Susan Rae Fox and the St. Francis Animal Rescue

Anyone who has spent time in St Francis has come across the St Francis Animal Rescue, whether it be at the market, on Facebook, at a fundraiser or even if you have ever driven through Sea Vista on a Thursday afternoon between 2pm and 4pm.

Susan Rae Fox is one of our very special daisies in town. She started this organization seven years ago and has achieved mind-blowing results, having touched so many lives in this community, both furry and human (we even have a four-legged daisy as part of our Dune Daisy team, Milly).

Dune Daisies couldn’t not feature this fabulous lady and the St Francis Animal Rescue.

DD: How long have you been running the St Francis Animal Rescue and where were you before coming here?

SRF: Before coming to St Francis Bay, I lived in Durban where I was Managing Director of an advertising and marketing agency. I retired to St Francis Bay with every intention of spending my time writing books and completed four, before establishing St Francis Animal Rescue in 2016. I set up this charity to do my best to help the great many neglected, starving, unsterilized dogs wandering the streets of Sea Vista

DD:We know you do so much for the dogs and cats in Sea Vista, could you tell our readers more about what the St Francis Animal Rescue does?

SRF: In 7 years, St Francis Animal Rescue has made a very significant difference in the lives of cats and dogs living in Sea Vista. We have changed the diet of the majority of cats and dogs. Where once they used to eat table scraps, bread and pap, and forage the streets, these animals now eat pellets which we subsidize and sell into Sea Vista Spaza Stores so that the food is available and affordable.

We sterilize approximately 4-6 dogs per week. Cats are also sterilized regularly, though in smaller numbers. Many are feral cats, trapped by our Cat Lady, Jodi Kruger who works tirelessly to keep St Francis Bay free of unsterilized ferals.

We have removed over 70 dogs from chains by building fences around their properties to keep them safe and stop them from roaming – a principal reason why most dogs are chained. We vaccinate 50 pups and adult dogs every month to keep them safe from life threatening diseases. We also vaccinate against Rabies and through two campaigns have vaccinated over 850 dogs to prevent the spread of this lethal disease.

St Francis Animal Rescue responds to calls for help for medical care, particularly for dogs who have been injured in car accidents, wounded through cruelty and abuse and burned. We take sick dogs and pups for medical attention and provide home visits to monitor their progress. Our welfare vet is the Humansdorp Vet Clinic where a team of caring vets and nurses help treat all dogs and puppies in need of medical help.

We regularly remove dogs and pups from neglect and cruelty and do everything possible to rehabilitate and rehome them with loving families. Over the years hundreds of dogs from Sea Vista have been rehomed throughout the Eastern Cape and even beyond into Gauteng and Cape Town. The challenges we face result from extreme poverty and lack of education. People continue to breed pups as a means of providing an income to feed families. Cruelty is rife, not only inflicted upon dogs, but children and women.

DD: What are some of the greatest challenges you face?

SRF: One of the greatest challenges we face, is to persuade people to bring their dogs indoors at night to keep them safe and to develop a stronger bond with the family. Dogs left outside are at the mercy of the weather and are often stabbed or hurt by drug users and drunkards coming home late from the taverns.

The way we overcome this challenge is to regularly bath and groom dogs to keep them clean and treat them for fleas and ticks. Once clean and brushed, it is much easier to persuade owners to bring their dogs inside at night. Each dog is given a blanket to sleep on, once they are indoors.

Another challenge is to prevent an influx of puppies and adult dogs coming in from Humansdorp, JBay, PE etc. Our sterilization program is seriously compromised by people bringing pups and dogs from outside areas, so that our numbers of breeding dogs continue to grow, no matter how many we spay and neuter. Some of these from PE etc, are pedigree breeds like Huskies, Boerboels, Jack Russells and Border Collies. None of these breeds do well in Sea Vista and it becomes our problem to do our best to sterilize them so that they cannot breed.

DD: How can locals get involved (what kind of volunteer opportunities are there)?

SRF: In terms of Volunteer opportunities, St Francis Animal Rescue is always looking for new animal lovers to join our team.

We run an outreach every Thursday afternoon (2pm-4pm), where we feed, vaccinate, spray pups and adult dogs for fleas and ticks and deworm all puppies.

• We vaccinate pups on the first Thursday of every month and provide basic wound care for cuts, burns, bites and ear and eye problems.
• We regularly treat and heal dogs with mange problems.
• Pups and adult dogs are bathed and groomed at our bath station.

Volunteers are always needed at our outreaches.

We have a team of transporters who take dogs from a specific pickup point every Wednesday and Thursday to the SPCA Assisi in Humansdorp, to be sterilized. Transporters are invaluable though they need to have a spacious vehicle to transport dogs in crates, two per car.

Our fundraising team is also in need of volunteers. We work together to devise ways and means to raise funds to support our charity and ensure it’s sustainability.

This is one of the greatest challenges we face and it is difficult to continually raise funds in a small village with many people suffering from donor fatigue.