PADS - Prince Albert Animal Welfare
This post is on a more serious note.
We are extremely fortunate to have very kind volunteers in town who are part of our animal welfare team. Sadly animal cruelty is rife, and animals are underfed and uncared for. What poor Brenda is faced with daily is unthinkable and extremely traumatic. Very few people have dealt with this as long as she has. So a huge shoutout to her. As much as we try to educate people, very few were brought up to respect animals.
Two people are paid to work for PADS, Elizma is at the container which sells small packets of food, keeps things like worm pills, and has a dip facility etc. The other is Brenda who is paid a stipend for a few hours of work a day. Her work is, however, never restricted to these hours as she is called out at all hours of the day and over weekends for which she is not paid. As much as we explain to people that she is not a vet and is limited in what she can do for the animals, people have ridiculous expectations of her and are extremely demanding of her, often berating PADS when the capability is simply not there. Brenda tolerates this for the love of the animals.
Elsabe does the admin, finances, applications for funding and organization of sterilization projects on a volunteer basis. She, Brenda and three others are part of the executive committee. Others volunteer their time as needed.
Finances are the biggest challenge for PADS, the donations they receive are highly insufficient. Funds coming in from organizations that previously supported them have dried up. PADS do their best to raise funds by having a stall at the market selling second-hand items or selling braai broodjies etc.
When a sterilization project is arranged in town, these events cost PADS over R100 000 each! Sterilizing a female is more expensive than a male, and then if a female is pregnant, there is an additional surcharge. According to Elsabe, she has seen that more people are having their females sterilized now, which is a good thing for puppy and kitten control, however, it pushes up their costs.
Although the vets that do the sterilizations offer a reduced fee for each animal, the cost is still extremely high, and then PADS needs to pay for accommodation for the vets over and above their other costs.
Indigent residents in the town can have their animals sterilized for free, however, those who can afford to pay will pay a much-reduced fee compared to if they were to take their pet through to a vet, which is a long way out of town, so not only are they saving on the cost of the sterilization, they are also saving themselves the cost of the petrol and ware and tare on their vehicle. Having said this, some people try and get away without paying.
On behalf of PADS, I would like to appeal to anyone who has the means to please consider donating to their cause. I would also like to thank those that do, it is very much appreciated! PADS could not survive without you.
If you are unable to help financially, but have time on your hands, please consider volunteering for things like fund-raising, helping on steri days or working at the market. They can do with more hands.
ALL PHOTOS PROVIDED BY PADS
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