Cape Town Street Dogs Strike It Lucky Thanks to Network for Animals
Network for Animals (NFA) works in 16 countries around the world, helping street dogs wherever we can. Every day, thousands of street dogs in places as far-flung as Uruguay and the Philippines get a meal because of the work we do.
No matter what country we work in, the people we work with are always the same: Good-hearted volunteers who form small organizations, giving their time and energy to caring for animals for little or no financial reward. In many cases, these people have so little funding that they make personal sacrifices, including using their own wages to help animals.
Fur-Get-Me-Knot is a classic example of this. Fur-Get-me-Knot is a tiny group of South African women who have taken on the task of feeding street dogs and cats in the Cape Town township of Westlake. We had never even heard of them before they called to let us know that they had run out of money because of the COVID-19 economic crisis and that the township’s dogs and cats desperately needed food.
Food bought, dogs fed, aid given
We acted immediately and bought 25 large bags of dog food and 5 bags of cat food to tide the 365 dogs and 171 cats who scrabble for a living in a poor and run-down area with very high unemployment. The dogs who live there have really tough lives. The people with companion animals are now so poor that they can no longer afford to buy food for their pets, and the hundreds of street animals are just plain out of options. Starvation is imminent. Add to this that many people abuse street animals. We told our supporters what we had done and asked for their support, not only for more food but for tick, flea and deworming medicine.
Our supporters responded like heroes
We were overjoyed when our supporters responded, and we were able to give Fur-Get-Me-Knot $2,000.00 (£1,540.00). Fur-Get-Me-Knot was so thrilled and immediately started spending the money to help the dogs and cats.
What happened next is truly wonderful. After we told Fur-Get-Me-Knot that our supporters had given them $2000.00 (£1,540.00), more donations came in and our video shows the team’s reaction when we announced that we had raised another $3,000.00 (£2,310.00) for the small team
For a small organization like Fur-Get-me-Knot, that’s like the dogs and cats they care for winning the lottery! Thanks to NFA supporters, one thing is sure: Street dogs and cats in Westlake will eat well for months to come.
