I have especially made a strong bond with the members of the Springs SPCA and of course, their animals.
Jev, the clumsy great dane, is probably my favourite of the canine bunch.
Having spent quite some time at the SPCA over the past year, I have seen animals of all kinds and sizes come and go through their doors.
But what continues to amaze me, is the hard work and care these people put into the animals, no matter how gentle or how aggressive some of the strays may be.
When taking a stroll past the kennels and seeing the abandoned, stray and rescued animals, one starts to think of all the time spent taking care of them, the paperwork that must come with it and all the rest.
Being the extreme animal lover that I am, it truly breaks my heart to see so many of these dogs dumped on their doorstep.
As I walk past the ‘big’ dogs and look at each of their faces, sadly I know some will not be able to remain there long and others are too old to be adopted.
I don’t feel as miserable when I go to the ‘puppy section’ as I know they will all be adopted soon enough as people are always drawn to the cute furballs.
I just ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah’ and ‘awww’ and ‘I want that one!’ and then move along, because due to circumstances, I cannot own a dog at present.
But what really gets me down is that after these puppies are no longer puppies or as cute as they were, they simply get cast aside.
In some cases these pets are now seen as a nuisance or simply irritating because they are now ‘in the way’ and are then dropped off at the SPCA.
What really gets my blood boiling is that adopting a pet is not just a passing fancy or acquiring a new ‘object’, no, it is having the responsibility of another life in your hands.
A dog needs attention, food, water, walks and many other time consuming things.
Having a pet is a big responsibility and the owner needs to own a dog out of love, not supremacy.
There are, unfortunately, an unbelievable amount of stray animals walking in the streets in search of food for survival.
How can this be stopped?
Have your animal sterilised.
Breeding pup after pup will not do anyone any good, there are only so many homes for these animals.
