The 25th February 2025 is World Spay Day so six animal welfare organisations are aiming to make a meaningful impact in Lavender Hill. They need 1,000 hearts to save 100 lives.
Lavender Hill, South Africa (14 February 2025) – 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 animal welfare organisations step in now.
That’s exactly what’s happening on 25 February 2025. Six animal welfare organisations—Paws-a-While, Cape of Good Hope SPCA, Howlelujah Foundation, TEARS, Afripaw, and Aid4Aid—are taking a stand. They’re aiming to sterilise 180 animals in Lavender Hill in just one day, marking World Spay Day, 25th February 2025, 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.
“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” says Carolyn Dudgeon, founder of Paws-a-While, the organisation spearheading this collaboration.
“The SPCA can’t fight pet overpopulation alone—we must all step in, together”.
A Crisis That Demands Action
Last year, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA took in 23,621 unwanted and stray animals—far surpassing their worst projections.
“They’re more than numbers,” says Belinda Abraham, spokesperson for the Cape of Good Hope SPCA.
“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,” says Abraham. “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”.
This 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.
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.
A Focus on Feline Sterilisation
While five of the organisations focus on the dog population, TEARS is turning its attention exclusively to cats, pledging to sterilise at least 80 cats from the area at their own animal hospital.
With kittens able to reproduce as early as four months old, and cats producing up to 3 litters of 3-5 kittens annually, felines are notoriously prolific breeders that contribute significantly to the pet overpopulation crisis. This initiative will prevent the birth of at least 960 kittens in the next 12 months, more if males with limitless fathering capacity are targeted.
TEARS Animal Rescue Operations Manager, Mandy Store affirms that by far the biggest challenge that animal welfare organisations are faced with are 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” says Mandy.
How to Help:
Donate R100 (or more!) to the organisation of your choice—your contribution will change a life and prevent the birth of thousands of animals into circumstances of suffering and neglect.
You can find their pages below, where you can reach out for donation information.
Source: Cape of Good Hope SPCA
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