Cape Town - Five dogs who were rescued from the meat trade in Cambodia last week, were released from quarantine on Friday. And now they are looking for their “furever” home.
Four Paws South Africa, in collaboration with TEARS Animal Rescue facilitated cross-border adoption campaign, joined forces in the rescue of the mutts.
Gamora, Shadow, Falcon, Drax and Maximoff were among 61 dogs that were rescued from the meat trade and arrived in Cape Town on Valentine’s Day with the hope of finding their “furever” homes via the TEARS Adoption Team.
In February 2021, a minivan carrying 61 dogs was intercepted en route to a Cambodian slaughterhouse by the local authorities after a law was passed in July 2020 in the city of Siem Reap banning the dog meat trade.
The ban followed Four Paws working closely with the Cambodian government since 2018 to stop and ban the dog meat trade due to the extreme animal cruelty involved and public health risk, largely due to rabies and the spread of other zoonotic diseases.
Four Paw’s Dog and Cat Meat Trade Report was cited in the official announcement by the Cambodian government.
Fiona Miles, Four Paws director in South Africa, said: “In Southeast Asia, stray dogs and cats as well as family pet animals live in constant risk of being picked up by meat traders and killed. The dog and cat meat trade is not prevalent in South Africa on the scale that is seen elsewhere but several reports indicate that this cruelty is practiced in some regions on the continent.
“It is very active in Southeast Asia in countries like Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam. These five dogs are ambassadors for dogs who remain in those circumstances, and for other dogs in South Africa and globally that are subjected to cruelty. Four Paws remains committed to implementing humane and sustainable dog and cat population management programmes in South Africa where we support communities and partners to participate in our stray animal management solutions.”
The five dogs were chirpy and joyful as they greeted the media in a special release from quarantine that took place at the Animal Quarantine Station in Milnerton.
Bertha Moteane, campaigns officer for Four Paws, said: “We’ve just successfully delivered our dogs from Cambodia to our shelter at TEARS.
The dogs are settling in. They successfully finished and completed their quarantine and they’ve been given a clear on their health.
She said they would now focus on socialising the dogs before they try to find them homes.
“They’re excited, they’ve been given such a beautiful kennel here at TEARS and we are truly thankful and happy with the partnership that we have with TEARS and their support. We will work hard to try and end the dog and cat meat trade in Southeast Asia and other places in the world.”
venecia.valentine@inl.co.za