If ever there was a story that confirms the need for our education programme, this is it. The secretary of a Malvern vet phoned the Inspectorate to say that for a week they had had a kitten with four severely burnt paws and legs and were treating it for serious burns. It had been brought in by its distressed owner, Peaceful, who lives in Umlazi and works at Checkers. Two children (aged seven and ten) had thrown the little creature onto a fire “for fun”.

Apparently, one of the children had demurred, but the other had gone ahead and hurled the kitten into the flames. It was able to scramble out immediately, but not before it was seriously burnt. The kitten’s owner arrived and put out the fire with a blanket and immediately took the kitten to the vet. Jacqui decided that this was a case for the Children’s Court, as the age of the perpetrators would then be taken into account.  

  
The children were called to the Court with their parents. They were living in a squatter section of Umlazi, and it was clear that part of the problem was ignorance, because they didn’t seem to think anything was much wrong. Ignorance is a serious problem in animal care… ignorance about animal sentience… ignorance about the need to treat all living creatures kindly.

The magistrate ruled that the parents should pay for the kitten’s treatment, and that children and parents should go to counselling twice a week. Fortunately, one of the vet’s clients generously paid half the costs. The owner took the kitten home to avoid further costs, but took it back regularly for dressings to be changed.

But the story doesn’t end there. There is a bigger picture. Our inspectors are very keen about the education side of their traumatic jobs. They unfailingly explain, educate and try to understand, rather than judge. Education is a vital part of their work.

Jacqui points to the tremendous amount of ignorance about animals, especially in very poor areas, although there are people who take the best care they can of their pets. Jacqui and John Xolo (now lost to us, as he moved to a better-paying job and is a great loss to the Inspectorate) went to see the headmaster of the school that the children attended. There are 1800 children at the school, many of them barefoot and in worn clothing.

Our inspectors talked to the whole school at an assembly called by the headmaster and told them about animals and how they should be treated.
   The headmaster of the school was clearly a strict principal, which is good to see these days when laxness is likely to be more common. After the talk, during which Jacqui had given the SPCA address and phone number, he asked the children to repeat the number. There was a cacophony of voices as the number was repeated. He then made them repeat it six times!

As Inspector Cyprian often says: “Thousands of dogs could be saved in the townships and informal settlements if enough people and schoolkids could be talked to and if enough simply worded flyers could be left with them to help educate them”.  

All the inspectors agree on this, and they are the ones who are out there facing up to the problems and trying to save animal lives. Educating the vast number of people out there is a problem that requires a huge contingent of dedicated people, but, with our limited resources, we are really trying, because it is so important to us.  And – as Laura says in her work in the SPCA Humane Education Project – when ignorance is replaced by clear and simple information and an awareness of how animals feel, children are often amazed and immediately say they will behave differently towards animals in future. Some of them won’t, but our feeling is that a lot of them will.    .... more reports »