Cape Town - An enormous increase in pets being handed over and abandoned during the festive season is behind the Mdzananda Animal Clinic in Khayelitsha’s #MyFirstChristmas campaign where it introduces homeless pets up for adoption to the public to expose the animals to Christmas cheer.
Mdzananda Animal Clinic fund-raising and communications manager Marcelle du Plessis said many people from Khayelitsha went to the Eastern Cape for the festive season and not having a solution for their pets, they end up handing them over or abandoning them at Mdzananda.
“Most shelter pets have never experienced Christmas and it's usually a joyous day but my heart always breaks for the pets at our shelter facility who are spending it without a family. This year we hope to make it a bit more special for them.
“Members of the public can sponsor a shelter pet to have a Christmas day experience and our staff and volunteers will in turn make their day special,” says Du Plessis.
Sponsoring options include a good cuddle for R100, a good cuddle and a treat for R200, a good cuddle, treat and play time for R400, and R500 for all of the above.
Du Plessis said people could choose their special pet by visiting www.mdzananda.co.za or the Mdzananda Animal Clinic on Facebook and Instagram.
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abrahams concurred that they were also experiencing a massive influx of stray and abandoned animals at the moment and so to bring some holiday cheer to these animals, had initiated a campaign called “The 12 Strays Of Christmas” where they strive to find homes for 12 stray dogs that were neglected, unloved and left to roam.
“Based on the statistics from previous years, we expect the admission of around 2000 animals from now until January. While we always see an escalation of admissions at this time of year there is a 21.4% increase in the number of pets being surrendered to us when comparing the 2020/21 financial years,” said Abrahams.
Abrahams said they expected many calls in the coming week and implored everyone to look out for abandoned or neglected animals and call them to assist on
083 255 326 1604.
