Sterilisation of 140 animals controls over-breeding in impoverished communities

Fri, 23 May 2008

“Thank goodness my dog is being spayed. I don’t want puppies, there are too many puppies around already and I can’t afford vet’s fees of R800–R1,000 to spay my dog.”

REPORT 1: Karoo Animal Protection Society: Sterilisation for female dogs in Karoo Communities

This project helped the Karoo Animal Protection Society (KAPS) to sterilise and vaccinate 100 dogs in the impoverished Western Cape communities of Amalienstein, Zoar, Nissenville, Van Wyksdorp, Smitsville, Suurbraak, Buffelsjagrivier, Olivedale, Slangriver and Albertinia. This will achieve a significant decrease in the number of unwanted, abused, sick, starved and neglected dogs in these towns, and will mean that the animals and their owners will be less at risk of disease. The project involved a once-off sterilisation campaign where volunteer field-workers visited homes in the towns and on nearby farms to explain the campaign and make appointments or arrangements for collection and delivery of the dogs. Owners were assisted with post-operative care and provided with food supplies and field-workers continue to monitor the animals' progress and educate the owners on animal welfare.

Impact

The project succeeded in sterilising, vaccinating and de-worming 140 animals to prevent excessive breeding which results in exploding populations of neglected and unwanted animals owned by people who cannot afford to look after them. The 140 impoverished families who own these animals have also benefited because their pets can now lead healthier lives, will not go on heat or be made pregnant and have been vaccinated against disease and protected from parasites. Community residents will now not have to deal with excessive numbers of starving, diseased dogs straying and scavenging in their neighbourhood.

Activities

All planned activities have been implemented. The initial plan was to sterilise 100 dogs over two mass clinics in January and February but it took three clinics to achieve more than the planned number – 29 sterilisations in the first clinic, 62 in the second and 49 in the third, making it 140 in total.

Expenditure

The cost of the project is R20,000 which has been paid in full.

Description	Total Budget	Expenditure
Pre-clinic visits to animal owners to log female dogs that are candidates for sterilisation	KAPS to pay	-
Booking of mobile veterinary services and accommodation	KAPS to pay	-
Securing of municipality premises for operations	KAPS to pay	-
Kannaland clinic on 25/6 January 29 sterilised/vaccinated/dewormed @ R200 each	R 5 800	R 5 800
Manpower, subsistence and travel	KAPS to pay	-
Aberdeen clinic on 11/12 February 62 sterilised/vaccinated/dewormed @ R207.44 each	R 12 400	R 13 053.50
Manpower, subsistence and travel	KAPS to pay	-
Kannaland clinic on 19/20 February 49 sterilised/vaccinated/dewormed @ R200 each	R 1 800	R 9 800
Manpower, subsistence and travel	KAPS to pay	-
Follow-up visits by KAPS to check on progress, remove stitches and give food and advice	KAPS to pay	-
TOTAL	R 20 000	R 28,654

A statement from KAPS Auditors, Boshoff Visser, was received on 20 August 2008. It verified that the expenditure reported to SASIX for this project is accurate.

Challenges

The challenges faced by this project are those intrinsic to initiatives that involve getting support from poor communities and under-resourced municipalities. However, these clinics are a regular part of KAPS’s activities and they are experienced in how to overcome them. At the January clinic, the visiting veterinarian arrived without some necessary operating equipment but this was obtained and the clinic proceeded, albeit sterilising a reduced number of dogs due to the time lost. The numbers were made up in two subsequent clinics.

Monitoring and evaluation

KAPS carries out these mass sterilising clinics many times a year. Evaluation and monitoring is a simple process of vets performing operations successfully and KAPS following up with advice and assistance for owners the stitches are taken out a week to ten days later. All this has been carried out.

Conclusions

This project was 100% successful. KAPS wanted to address the uncontrolled breeding that goes on in the poor communities and sterilisation is the most effective way to do this. If just one of these animals had been used for breeding, SPCA figures show that it and its offspring could have been responsible for the birth of 80,000 dogs in the space of just four years. The key is to keep up a constant cycle of sterilising because if there is a gap of only a few months there will be pregnancies and litters and animal numbers will immediately escalate. KAPS therefore carries out sterilising week in, week out – either one by one at local veterinarians or in batches at mass clinics.