Compassion Education needed to reduce violence against animals
Author: riaan@wecanchange.co.za
TEARS Animal Rescue, a Pro-life NGO based in Sunnydale in Cape Town, rescues and treats approximately 1050 animals every month.
Over 400 of those cases involve deliberate acts of cruelty and/or long-term abuse in the form of short chains, malnutrition, preventable disease, and over-exposure, and includes dog fighting and incidences of bestiality.
The TEARS Mobile Clinic was called to the rescue of an Ocean View pet owner last Friday
(20 August) after she allegedly caught her mother’s 66-year-old boyfriend raping her pet dog, Jemma, on his bed. TEARS, together with the SPCA’s Animal Inspector, immediately confiscated the three-year old dog from the property, taking it back to the TEARS Veterinary Clinic where the TEARS Veterinarian on duty was able to conduct an examination and collect vital DNA evidence (a special rape kit is used for this purpose) for the case. The suspect has since been arrested and faces a charge of bestiality in the Simonstown Magistrates Court
While TEARS Animal Welfare Assistants educate pet owners in low income communities to better care for their animals, TEARS will be launching a pilot Compassion Education and Pet Care Training Programme in the impoverished settlement of Vrygrond, next month with youth aged between eight to 18 years old, in order to proactively promote positive attitudes such as compassion, empathy and respect for all life.
Says TEARS Operations Manager, Mandy Store, “There’s no denying that issues of animal abuse and deliberate acts of violence are on the increase. The impact of COVID 19 on low-income communities seems to have exacerbated the levels of violence, criminality and abuse that were prevalent before the pandemic. Animal abuse in all its forms cannot be viewed in isolation from violence against women and children. In addition, young children who are exposed to a culture of violence over a period of time can create a dangerous disassociation from the pain and suffering that victims experience, which in turn can make them more accepting of physical violence and less able to empathise. This has the potential to create long-term harm as the cycle of abuse is perpetuated by victims, who themselves become abusers.”
The number of animal abuse cases involving minors is on the increase too, with TEARS receiving reports and seeing evidence of animals having been abused and sometimes killed by children. Many of these are cats, which are injured or killed due to stoning or pellet gun injuries. The TEARS Veterinary Clinic was recently forced to remove both eyes of a female cat, Pandora, who had been found in Retreat after being shot at close range with a pellet gun. While Pandora was fortunate to survive, and has since been adopted by her rescuers, the perpetrators have never been caught.
Says TEARS Head of Fundraising Lara Van Rensburg, “Animal abuse and neglect is something that can only be countered through compassion education, pet care training and youth enrichment at a grass roots level. While the TEARS Mobile Clinic has been providing on-site education in the course of executing its rescue and treatment service in the four welfare communities we serve, we hope to secure more funding and to forge strategic partnerships with corporate sponsors to help TEARS roll-out a sustained Community Education and Training Programme that encourages kids to become “ambassadors” for animals and to start considering careers in the animal welfare sector, which will provide an alternative to gangs, drugs and violence.”
TEARS has received funding to launch a pilot Community Education and Pet Care Training Programme in Vrygrond in the second week of September. The eight-week course will be hosted by two TEARS Animal Welfare Co-ordinators and a registered TEARS Animal Behaviourist, combining curriculum based and in-the-field learning in the form of weekly educational and dog training workshops at Capricorn Primary School for children aged between eight and 18 years old. The Programme will include free sterilisations and vaccinations of dogs and cats within the area to proactively prevent the spread of infectious animal diseases and curtail illegal breeding and pet overpopulation.
Make a difference. Help TEARS extend its education mandate and reach more at-risk youth by donating to expand TEARS’ Community Education and Training Programme.