Companion animal welfare frontline zoonotic disease prevention low income communities

Animal welfare PBOs battle to secure vital SED funding despite their investment in human welfare.

As a Level 1 B-BBEE contributor and leading Public Beneficiary Organisation (PBO) with a 23-year history, TEARS Animal Rescue doesn’t only play a rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming role for homeless and abandoned pets, but operates on the frontline of zoonotic (animal borne diseases that affect humans) disease prevention.

The impact of zoonoses on human health has been garnering more media attention since the outbreak of COVID in 2019, and more recently with the latest identified global outbreak of a viral zoonotic disease, Monkeypox, which claimed its first life in India last month. As we approach World Rabies Day on 28 September 2022, the South African Veterinary Council (SAVC) is urging pet and animal owners to vaccinate their animals against this deadly zoonotic disease ~ which is only one of many zoonotic diseases affecting and infecting human health as a direct result of not being proactively managed by responsible animal welfare protocols.

TEARS Animal Rescue is the only animal rescue organisation operating in the South Peninsula with a Veterinary Hospital and two Mobile Clinics that deliver free primary companion animal healthcare to welfare beneficiaries in the four low income communities it services. The organisation invests approximately R6M annually in the free sterilisation, vaccination and treatment of at-risk pets, which also has a direct and measurable benefit to community and human health. 

Says TEARS Head Veterinarian, Dr Tania Heuer, “Our Veterinary Outreach Programme accounts for the free and subsidised sterilisation, vaccination and treatment of almost 6000 homeless and community pets per annum, which indirectly protects the health of pet owners and the wider community, especially the aged, children and those with compromised immune systems. Other than rabies, which is deadly, the most common forms of zoonoses from companion animals that can cause mild to severe symptoms in humans include giardia (causing diarrhoea), ring worm, rabies, rickettsial infections, anaemia from intestinal worms, and scabies.”

While The South African Veterinary Council (SAVC) recognises the importance of sterilisation, vaccination and parasitic treatment protocols as a best practice approach to limit the spread of zoonoses and improve the health of people in under-resourced communities, companion animal welfare isn’t acknowledged as a development sector within the South African Socio-Economic Development (SED) landscape.

As a result, the Community Chest of the Western Cape and the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) have excluded registered animal welfare organisations from applying for funding this year. This came as a massive blow to TEARS, especially as the organisation had received a NLC Grant in 2021/22 for a Veterinary Outreach Programme that resulted in the organisation sterilising, vaccinating and treating 1000 at-risk community pets between May 2021 and April 2022.

TEARS Head of Fundraising, Lara Van Rensburg is concerned that companion animal welfare is being dangerously marginalised as more focus is being placed on humanitarian, job creation and food security needs. “The loss of an important Grant donor like the National Lotteries Commission is devastating from a funding perspective,” she says, “but it also means our human and animal welfare beneficiaries are at risk. Grant funders and Corporate Social Investment (CSI) managers need to appreciate the interconnection between domestic animal welfare, community health and environmental sustainability. Without funding for companion animal population control and disease management programmes in low income communities there will be untold negative consequences for vulnerable pets, and indirectly, for people.”

Research shows that animal welfare supports human welfare. Pets provide protection, companionship, and even reduce stress as interacting with animals has been shown to decrease levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) and lower blood pressure. A 2019 research study conducted by the University of Cape Town (UCT) on the influence of TEARS’ companion  animal welfare services in the community of Masiphumelele found that the organisation made a positive impact on human welfare in the form of economic, social, health, education and environment benefits to pet owners and the wider community.

Says Van Rensburg, “Responsible animal welfare decreases the spread of highly infectious viral diseases that are deadly to animals and have the potential to affect all unvaccinated pets, irrespective of geographic location. Animal welfare NPOs play an essential role as they operate on the frontline of the country’s poorest communities and mitigate a host of animal welfare disasters by providing preventative healthcare treatments, educating pet owners about the importance of basic hygiene around animals, pet food support, and rapid responses to outbreaks of contagious animal-based viral diseases, like Canine Parvo Virus, Distemper, Rabies and Feline Panleukopenia, that can quickly spread, and become an outbreak affecting thousands of animals.”

To find out more about TEARS Veterinary Outreach Programme please contact TEARS Head of Fundraising, Lara Van Rensburg: lara@tears.org.za / 083 326 1168; or to donate please click here:  https://tears.devman.co.za/devman/online/vetoutreach/ or visit www.tears.org.za

TEARS provides a tax deductible Corporate Social Investment vehicle that delivers an impactful and measurable Partnership designed around these three operational pillars: veterinary and healthcare, education and outreach, and rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming.

As a recognised PBO (PBO No.: 930 001 672) all donations to TEARS are tax deductible. The organisation issues tax certificates according to the rules of Section 18A of the Income Tax Act.