Animal Talk

Text: Mientjie Kleinhans

animal hero

DOGTA LK

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escuing animals and taking care of

them has always been synonymous

with Linda Scrace, shelter manager

at Friends of Rescued Animals (FORA).

As a child, she spent hours with animals

and today shelter work is part of who she

is. She works hard for the animals at the

shelter and she was recently nominated

by enough readers to win the Animaltalk

Top Dog Animal Hero award sponsored

by Family Pet Centre.

“I was born with a love for animals and I

drove my parents crazy while trying to look

after animals. It didn’t matter whether it was a

dog, cat, bird, snake, frog, horse or an insect, I

was enthralled. To this day, I am still in awe of

Mother Nature and her creations,” says Linda.

Shelter work

Linda has been rescuing animals her entire

life. As a youngster, she rode out on her pony

and found all the lost souls. “I would find

baby birds, kittens and puppies and take them

home in my tog bag. By the age of 15 my father

jokingly said: ‘no more’ and threatened to send

me to the SPCA,” tells Linda.

She remembers how her mother used to call

her the Pied Piper. When her mother looked

out of the kitchen window, she would see

a string of animals following Linda around

the plot.

Fast forward a couple of years and Anneke

van Zyl, the chairperson of FORA, contacted

Linda in 2013 to ask her to assist the shelter

with getting back on its feet and on the right

track again. Due to her vast experience in the

animal world Linda accepted the challenge in

that December. “Five years later and I cannot

imagine myself doing anything else. I prefer

being in the company of animals and not

people,” says Linda.

Biggest challenges

Linda says that the biggest challenge working

at a shelter is people. “If I say people, it means

that 99% of animals at FORA are there as

a result of irresponsible animal ownership.

People don’t sterilise their pets, causing

unwanted litters of kittens and puppies. They

also don’t vaccinate and then don’t want to pay

for treatment when the animal gets sick. Also,

people move and then their animals become

the first disposable item.

“I believe in educating people, but some

people just don’t want to be educated,”

exclaims Linda.

She adds that the general public are clueless

as to how high the numbers of unwanted

animals are. “It is absolutely scary. If we

‘threw’ our doors open, we would double the

number of animals we home within a few

weeks. We cannot do this. Apart from the

lack of space, funds and staff, overcrowding

leads to poor quality of life for existing animals

and the beginning of a hoarding situation,”

explains Linda.

Another big challenge is finding funds to

give quality care to the 500 animals in the

shelter in the form of vaccinations, deworming,

sterilisations, external parasite control, good

food, microchipping, vet bills, and rent, water,

electricity, staff wages and so much more.

“We rely solely on the goodwill of the public,

donations and fundraisers. We don’t have big

corporate backing or government funding.

Raising enough money to keep our doors open

is a mammoth task,” says Linda.

Her dream

“If I had all the money in the world, I would

buy the property we are on and invest in

bigger, better runs or I would buy another

property and build a new and better shelter

with bigger runs. I believe that a shelter should

own the ground so that any building and

alterations will not be lost.

“Apart from the top-class shelter, I will also

provide the best care and food, and I will

buy a sturdy vehicle for the shelter. I will also

embark on sterilisation campaigns. SPCAs are

faced with putting thousands upon thousands

of animals to sleep every month as they are

taking in too many animals and then go way

over their capacity,” says Linda.

She adds that there are just not enough

homes for all the unwanted animals and the

public is not aware that the numbers are as

high as they are. “The only way to curb the

numbers of unwanted animals is going to be

through sterilisations.”

Lastly, Linda wants to help Community

Led Animal Welfare (CLAW) with funds for

their full-time vet on site and to improve their

hospital facilities.

Linda Scrace,

our animal hero

Living to rescue animals

I believe in educating people,

but some people just don’t

want to be educated.