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Dear Members and Supporters,
There have been two significant improvements at KAWS in July: the building of new night shelters in our dog runs and the appointment of a veterinary nurse to help manage the load in our clinic and hospital.
At the beginning of the month KAWS benefited from the expertise and generosity of Dr Olaf Fischer, a visitor from Germany with a wealth of international experience in the rehabilitation of rescue dogs. Dr Fischer helped gentle some of our wilder new dogs, and gave our dog walker volunteers some excellent tips.
In addition, his generous financial donation meant that we could start building night shelters for our adoption dogs to shield them from the driving rain and bitter cold. Thank you Olaf, and thank you also to Fechters Sawmill for donating the materials for the first shelter. These shelters have made a big difference to our adoption dogs’ quality of life.
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NURSE JACKIE: We are delighted to announce that from beginning of August the KAWS clinic and hospital have a veterinary nurse as part of our team – a warm welcome to Jackie MacFadyen, all the way from Gauteng. Jackie has many years of experience, particularly in welfare, and will make a great difference to the number of animals we are able to assist with medical care as well as increasing the number of animals we are able to sterilise.
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Although it looks like we won’t be able to do the proposed mass sterilisation later this month (yes it’s Covid again), thanks to a generous donation from KAWS Chairperson Cobri Vermeulen, our new surgery now boasts two operating tables. Our surgical team demonstrated last month that two vets can operate simultaneously, which with the inclusion of our veterinary nurse, will increase the number of sterilisations achieved.
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This is an important step towards our goal of sterilising animals as a top priority. The only solution to reducing the numbers of unwanted and neglected animals is by being proactive and sterilising more. As you know, for every animal we sterilise, we not only improve his or her life, but there are also many generations of animals that remain unborn and therefore do not have to suffer from hunger, neglect or active abuse.
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September marks the month when, 70 years ago, the people of Knysna and Plettenberg Bay established a society to end the cycle of breeding, starvation and neglect. How far we have come, and how much we still have to achieve.
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To celebrate KAWS’s 70th anniversary
we are launching the
KAWS 101 Club
where we all contribute a little - to HELP A LOT!
If each of our newsletter readers donates a small monthly commitment of just R101 we will be able to cover the costs of running our clinic and hospital each month. Your monthly contribution will give us a steady income that we can count on in these times when COVID-19 has put an end to our regular fundraising activities.
If we can count on your regular donation it will make it easier for us buy medical supplies to treat animals whose owners are not able afford veterinary fees.
You’ll also gain automatic membership of KAWS and enjoy the knowledge that you’re making a key contribution to saving lives and ending the suffering.
To join, simply set up a repeat EFT for a full year on your internet banking, using your full name as a reference. Otherwise, if you’d prefer to use a debit order, please email kawsbookkeeper@gmail.com to request a debit order form for the KAWS 101 Club. We’ll gladly send you a tax certificate, too, at your request. Obviously the amount is up to you - R101, R202, R303, or any multiple of R101 per month!
OUR BANKING DETAILS:
Knysna Animal Welfare Society
Bank: FNB
Account number: 527-000-33-146
Branch code: 210-214 (Knysna)
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KAWS IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN NEEDY COMMUNITIES
When our inspectors drop off animals sterilised through our Sterilisation project (or “Sponsor spays”, paid for by you), we support owners by adding some food for the dog or cat, and if the dogs have no other shelter, they may also get a kennel.
These sterilised cats were delivered back home with some cat food, much to the delight of their young owners.
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Above left: Two sponsor spays in their new kennel, waiting to have their stitches removed
Above Right: The sterilisation and food will make a big difference in this dog’s life
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Some of you gave us donations specifically for treating dogs with mange, after we told you the difference that even a single tablet can make, to free a dog from this crippling condition. You can see the impact the treatment made in the before and after photos above and below:
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THANK YOU!
Thank you on behalf of these animals for supporting the Sterilisation, Kennel and Mange Treatment projects. These projects, along with the Unchain the Dog project, are making an enormous difference to the animals in our communities. If you can, please continue to support them by making donations towards each project.
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COVID-19 HITS KAWS
July has been an eventful month at KAWS. The most recent thriller was when 2 kennel staff members went “man down” with COVID-19, while our vet was on her well-deserved annual leave for 2 weeks… Fortunately the proactive acting managers had just divided the kennel staff into 2 COVID-prepared teams – one team on duty, the other safely on standby at home. Everything at the kennels was sanitised, and that team was sent home.
The back-up team at the kennels and in the clinic rose to the challenge and did a fantastic job holding the fort, taking care of the office, all the adoption animals, as well as the clinic and hospital patients. Then the charity shop had a positive test with COVID-19 too, which meant that the KAWS shop had to close for the quarantine period.
Mercifully, all our staff have recovered and can resume work, although we’ll stick to the split teams at the kennels for a while more, for the sake of everyone’s safety.
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It's been an adventurous month...
Thank you for your continued support. Times are rough; we know it’s not easy. Know that we are committed to providing the best possible care, on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.
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