Helping the Dogs and Cats of de Doorns

Sidewalk Specials brings vet care to De Doorns.

Every two weeks, volunteer vets and nurses set up shop in Mooigezicht Estates Hall, in De Doorns, to vaccinate, sterilise and treat dogs and cats. Up to 50 animals are treated and sent home with food and medicine.

For the team at Sidewalk Specials, which manages the clinics, every dog and cat — and owner — deserves a chance.

Video produced by Ashraf Hendricks

Vera Vollgraaff, a vet with the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), has volunteered with Sidewalk Specials for years.

Continuous sterilisation is important to get an animal population under control, she says. But educating and helping pet owners also has a big impact in the community.

De Doorns is situated in the Cape Winelands.

“This is where Sidewalk Specials has absolutely changed this area…They are physically there. They are not just spaying the animals and giving them back to the owner. They are in the community, and having conversations,” said Vollgraaff.

Rachael Sylvester founded Sidewalk Specials in 2016.

Sidewalk Specials has spent about nine years building trust in a community desperately in need of veterinary care, says founder Rachael Sylvester.

The first response from the Sidewalk Specials team is not to confiscate the animal from the family, but to help the family with vet care, medicines, food, and to educate them.

Sidewalk Specials teams go around the area and pick up animals for sterilisation, vaccinations, tick and flea treatments, deworming, emergency care, and antibiotics.

On social media, the organisation has garnered thousands of followers where they frequently share emotional before-and-after videos of rescued animals and calls for donations.

GroundUp joined the team for a drive through De Doorns. At the municipal dump, the team picked up a dog with an injured paw which the team had been alerted to. The dog was put in a crate and loaded into the back of the car.

The dogs that live at the municipal dump with their owners are healthy because they have all been taken in before by Sidewalk Specials.

“All the dogs when they are sterilised get a free antibiotic course, so that clears tick-borne diseases, which they are born with, and that really makes the dog look a lot healthier, alongside sterilisation and inoculation,” said Sylvester.

Phakisi Ngxongxela felt incredibly happy after his dog was returned after being sterilised and had a check-up. He said that seeing people help animals in the community encouraged him to look after his dog.

Another dog is taken in for emergency care after being bitten by a neighbour’s dog. At the next stop, a dog suspected to have distemper, a highly contagious and potentially fatal disease, is taken back to be tested. The dog is later euthanised.

The team has to take into account the circumstances of the animals’ owners, said Sidewalk Specials volunteer Sarah-Jane Naughton. The closest vet is in Worcester and many pet owners cannot easily get there with their animal.

“It’s taken a very long time for us to develop the kind of trust we have with the community,” she said. “Most of the time the people are extremely happy to see us and grateful… they know they can phone us, and we’re going to help and not just take the animal away.”

The mini clinic is set up every two weeks.

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