Thabo Mabaso
20 July 2007
The national SPCA has called on South Africans to dig into their pockets and donate funds and goods to help animals left destitute by the political and economic crisis ravaging Zimbabwe.
The call follows reports in the Cape Argus that food shortages had forced the Zimbabwe SPCA to begin euthanasing stray animals housed in its kennels.
The euthanasing began early this week and affects more than 600 animals.
Allan Perrins, chief executive of the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, told the Cape Argus that public response to the reports had been overwhelming.
He said the local SPCA had been inundated with offers of help from concerned animal lovers.
"Some kind of help from us is inevitable and imminent. The Zimbabwe SPCA will send us a wish-list, we will procure what they require and courier those to them," said Perrins.
"It is also not in the realm of the impossible that we could even send people up to Zimbabwe to help our colleagues there," he added.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force has also done a study that shows that 83% of wildlife in privately owned game farms and conservancies has been destroyed since 2001. The blame for the wipe-out has been attributed to drought, and the political upheavals that have engulfed Zimbabwe over the last five years.
A statement by the SPCA said the mass exodus of Zimbabweans to neighbouring countries had left many animals destitute and dying of hunger.
"There are no easy solutions. The situation in Zimbabwe is not one conducive to the homing or adoption of animals. Supplies of food for captive and animals on farms is a central issue and we fear that these animals themselves become targets for food," the NSPCA said.
Meanwhile, the DA has announced that it will be sending an inspection team to the Beit Bridge border crossing next week to study for itself the circumstances of the refugees fleeing from the economic and political collapse of Zimbabwe.
Mark Lowe, the DA spokesman on home affairs, said in a statement that the government should set up a refugee camp near the Beit-Bridge border crossing.
"This is a major humanitarian crisis happening right now. Not next month, not next year, but right now ... the Department of Home Affairs has a duty to find accommodation for refugees coming into the country en masse, which is the case of Zimbabwean refugees," he said.
Zimbabwe is reeling from the worst economic and political crisis ever to hit the country. Annual inflation is at record highs of 4 000% and free political activity has been curtailed.
Donations to the SPCA should be donated into the following account:
Institution: Standard Bank
Branch: Southdale
Account Name: NSPCA
Account Number: 201 032 015
Branch Code: 006 405
Reference: ZIMHELP
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