Veronica van Greunen

It was one of those days that every rescue centre dreads. A week before we came across a situation of hoarding, and as every hoarder has ever said, “they were rescuing animals, not hoarding them”.

There is, however, a very clear distinction between rescuing and hoarding. Rescuers sterilize the animals, feed them sufficiently and give them the medical treatment they need, and then rehome them.

Hoarders usually really love animals but take too many and often don’t have the resources to even take care of themselves, never mind all the animals they take in. It is a very sad situation that is started out of love but ends in neglect.

The dogs

Our inspector acted exactly by the law and issued a warning for the owners to get medical attention, sufficient food and clean up the living conditions of the property. Upon return to follow up, none of those things had been done. We had to get a warrant and remove all the animals.

This is what we were dreading, because our centre is full to the brim. What were we going to do? There was nobody else to help so many animals at one time and the expense of taking around 50 additional animals is massive!

This is where the dogs slept

We decided that we had to do what we do and rescue them despite our worries. So, with blind faith that we will make a plan, we left with every vehicle, horse box, dog trailer and bakkie with crates that we could get hold of and arrived at the property in the late afternoon to start catching and loading animals.

It was a huge team effort by the amazing Wet Nose staff, and three horses were having colic at the same time. By 7 pm we had seven horses, two donkeys, 39 dogs, two chickens and a crate full of pigeons.

The Wet Nose vehicles

We arrived back at Wet Nose in the dark and unloaded and fed all the animals. Everyone got nice warm blankets as well. Today the task of doing all the intakes and clinical examinations is underway and making sure that every injured, sick or underweight animal is taken care off. Two of the horses still have colic and one has impaction colic. Hooves and grooming are being done on the horses and their weights are being recorded.

So, this is where we call on all of you to help us. We need volunteers to walk dogs, we need people to adopt dogs to open up kennels, we need you to attend our Pamper a Pooch days to help get these dogs washed, but most of all, we need dog food, please.

The condition of some of the dogs

If you could sponsor a kennel or a stable, that would be amazing, but whichever way you can help, we will be eternally thankful to you. To make a donation towards dog food, please make a deposit into the Wet Nose bank account: Absa, cheque account – 4076499150; Branch – 632005; reference – July rescues.