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Site C, Khayelitsha:
Lucky (his real name!) a big fluffy male dog was shot in the neck. The bullet travelled all the way to the other side of his body, missing the carotid artery, trachea and every vital organ before being lodged in his right shoulder.
The chances of this kind of 'flight-path' are
a billion to one and this dog should not be alive.
Lucky’s guardian explains that she was visiting at her cousins house. The cousin wasn’t in, but his girlfriend was. At some point, four (alleged) gangsters came onto the property and shot Lucky – who follows his guardian wherever she goes. After they shot him, one of the men entered the house looking for the cousin - recently released from prison and allegedly a member of a rival gang.
When SA.MAST Animal Clinic, in G Section of Khayelitsha, became aware of the situation, Lucky was immediately taken into surgery and the bullet successfully removed. Thereafter, Tamsin Nel, Founder & Director of SA.MAST, reported the case to SAPS who arrived within minutes to retrieve the bullet, question the guardian and open a criminal case of cruelty to animals.
" There’s hardly a day that goes by when we're not having to provide emergency veterinary care to cat and dog victims of violent crime -often perpetuated by gangsters. Just hours before Lucky arrived, another dog had come in with one of his forelegs shredded by a gangster’s pitbull. Gangsters often use these kind of dogs to intimidate and rob people and all these emergencies are placing serious strain on our finances, making a hard job even harder."
Though the guardian is too scared to reveal her identity for fear of the gangsters hunting her down, we’re hoping some sort of justice for Lucky will be realised.
Lucky is expected to make a full recovery, but our veterinary medicine and consumable budget is in tatters.
WE ARE WHERE WE ARE NEEDED MOST,
BUT WE NEED A LOT OF HELP
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"For example, we’ve purchased thousands and thousands of vaccines from Boehringer-Ingelheim (a company worth 18 + billion euros) for more than ten years. We’ve been loyal contractual clients and in return they’ve supported us with Frontline tick and flea treatment. But this year, with no prior warning, the tick and flea treatment was pulled and the cost of the vaccines substantially increased - while they're supplying the same product for far, far cheaper elsewhere. |
FIREWOOD OR SHELTER?
There’s a story doing the rounds that sponsored kennels for disadvantaged dog guardians are reduced to firewood. It goes on to imply that donors should sponsor plastic kennels (probably from China) for their welfare organisation instead of supporting kennel building and job creation programmes - like the one at SA.MAST Animal Clinic. We’ve built and distributed over 3000 wooden kennels to guardians who’ve given us permission to sterilise their dogs – dogs who sound the alarm and help protect families just as they do in leafy suburbia. These same guardians by-and-large continue to contact us for veterinary advice and care for many years after receiving their kennel - paying what they can when they can but never turned away. So no, we’re not talking about Neanderthals tearing apart kennels to warm up their caves, we’re helping vulnerable, responsible, compassionate human beings and their dogs!
Please consider sponsoring a kennel: One kennel costs R250.
Sowing seeds of compassion: Priceless.
Contact Tamsin at samast@samast.co.za to arrange your sponsorship.
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