Animal Shelter Thanks South Africans for Aid

An animal shelter in Durban, South Africa, has extended its gratitude towards everyone who aided them during the recent violent looting.

When civil unrest broke out in the city and across the KwaZulu-Natal province in mid-July, Phoenix Animal Care and Treatment (PACT) was hit heavily. Their food stocks began to dwindle, and purchasing pet food was made all the more difficult by panic-buyers, whose activities left shop-shelves mostly empty.

With over 600 animals to care for, Neeri Naidoo – PACT’s co-founder – put out a plea on Facebook. To her delight, businesses, pet food shops and citizens as far as Cape town and Johannesburg responded to the call.

Naidoo explained in a statement: “There were trucking companies offering their services for free to people and organisations … so people started to rally together and started sending cat and dog food to the animals. We were even able to help so many smaller organisations reach food because they had no resources to get to food for their fur babies.”

On behalf of PACT – and the “fur babies” they care for – the animal activist thanked her fellow South Africans for their support: “In a time where fear gripped us, hate and despair filled our city, we were shown love, care, kindness and compassion from all people of different colours, creeds, genders and religions. We were shown humanity.”