Small Paws on the Coast celebrates one year
Caroline Botes and Adina Bekker are making a big difference in the lives of feral cats.
Small Paws on the Coast celebrated their one year anniversary on Tuesday, June 13.
Caroline Botes and Adina Bekker started the non-profit, to give feral cats a voice.
To date, they have managed to get around 320 cats sterilised, homed 20 kittens successfully of which two were special needs kitties. They also have seven cats and 11 kittens in their care.
The non-profit is the first public benefit organisation (PBO) on the South Coast solely dedicated to getting feral cats sterilised.
They ended their first year on a fantastic note, by recently sterilising 27 cats at the Wild Coast Sun; 20 females and seven males. They thanked Linda Dunn Livesey from Transkei Animal Welfare Initiative (TAWI) who also helped them with trapping of the cats.
Sterilisations were done at the local vet in Port Edward at Dr Dave Watson’s practice, with the help of his wife, Julia.
Studies have proven that trap, neuter/spay and release is the most effective manner of controlling feral cat populations, as simply euthanising a colony frees up the territory for new feral cats to move in. Sterilisation helps to prevent the growth of a colony, diseases being spread and cats fighting.
A feeder helps to feed the colony which deters feral cats from entering private residences in search for food. In addition, this feeder will come to know all the cats on site and can inform them if any new cats have been dumped in the area that need to be trapped and sterilised.
How can you help?
Sponsors can contribute towards sterilisations – R420 per cat and it will be done at the Lower South Coast SPCA. This includes the rabies and 3-in-1 vaccine. Further sponsorship can be made towards cat food or for purchasing traps. The organisation would like to purchase four new traps as they tackle trapping from Hibberdene to Ramsgate. A new trap costs R1075 including delivery.
Contact Adina on 079 7705 146 or Carolina on 076 2655 251 or smallpawsonthecoast@gmail.com or follow then on Facebook.
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