Durban - Every day for the last eight years, Durban North residents Jeanne and Edward Carbutt feed the feral cat colony – along with the chickens ‒ on the outskirts of the Beachwood Country Club.
Meeting the IOS team this week at the feeding spot, Jeanne and Edward received a warm welcome from the animals, with cats, chickens and their baby chicks, running out to the road.
Jeanne said: “Every single day we are here, come rain or shine. If we do go away, we have a friend who comes to feed them. But we only go away for a few days at a time.”
The couple feed eight cats, with two being “fussy eaters so they have special food”. Jeanne confirmed that all the cats had been sterilised.
The chicken feed was sprinkled on the ground and wild birds such as hadedas also arrived on the roof at feeding time, to eye out the feast.
Phila Mkhize, who works at the Country Club, said the couple were well-known and that the animals sometimes waited on the side of the road for their favourite people to arrive.
“They (the Carbutts) showed the love first and now these animals love them,” he said, adding that even the vervet monkeys popped in later for leftovers.
Animal rescue organisations have reported a surge in the number of abandoned and dumped cats and kittens across the city, with very few adoptions taking place.
This as families struggle with finances, while others are emigrating, as two years of the Covid pandemic squeezes finances.
This week, Durban and Coast SPCA’s Tanya Fleischer said that on some days, up to 100 cats or kittens a day were being brought in to their facility.
“There are about 1 000 cats or kittens being brought in monthly compared with last year when there were about 800 a month.
“It has been ridiculous; some days we are getting over 100 a day. This includes a lot of underage kittens which we can’t re-home. It’s very sad,” said Fleischer.
SPCA Kloof & Highway manager Barbara Patrick said: “We have experienced a dramatic increase in the number of cats, and especially kittens, being brought to our SPCA as strays, abandoned, unwanted or surrendered by their owners in the last few months.
“Sadly, we cannot home them all. Owners and some animal rescue organisations are the problem, especially when they are homing cats and kittens unsterilised and unvaccinated. This results in continuous breeding and unwanted litters which are often unhealthy and compromised sadly. We encourage all pet owners to be wise and sterilise, please do not give your pets to a ’good home’ without making sure they are safe, sterilised and vaccinated,” said Patrick.
Cats of Durban chairperson Niki Moore said: “It has been a nightmare. I have never known anything like this, it’s the worst I’ve ever seen. I can only think it is because people were not sterilising their cats during lockdown and now they are breeding out of control. We are all despondent.”
She emphasised that sterilisation was key to controlling cats in and around the city.
For more information, call SPCA Durban & Coast at 031 579 6500 or email [email protected]
SPCA Kloof & Highway: 031 764 1212 or email [email protected]
Cats of Durban: Niki at 083 758 4483 or email [email protected]
The Independent on Saturday