to call it.

Originally from Johannesburg, the animal lover moved down to the mid-South Coast in 2003 with her husband Olly.

Daphne’s passion for helping animals was something that she developed at a young age. “I grew up in a home with compassionate people and in my suburb I witnessed several horrific animal cruelties which children shouldn’t really see, so this pushed me to the point where I decided I would help the voiceless,” she said.

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In Scottburgh and surrounding areas, there are many strays – more specifically cats – that need to be fed and sterilised so they don’t overpopulate. When she was in Johannesburg, Daphne ad belonged to various organisations that dealt with situations like this, but here there was nothing really being done.

The day she decided to get involved with the community through the animals, was a few months after she initially moved here.

“I was on my way to the mall to do a little shopping when an extremely thin cat ran past my vehicle and into a nearby bush. I went to get some food for him and when I went into the bush, I came across another lady who was already busy feeding about 22 cats,” she said.

The woman who initially fed the cats, Margaret Kennedy, was a Scottburgh local who died some time ago. She and Daphne worked together to see to the strays. Daphne started a project called ‘Spay the Strays’ for which she worked alongside Margaret to get stray cats in Scottburgh sterilised. The two went about getting this done with a few donations and money out of their own pockets.

That project ended in 2012, when Umdoni Municipality became involved and said they would pay the bills of the strays’ sterilisations as this was a community initiative. At that point they had already done roughly 800 sterilisations.

The municipality’s contribution to help the strays sadly ended last year.

To date, through the help of community donations and, of course, Daphne’s own contributions, over 1 000 cats have been sterilised in the area.

“Please sterilise your animals! It may be a little costly, but it is well worth it in the long run, especially for tomcats, as they roam around and will mate with many females, potentially raising the cat population in this area and creating more strays,” Daphne explained.

Her most memorable moments dealing with strays are the times she was able to reunite lost cats with their owners. Her worst memories are with a certain stray named Zorro, who was seen as the ‘fighter cat’. People were afraid of this stray. Zorro died suddenly and the cause of his death was reportedly a pain killer for humans.

“Do not give your medication to animals as their bodies react differently to ours,” said Daphne. “It’s much safer to take your furry friends to a professional rather than feeding them aspirin.”

Since Daphne moved to Scottburgh, she has had nine cats, two of which are still with her today.

She encourages the public to take proper care of their pets so they don’t end up on the streets one day.

Should you wish to become involved with helping the strays, any donations can be dropped off at the Mail offices for Daphne.

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