Help Needed As Animals Battle Snow at Noupoort Animal Shelter

Photo Credit: Noupoort Animal Care

As snow blankets their kennels, Noupoort’s shelter doggies urgently need more warmth.

Northern Cape, South Africa (07 May 2026) – Noupoort Animal Shelter, based in the Northern Cape, needs helpers.

Currently, the two-person team is caring for 225 dogs and cats on the property. Unfortunately, the shelter has endured days of freezing cold, wet weather. Snow has started to fall and is blanketing outdoor kennels where dogs are held.

“It was forecast that this week would be icy cold…Noupoort is well known for its low digit winters often up to October…so we call it Kouepoort.” Courtney Stassen, founder of Noupoort Animal Shelter, tells us.

Stassen’s mission in helping Noupoort’s animals began almost fifteen years ago. What started as a drive to sterilise as many animals as possible has mushroomed into a shelter that has cared for thousands over the years.

Current conditions in Noupoort are the coldest they’ve been all year. At the shelter, water bowls have frozen over, and to make it worse, the shelter is battling these conditions without any electricity.

The shelter has put out an urgent call for help. Courtney says that more blankets are needed for warmth and that kennels need to be reinforced.

“[The dogs] could do with a bit more warmth as the cold wet weather makes it impossible to ensure blankets are dry.” she says. “We are trying our best to reinforce our kennels too.”

So far, the shelter has received a few thousand rand in support, which has gone directly into more blankets and food for the animals.