Battle to save thousands of animals
2002-03-19 21:07
Grahamstown - Squeak, the loyal little 14-year-old Jack
Russell photographed curled up next to the body of his murdered
master, Zimbabwean farmer Terry Ford, is only one of thousands of
animals being rescued or treated daily by a depleted unit of the Zimbabwe national SPCA led by Meryl Harrison.
South African SPCA spokesperson Christine Kuch said on Tuesday that Harrison's teams had
visited hundreds of farms since the first land invasion, rescuing
starving, injured and abandoned cats and dogs, while also educating
the land invaders about how to keep hundreds of cattle and pigs alive.
She said Squeak was now being cared for by a close woman friend of Ford's and his two border collies had been taken to the SPCA in
Chegutu where staff were trying to find them homes.
Kuch said SPCA staff saw the dog's behaviour as "a symbol of the
devotion and loyalty of dogs, even in death. It was a remarkable
demonstration of the bond and companionship between man and animals."
Harrison, who was out of cell phone range yesterday, had told
Kuch: "Squeak never left Terry's side. He went everywhere with his
owner. He was with Terry Ford when the farmer tried to leave his farm
in a vehicle."
Harrison said that after the murder "the dog would not leave the
farmer's body."
When Ford's battered body was found under a tree, the little terrier
was still at his side. The farmer had been shot in the head.
Kuch said Harrison's team was stepping up its farm-to-farm
campaign and trying to help animals caught up in the strife.
In the Featherstone district where 95 out of 100 farms had been
invaded, the Zimbabwe SPCA rescued two kittens which leapt from the
arms of two fleeing little sisters and fled into the veld two months
ago."
Their farmer dad had told them to run. An army truck had
appeared and the cats panicked and fled.
"The girls carried those kittens like security blankets."
In another case, a dog and cat survived after being locked in a house
for 18 days. The owners had left them in the care of a domestic, but
the invaders had denied her access to the farmstead.
The cat was okay, but the dog had to survive by drinking from the
toilet and ripping open a bag of dog food.
On another farm, the SPCA had tried to treat 600 pigs suffering from
mange.
Kuch said the Zimbabwe police co-operated with the SPCA which was
viewed as purely interested in animal welfare.
Animals rescued also included ducks, geese, horses and cows and
ostriches.
"The problem is that when a farm is taken over and the farmers and
workers are chased away, the people who take over do not know how to
handle, for example, a dairy herd. They are not milked or are fed the
wrong food. Meryl goes in and must play the role of an educator to
protect the animals. They also try and remove the pets."
One dog, Nandi, was found with her jaw broken and infected and badly
beaten curled up in the shower of a farmhouse that had been burned
down.
At some farms the SPCA team was turned away because Meryl was white.
Kuch said Harrison was "hardly ever at home"
"She told us of one farmer with an Afrikaans name in his 70s who said
over his dead body would he be forced to leave, and he showed her
where he had already dug his own grave. After she had persuaded him
to part with his animals, he suddenly asked if she cut hair, saying
'I want to look decent when they come'. So she gave him a haircut."
Kuch said one farmer's dog was recovered by the SPCA after the land
occupiers used it to hunt and a warthog had gored it badly.
"It was taken to the vet and is recovering."
Kuch said the work of the SPCA movement in Zimbabwe "not only
continues, but is increasing as violence continues". - ECN