30+ dogs taken from Pta house
2009-10-23 15:31
Pretoria - The sound of 44 dogs barking in panic disturbed the quiet street in Valhalla outside Pretoria on Friday when metro police and SPCA officials arrived to take them away from the residential home.
Maria Phelan - the owner of the house - pleaded with officials not to take her "children" away local government had received complaints that the dogs and their 24 feline companions were a nuisance.
"They’re four-legged, but they are my children. I've had up to 55 [dogs] here. I cannot end their lives with a lethal injection to the arm," she said adding that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals (SPCA) often euthanised dogs.
Many of the dogs lived in the house and Phelan said 14 slept in her bed with "my husband".
Animal Ambulance
It took officials almost two hours to gather 32 dogs and 20 cats, before leaving the Phelan's home where she and her husband John run the Animal Ambulance.
The Phelans were allowed to keep three dogs and three cats while concerned neighbours offered to adopt the rest.
Inside the house which smelled heavily of pet hair, Phelan burst into tears when she saw her little dog Cheats being taken away.
"They can't do this please," she pleaded with reporters.
"They are taking away my boy."
Shortly after, Phelan's daughter rushed outside to the large cattery crying and calling for her cat.
She sat on the ground sobbing and holding her cat while officials continued their task.
Belonging to residents
Her father, John, took photographs of the scene unfolding saying: "If you can take pictures so can I."
Phelan explained that some of the animals belonged to residents in the area who used the Animal Ambulance's service to look after their pets and ferry them to and from the vet when they were unable to.
The Phelan's home business started in 2002 when they began to care for abused and injured animals.
They also attend shows where they sell home-made merchandise to raise funds to feed the animals in their care who all look well-fed.
Tshwane Community Safety spokesperson Console Tleane said the SPCA and a senior city official had visited the Phelans and advised them that keeping so many animals was against health regulations and bylaws as the home was not zoned for so many pets.
The couple were fined R6 500 for five offences including waste management resulting in the "stench" and the many animals which had caused a "nuisance".
"It's not necessarily to be rude or to punish the owner, it is for the welfare of the animals," he said.
Tleane said the animals would be taken to a number of SPCA pounds in the area where they would be assessed by veterinary surgeons.
"No animal will be put down, not unless on the advice of a vet."
Appealed for funds
In an e-mail later sent to Sapa from a member of the Community Policing Forum (CPF) who was at the scene of the raid, Phelan appealed to residents to help with funds.
Dated November last year Maria Phelan writes: "The Animal Ambulance might be closing down at the end of the month due to no funds unless we can get your help."
She explains that she sold her home in 2003 to try to make ends meet but those funds had been depleted.
"Last year we made a loan of R50 000 to keep us going as bills have to be paid on a monthly basis.
"We are still paying this loan off on a monthly bases and the bank wont loan us more.
"To feed the animals in the 13 townships we need around 80 bags of dog food every month this excludes the blankets and Front Line [animal spray] and the petrol to get to these townships.
"For those of you that know me and the work that Animal Ambulance does I'm hoping you would be able to help us to continue our work as my life revolves around these poor animals," she said.
'We are moving'
Phelan pleaded with a health inspector earlier on Friday: "We are moving to a plot as we speak. We are moving this week!"
However, the inspector told her that even on a six acre plot, she was not zoned to keep so many pets.
Neighbours said they had never found the animals to be a nuisance and nor were they living in bad conditions.
"I live on the corner and I've never heard a dog bark," said an elderly woman who was later seen leaving the house with cats and pet food.
"They’re fat, they eat enough, they go to the parlour every month."
Antoinette van Rooyen, a resident a block away, said she had heard dogs barking but it was only on Friday that she realised it had been emanating from Phelan's home.
"I hear howling and chunking, it's an every morning scenario. It must be coming from here, I don't know."
Traumatising animals
However, Van Rooyen disagreed with the manner in which the animals were being taken away.
"I love animals. It's traumatising the animals in the way it's done."
Another resident and member of the CPF said he felt the Phelans were "doing a good thing".
"I feel instead of the SPCA climbing in to help those people they're actually taking the animals away. They’ve put everything they’ve got into caring for those animals."
The Phelans might be able to get their animals back but only once certain regulations are put in place and permission has been given.
- SAPA