Nelson Mandela Bay made history on Sunday as the first mass sterilisation of dogs funded by the metro took place.
The municipality approved a budget of a quarter of a million rand to sterilise dogs in an attempt to curb the ever growing population of dogs in the city.
Beneficiaries are dog owners from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is in keeping with municipal by-laws in the city that state it is illegal to keep a dog that has not been sterilised.
Vets from around the Eastern Cape prepared to put hundreds of dogs under the knife. 200 dogs were sterilised with a further 480 set to follow.
Animal Welfare Society in Port Elizabeth drove the project.
Dog loving owners who, could previously not afford the procedure, welcomed the effort.
They made all sort of contingency plans, like putting them in wheelbarrows, to get their drowsy pets home after the operation.
Dog Owner Gcumani Mncam says: “We don’t have this type of facility in our community so it’s a big help to us.”
The municipality aims to approve more funding in the next two years so this project can be sustainable.
But for now, it’s the mayor who is proving to be man’s best friend.
Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Athol Trollip says: “I know it costs a lot of money for a person to have an animal sterilised. Well over a R1000. Many people cannot afford that in the city. They have different diseases, all sorts of diseases. So we will find more money for this initiative to assist people who love their animals so to keep control of the number in the city. ”
Organisers are hoping the message will spread that it is illegal to keep an unsterilised dog in the Nelson Mandela Metro area.
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