World, meet Joy the Ottery stray that had social media abuzz with sightings; the public played a vital role in capturing this poor lady.
Cape Town, South Africa (05 February 2021) – Joy has become a famous pooch, causing many a good-hearted animal lover to panic in attempting to rescue her. Thankfully, the Animal Welfare Society of SA (AWSSA) was up for the job of tracking her and trapping her.
Sadly the city of Cape Town has a big problem with dumped and feral animals which has exploded in the last few years. In 2011, the stray dog population totalled at least 230 000. It is scary to think so many animals are left to fend for themselves.
“The only real hope for these unfortunate animals rests with good Samaritans and overburdened animal welfare organisations with an open-door admissions policy and a team willing to go the extra mile – like ourselves.
A quick flip through our records reveals the true scale of the tragedy and enormity of suffering happening in our neighbourhoods.
There is barely a day that goes by without us responding to the plight of a sick or injured stray, homeless or feral animal.” – AWSSA
Over the past few weeks, social media has been abuzz following several sightings and attempts to catch an elusive stray dog seen wandering the busy streets of Ottery for a long time.
“Thankfully a local couple Tony and Edith Van Der Rheede took pity on the dog and began to feed her every evening – slowly building up her trust until a humane trap could be set to catch her.
Late yesterday evening thanks to an amazing team effort, loads of perseverance and patience we managed to tempt her into the trap and catch her.
Everyone involved with her rescue was relieved and elated to know that she was finally off the streets and out of harm’s way.
Since her arrival late last night she has been checked by our Veterinary team, who discovered that besides suffering from a nasty ear infection, tick-bite fever and being slightly under-weight she is also pregnant. Word has spread that she is now in our care and she is being showered with love and well-wishes from everyone who has been following her intrepid journey.
Tears of joy have flowed since her admission so when it came to deciding on an appropriate name Joy seemed like the obvious choice.”
Joy is going to be monitored in their hospital unit for the next few days while she rebuilds her strength and recovers from her ailments. Her hospital stay and recovery thereafter are going to be expensive, so AWS has set up a Payfast option for those wanting to contribute towards her care.
“We know that you will agree that she is worth every single Cent and we are hoping that we can count on you to help us cover some of the costs until we are able to find her a loving forever home.”
For your convenience, please send your gift to us using Payfast here and kindly reference your gift JOY.
Please feel free to add a little get well message that we will print and attach to her enclosure for anyone who visits her to read.
“We would also like to thank our colleagues at TEARS for the loan of their trap.”
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