After a year-long wait, Animal Rescue Outreach (ARO) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the launch of its third mobile veterinary clinic on Thursday 8 May to expand access to animal care in under-resourced communities and assist neglected animals.
Last year, the Ottery-based animal rescue organisation was appealing for funds to help cover its costs to build another clinic.
Urgent need
Head of fundraising and communications Lindsey Concer hopes the new clinic would enable ARO to support more communities by providing vaccinations and sterilisations for their animals.
Last year she said: “A third clinic is an urgent need that we identified during our recent outreach efforts in communities such as Jim se Bos, Lekkerwater, Egoli, Phumlani, Siqalo and, most recently, Smallville.”
ARO, originally known as the Voluntary Animal Rescue Organisation (VAR), was established 40 years ago, in 1986, to combat neglect and abuse of animals in the Old Crossroads area.
Team effort
The new clinic will serve the following areas: Parkwood, Pelican Park, Portland and Strandfontein.
ARO executive director Teagan Schwerin told animal-rights activists and other attendees at the launch she was excited about the new clinic “hitting the road.”
“It’s such a big achievement for Animal Rescue to complete our fleet and grow it, and this clinic will provide a major impact on the community. We’ve been working so hard as a team to make this possible. We want to highlight our mobile team that goes out every day to make a difference. We also want to thank our hospital team.”
For more information about ARO visit their website at https://www.animalrescue.org.za.
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