Animal lover organises successful pet adoption day

Cape Town - An animal lover organised the second Paws-in-a-while animal adoption fair at the Sea Point promenade.

The event attracted the support of the entire Cape Animal Welfare Forum (CAWF) that had 16 of its member organisations attend the event together with 26 stall-holders who added to the carnival-like atmosphere of the day.

The event, which included the City of Cape Town and the CAWF, was organised by Carolyn Dudgeon, who is an animal rescuer.

She said animal welfare was close to her heart. She is active in the field of rescue and has two rescue dogs herself.

“I also wanted to use the opportunity to offer support to small businesses and start-ups that are animal-friendly to promote themselves on a free platform,” she added.

Carolyn said she recognised the challenges that registered animal rescue organisations faced and wants to help advance the adoption of rescue animals, expand foster home networks and create much-needed awareness around the sterilisation of animals.

She said she was very pleased that every organisation had received adoption applications for some of their animals!

The event was a great success, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended and they are all very excited in anticipation of the World Animal Day event in October.

The event encourages people to adopt animals, encourages a culture of adoption and encourages people to become involved with or support animal welfare and rescue organisations as well as provide a forum for animal welfare organisations to raise income and donations.

“Animal welfare and rescue organisations have been going through a tough time due to Covid-19 as they are reliant on donations and they have all had difficulty retaining their donor funding which has put additional strain on them.

“We have also seen more members of the public surrendering pets due to their own loss of income, and the animal welfare organisations have had to take in more animals (during the Covid-19 lockdown).”

The spokesperson for the Animal Welfare Society of South Africa, Allan Perrins, said for those entrusted with the responsibility of rehoming animals, such events represented more than an opportunity for them to showcase their work and interact with their donors and other like-minded individuals. They also represented an opportunity for them to save animals’ lives.

Weekend Argus