Colesburg doesn't have an SPCA so the community arranged a Spay-a-Thon

The Colesburg Rotary set up a massive sterilisation campaign and helped treat over 400 animals. This was done to combat the lack of an SPCA in the area.

As the town of Colesburg has no SPCA or state veterinarian, Rotarians from the small Northern Cape town took the animal welfare matters into their own hands.

“We identified a great need for the sterilisation of dogs and cats,” explained Jackie Ramsay, president of the Rotary Club of Colesburg.

The Department of Agricultural was willing to provide its facilities and staff if the club assisted with organising accommodation, meals and the necessary animal medications.

As Rotarians have run this programme for the last two years, they had a good idea of how much they would need to fund the sterilisation of 200 animals. The Rotarians undertook the project using a grant that they received from Rotary District 9370 (south-eastern South Africa and Lesotho) and funds the club raised.

More than 400 animals were either dipping against ticks and fleas and other skin conditions, vaccinated against rabies and dog flu and sterilised or spayed. Some were found to have tumours and these were treated as well.

Over the last three years, this project has grown and it soon became a community project as guesthouses donated accommodation, local veterinarians offered their services and sponsored medicines while the town’s people donated food for the visiting vets as well as the dogs that were treated.

A lot of work was done beforehand by Martie Hatting, an animal lover and retired hospital matron. Hatting helped identify the patients that needed treatment and arranged their transport, with a handler, to the surgery. All the animals needed to be documented and tagged before they could be sterilised.

A local husband and wife team of veterinarians, Drs Gavain and Charmaine Rous, supported the project and donated two days of their time to attend to the animals.

This project has been so enthusiastically embraced by the department officials as well as the Rotarians and community of Colesburg that it is planned to increase the number of days that the programme runs next year. It has also inspired other Rotary clubs in Rotary District 9370 (south-eastern South Africa and Lesotho) which are interested in replicating the project.