Non-profit organisation Whistle and Wags Animal Friends held a fundraising event on Sunday morning at Gonubie Spar in order to raise money for much- needed pet food and healthcare supplies to distribute to animal shelters.
“Whistle and Wags Animal Friends was founded by a group of animal lovers who saw a need for a feeding programme to assist animal shelters with pet food and healthcare supplies, to enable rescue shelters to focus on their rescue efforts,” Whistle and Wags member Michelle Henning said.
Henning said their future goal was to assist families facing financial hardships, with pet food to be able to feed their pets. enable owners and pets to keep the family unit together.
“Our main objectives are to fill the bowls of rescued animals, to network for animals in need of rehoming or fostering and to promote the education of the humane treatment of animals, domestic and wild.”
Henning said they do not have kennels to house rescued animals but had , however, they have recently fostered eight puppies and their mother for a local animal welfare organisation.
“We have adopted the mother who has a loving temperament, and have named her Gypsy,” she said.
Whistle and Wags Animal Friends has also assisted Meals on Wheels, an organisation that assists in feeding people who are disabled, financially constrained and elderly people.
“We were astounded to learn that there are 50 dogs, 39 cats, two roosters and one wild bird on their [Meals on Wheels] route,” Henning said.
“As one of our goals is to assist families with pets who are in financial hardship, we made contact with them [Meals on Wheels],” Henning said.
They raised R720 through the sale of books, a raffle and monetary donations and collected a trolley full of pet food to distribute to the family pets of Meals on Wheels recipients.
“We are all animal lovers blessed with different skills and talents and personalities. We would appreciate any donations of pet food, fencing, wooden pallets, any unwanted household items, books, blankets, which we will distribute to various animal welfare organisations.
“We are on Facebook where one can follow our initiatives and fundraisers. “Our telephone number is 063-979-3431.
“We wish to thank everyone who supported us on Sunday,” said Henning.
