Bluff’s feline lover continues to fulfil her ‘purr’pose

TIRELESSLY fighting on behalf of the many neglected cats and kittens, is the Bluff’s self-confessed feline lover, Delice Unger who has for nearly five decades, been doing extraordinary work feeding and caring for the feral cats found at the Durban Harbour.

Delice has been feeding the stranded harbour cats for an impressive 49 years and still does it with the warmest smile to this very day. Asked about the inspiration behind this vested interested in what has become her feline babies, she said that the undying passion began back when she started working at the Durban container terminals as a controller in 1978 at the age of 23. “I did round-clock shift work and would sit and watch the cats duck and hide and scurry around the harbour during the night and that where it all started. I used to prepare all the food before going to work and quickly get in early so that I could go and put out bowls of food for them.

Although she stopped working there years ago, she is affectionately known throughout the harbour as gogo who comes in most evenings to feed the ferals. “I’ve always loved animals and even grew up around them as a young girl. My ouma had many cats and dogs around the house. There’s just something special about these creatures and they have a way of working into one’s heart,” she said.

It’s this soft spot for cats that has made it an easy self-compelled act of love to care the cats in need year after year. She has had support from anonymous donors, community members and from Bluff Meat Supply who often donate pet food to her to help her get by as she feeds the cats from her own pocket. “They have really helped and come through for me in times when I didn’t know where the next meal for my cats was going to come from,” she said. Some of the employees at Bluff Meat Supply even helped her with much needed supplies to build a little sanctuary for some of the vulnerable cats that she had rescued from the harbour, at St Patricks Road on the Bluff. It was unfortunately demolished five years ago but she still ensured the cats’ well-being by re-homing them and further taking in the remaining few herself.

In addition to her many efforts, Delice also started selling second-hand goods at the Bluff Dutch Club market which is held every Saturday. All profits made from her sales go towards buying cat food.

Old age and deteriorating health have, however, caught up with the feline lover as she finds it becoming more of a struggle to go about her mission to feed the ferals. Never one to throw in the towel though, Delice has survived a violent hijacking at the harbour, overcome two separate battles of cancer as well as being medically boarded, forcing her to leave her job, yet still never neglecting her beloved cats. “Now at the age of 74, my health has gone right down. The trips to the harbour are not as easy as they used to be, I battle to walk and have also injured my back. I’ve been doing this on my own for so long and am not really on to ask for help willingly, but I am in need of a helping hand and appreciate having someone to depend on to care for the cats when I am no longer available to,” said an emotional Delice.

She feeds the cats at piers one and two at the harbour container terminal as well as the harbour school nearby three to four times a week. She appeals to the public to assist her with going out to feed the cats as well as with much needed cat food and monetary donations that will go towards sterilising the ferals. Delice can be contacted on 083-558-8389.

READ ALSO: Spaying your cat – for THEIR health’s sake

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