LUCKILY no dogs were injured, but thousands of rands of damage was caused to two kennels at the Uitenhage & District SPCA after strong winds uprooted a huge tree.
“Like a good dog should do, Jay was asleep in his bed. That saved his life when the tree fell on the wall of his kennel,” said Deirdré Swift, vice chairperson of the Uitenhage & District SPCA.
The tree was planted in the sheep and goat section of the SPCA to provide the animals with shade in the scorching summer. This section is adjacent the kennels of stray dogs wherein Jay was kept.
According to Marion Diener, manager at the SPCA, the incident occurred at about 03:00 on Tuesday, 29 June, following strong winds in Kariega.
“When I saw the tree and damaged vibracrete slabs I thought ‘Oh my word, I hope Jay is OK. He was not in his kennel, but we found him in the yard,” said Marion. He was a bit anxious but luckily there was no way that he would have been able to escape from the SPCA grounds.”
The incident caused unforeseen expenses for the already financially restricted SPCA.
According to Gerrie Koekemoer from J&G Walls, the estimated cost to replace the damaged vibracrete slabs of the first kennel will be approximately be R4 500. Koekemoer will be sponsoring the repairs to the second kennel.
