By DR AMY JACKSON-MOSS
In the past few weeks alone, the SPCA has been made aware of more than six cases of people selling puppies in busy public places. It is no coincidence that there has suddenly been an increase in puppies being sold in this way and as the SPCA, we are appealing to members of the public to not buy any puppies off the street.
Members of the public have paid anything from R50 up to R1000, and an opportunity to make money through the selling of puppies has now been created in a very short space of time.
Buying puppies from people off of the street, especially for such large sums of money, simply encourages people to breed with their dogs. While we understand that people feel helpless, desperate and sorry for the puppy at the time, buying puppies creates a market and your purchase is at the expense of many other animals’ lives who will be exploited to produce more puppies that can be sold.
In some cases in other towns and cities where selling puppies on the street is rife, puppies have been sold at as early as two weeks of age as the breeders are desperate to get their money as quickly as possible. This is detrimental to any puppy’s health, as they should be with their mothers until 8 weeks of age.
The SPCA is desperately trying to encourage people to sterilise their animals through our community clinic and if it becomes known that puppies are now an easy way of making money, there will be very few dog owners who will agree to sterilisation. We ask you to please think about the long-term consequences of your actions when making one of these purchases.
Instead, please contact the SPCA on 046 622 3233 during office hours or on the emergency number 064 820 8496 after hours to report where the puppies are being sold and how many puppies there are. A member of the SPCA staff will attend to the call and encourage the people to surrender the puppies to the SPCA and arrangements will be made to sterilise the mother and father.
Animals all over our town are in desperate need of help – and not just the ones that are in the public eye. Help the SPCA to combat animal cruelty and neglect in our town through volunteering, donating (especially towards sterilisation of dogs and cats), reporting cruelty and by adopting from the SPCA when looking for a new pet to add to your family.
