The Transkei Animal Welfare Initiative (TAWI) helps animals out in remote rural areas thanks to the dedicated support of vets that donate their time.
Eastern Cape, South Africa (31 July 2023) – “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” Mahatma Gandhi
Life in the impoverished rural areas of the Eastern Cape is harsh for humans. For animals, it is tragic. Small settlements are scattered about the hillsides and grasslands, most of which are linked only by rutted dirt roads and paths. Access to any services is almost impossible due to lack of infrastructure. The unemployment rate is high. Most people can barely feed themselves, so sharing what little they have with the ever-growing number of new puppies is challenging.
Thankfully, there are people who go the extra mile to make a huge effort to improve the lives of animals by providing much-needed treatments and animal welfare education. Non-profit grassroots organisation, the Transkei Animal Welfare Initiative (TAWI) was established in 2008 to provide surgeries, wound care, medication, rabies vaccinations and sterilisation to rural dogs and cats.
Four to six times a year – depending on donations – TAWI goes to great lengths to take veterinary care to the animals. TAWI employs two full-time community liaison officers at its base in the Nenga State Forest Reserve, Agate Terrace, Port St Johns – Zolile Makhayakude and Mawethu Isaac Kunyu. They provide basic services such as wound care and animal welfare education. They are also responsible for organising the weekend-long community outreach programmes at various locations deep in the bush that are conducted by volunteer vets and their teams. These selfless ‘animal angels’ work 14 hours a day on average, performing hundreds of surgeries under very rough conditions.
“Veterinary care in rural areas of South Africa is most often non-existent,” says TAWI Project Coordinator and Treasurer, Linda Livesey.
“It doesn’t matter if all that is needed is a simple deworm tablet or a complex amputation, it is usually impossible for most rural dogs. It is heartbreaking to see so many suffering, mangy dogs – many with untreated wounds – and desperately thin puppies riddled with worms. The nearest vet is over 100 km from most residents, and unaffordable to unemployed people living on government grants.
“When we plan a sterilisation campaign we make the most of the opportunity because it is something quite rare and special for dogs and cats. Services are donated by private and state veterinarians, but the cost of the drugs needed for these campaigns is huge.”
Dr Dave Watson – who runs a practice in Port Edward on the KZN lower south coast – is one of the few Vets willing to do clinics in this area. He and his wife Julia have been stalwarts on the TAWI team since 2011.
“We have a team of nine people – two Veterinarians, one animal health technician, two animal handlers, two recovery personnel and two animal liaison staff who organize and catch animals in an area,” explains Watson
“We travel 600 to 800 km for each outreach which takes place over two to three days. Sufficient funds need to be raised to cover our cost so locals only have to make a donation if they are able to afford it. Success of sterilisations is slowly becoming more apparent in the health of animals in the area due to less stress of persistent litters. Most locals support our clinics and are grateful for our services as there are no private or government vets available to them.”
On the weekend of July 26 and 27, 2023, the team travelled to Mboyti village. Dr Dave Watson and Dr Lee Pachonick of the Midmar Veterinary Clinic – another invaluable member of the dedicated team, whose support has been crucial in the last few years due to restrictive rule changes by the South African Veterinary Council – sterilized 53 dogs and 19 cats including six tiny puppies and a few kittens.
Dr Dave Watson
Dr Lee Pachonick
Julia Watson shares the love
Where there's a will there's a way. Julia Watson stands in.
“To say ‘thank you’ to these vets is simply not enough,” says Livesey. “Sadly, few vets are prepared to travel so far to help those less fortunate. Much respect to you both for what you do!”
Although the vets donate their time and the community donates accommodation, these outreach programmes are very expensive. Anaesthesia, drugs, antibiotics, vaccines, bandages, antiseptics, ointments, stitches, disposable gloves, needles, syringes, disinfectant, nutritional supplements etc are provided for hundreds of dogs at a time. The average cost of sterilising a dog is R500.
TAWI receives no funding from Government and relies entirely on donations from individuals both locally and abroad.
There is a desperate need to expand TAWIs outreach to enable it to treat more animals and more funds are urgently required to increase the frequency of these outreach programmes.
If you can help, please contact TAWI at tawi.info@gmail.com or visit the Facebook page here.
by 