The Cape of Good Hope Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has seized 41 dogs in two yards.

The organisation described the situation as a crisis that cannot be ignored.

Belinda Abraham said they want to educate pet owners on the need to sterilise their pets.

“Six animal welfare organisations unite to sterilise 180 pets in just one day.

“Lavender Hill, Cape Town – 41 dogs – 32 of them puppies, crammed into two small yards is what rescue group Aid4Aid recently discovered in the area. That’s not just a heart-breaking statistic — it’s a flashing red warning light. This is what happens when sterilisation doesn’t happen. This is the brutal reality of unchecked breeding.

“In one yard, four unsterilised females and one male produced 17 puppies. In the next, three unsterilised females and one male produced another 15 puppies. And these numbers will keep multiplying unless we step in now.”

Abraham said on 25 February, six animal welfare organisations — Paws-a-While, Cape of Good Hope SPCA, Howlelujah Foundation, TEARS, AfriPaw, and Aid4Aid—are taking a stand.

“We’re aiming to sterilise 180 animals in Lavender Hill in just one day, marking World Spay Day, with real, tangible impact.

“This effort was inspired by the SPCA’s We Step In campaign, a relentless drive to break the cycle of suffering by preventing thousands of unwanted animals from being born into neglect, abandonment, and cruelty.”

Carolyn Dudgeon, founder of Paws-a-While, the organisation spearheading this collaboration, said: “The SPCA’s ‘We Step In’ campaign inspired me to unite the animal welfare movement in the same way I do for pet adoption drives. The SPCA can’t fight pet overpopulation alone — we must all step in, together.”

She said last year, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA took in 23 621 unwanted and stray animals — far surpassing their worst projections.

“Every one of these animals was once wanted until they weren’t. And when that happens, they have nowhere else to go but to us. We see an average of 65 animals a day arriving at our doors, and the cycle is endless — unless we step in and stop it where it starts.”

Considering the Lavender Hill scenario: one unsterilised female dog and her offspring can produce 67 000 puppies in just six years.

“Four females and one male? That’s at least 60 puppies every year — from just one yard.

Three females and a male in the next yard? Another 45 puppies, year after year.

“We are in the midst of a pet overpopulation crisis. Rescue without sterilisation is not a solution — it’s a temporary fix that ignores the root of the problem. Any animal rescue organisation neglecting sterilisation is not part of the solution, they are enabling the crisis.”

Abraham said the lifesaving effort comes at a cost. And the organisations need 1 000 hearts to save 100 lives.

“R100 may not seem like much — but if 1 000 people each give R100, we can change the future for these animals. R1 000 sterilises one pet — and prevents the birth of thousands more.

“One mother dog sterilised means generations of suffering prevented. On 25 February, the Levana Primary School Hall in Lavender Hill will be transformed into a field hospital, where 100 dogs will be sterilised, receive parasite treatments, collars, name tags, and food to support their recovery.”

TEARS Animal Rescue Operations Manager, Mandy Store, affirmed that by far, the biggest challenge that animal welfare organisations are faced with is the increasingly high number of homeless, sick, neglected, and abused animals that need to be rescued, treated, rehabilitated, and rehomed as a direct result of animal over-population and uncontrolled breeding.

“The only way to mitigate the ongoing animal welfare and indirect community health issues related to animal over-population in the Western Cape is to fund mass sterilisation and vaccination programmes in tandem with pet care education.”

mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za