The rescue haven for abused and neglected animals, Fallen Angels, has come up with a new way to encourage people to adopt dogs and cats at the shelter and so free up space for other animals in need.
When Tabletalk last visited Fallen Angels, on a small holding just past Melkbosstrand, it had only been open a few months and had around 100 full-grown dogs and puppies and almost 30 cats (“There’s a lot of cruelty out there,” Tabletalk, January 14 2015). Now the furry family has grown to 276 dogs and 60 cats. The few kennels and enclosures have more than doubled in size and so have Fallen Angels’ needs.
Shireen Williams, who founded Fallen Angels with her business partner Gayl Basson, said that a few months ago they had had 320 dogs and could not cope.
“There’s no point in rescuing animals and you can’t take care of them properly,” she said.
They started an aggressive adoption drive to reduce the number of dogs in their care. It was during this time that staffer Charmaine Curtis came up with the idea for the 365 programme.
Ms Curtis explained that one year has 365 days – more or less the same number of dogs at Fallen Angels.
“If one person can sponsor one dog or cat and network them and try to get them adopted it would open up much-needed space for other abused and neglected animals. With the number of followers Fallen Angels has on Facebook it’s not an unrealistic goal to achieve,” said Ms Curtis.
Pictures of the dogs will be available on the Fallen Angels Facebook page along with their name, age and personality traits.
Ms Williams said they also specified whether the animals had been spayed or neutered by saying “girly op” or “gents op”.
Those interested in becoming a “365er” can fill out a tick sheet available on the Facebook page.
Ms Williams said that through social media and interactive visits and playdates, people could connect to their chosen 365 candidate.
“They will have a personal investment in trying to help them find their forever home,” she said.
Ms Williams said they were targeting schools to help with their 365 programme as part of pupils’ community services programmes.
“For these animals, Fallen Angels is a better place than where they were, but this is not a life for them. My wish is for every one of these dogs and cats to find their forever home so they can start living their lives,” said Ms Williams.
* Fallen Angels will hold a golf day charity event at the Milnerton Golf Club on Friday September 30. They are looking for prizes for golfers and 120 promotional type gifts for goodie bags. Four balls cost R1 800 . Contact kay@fallenangels.org.za for more information.