After many hours of organisation and more than 2,300 kilometres traveled, the Have a Heart Luderitz team of Dr. Maya, Dr. Sarah, Dr. Baines, and Geesche managed, with your very much appreciated and much needed support and the help of 8 volunteers, to change the lives of 200 animals and their owners during only three and a half days of non-stop work in Luderitz and –for the first time ever – in Bethanie!
Saturday and Sunday, 28th and 29th May, we worked at the Benguela Community Hall in Luderitz, and on 31st May and 1st June, we worked for the very first time in the Village Hall in Bethanie, a small rural settlement between Aus and Keetmanshoop. During these three and a half days, a total of 93 dogs and cats were sterilized, vaccinated and treated against parasites! This is a record for us and we are proud to help so many animals in such a short period of time.
A total of 11 dogs received medication and/or treatment for sickness, such as tick bite fever, and injuries - all of them were very sick and needed help urgently! We are so glad to have been there to assist so that the caring owners got help for their dogs!
An additional 50 puppies and “old customers” were treated against parasites and another 39 dogs were dipped against parasites. 18 dogs received a booster vaccination (all of them are of course sterilised already).
Sadly we had to put down one dog in Bethanie, she was too sick... but we are thankful that Dr. Maya was able to help her and she is not suffering anymore.
And we had a nice surprise during our Bethanie Spay Day: one “old customer” who moved from Aus to Bethanie came in for his one year vaccination booster! For us it is very important to keep our “old customers” as healthy as possible, as they should not be replaced by unsterilised and un-vaccinated animals. This is beautiful “Man” with his happy owner:
Originally only one Spay Day was planned in Bethanie but when we noticed we had to send away so many dogs and cats as we were unable to help them all in one day, Dr. Maya and Dr. Baines decided to stay an extra half day. They were able to operate and treat another 20 township dogs and cats, a clear sign how much this help is needed and wanted in Bethanie and probably most rural towns across Namibia!
As always we tried to educate as many adults and children as possible, especially about animal care. We had again been able to hand out the “PAKO” (a children educational magazine) – a first for the children in Bethanie and some of them could not believe their eyes:
Spotty is our “May before-after dog”. Spotty was brought to us for his sterilisation in April 2016 (pictures below of Spotty before and after). When we started to explain to his owner what we do and that Spotty will look much better in a few weeks time, he told us that he already knew of the advantages and that it was why he brought Spotty. We are really happy to see the impact of our work being talked about in the communities and each time we see more and more people who have seen the improvements brought about by spay and neuter for themselves.
When we started our work in Luderitz in 2014, most dog and cat owners were surprised that we also neuter males and not only spay females as “they are the ones having the babies”. We encourage neutering as it has not only countless advantages for the dog and cat itself and the owners, it also helps to preserve Namibia's Wildlife, namely the African Wild Cat! We are very happy about the fact that the number of cat neuters increased significantly in May 2016!
Thank you for working with Have a Heart to aim for the time when there are NO MORE HOMELESS AND UNWANTED Pets on Namibia's streets!
Best wishes, Geesche, Maya and Sarah Have a Heart Luderitz & Aus
