Charity organisation Giving Is Living aims to support dog lovers in townships by improving the living conditions of their pets. Picture: Supplied
Cape Town - Dogs in townships which are chained and kept in appalling conditions have upset volunteers at an animal charity.

Giving is Living (Gil) aims to support owners in townships and improve the living conditions of these animals. The organisation provides support to animal charities globally.

Gil and the Purple Kennels organisation discovered a large number of dogs which had been chained, while working in communities where they provided 100 kennels.

Founder of Gil, Sioni Mavani-Puri said: “It’s important because so many dogs are chained up. We were never aware of just how bad it was, but actually seeing it during our kennel deliveries opened our eyes to the severity of the situation. It’s important in South Africa because there are a lot of communities with low-cost housing who need to be educated on the negative effects of chaining up their dogs.

“Many of these owners do have genuine love for their dogs. The problem with regards to the chaining is it is often done as a last resort. Many of the houses in the rural areas do not have fences and therefore dogs that are not chained are often stolen.”

Allan Perrins, head of communications and resource development at the Animal Welfare Society of SA, said: “We have rescued dogs with collars embedded in their necks that have been unable to access any form of shelter, food and their water bowls.

“Dogs enjoy freedom to run around and will often go to extreme lengths to break free and in the process injure or even strangle themselves to death.”

Belinda Abraham, spokesperson for the Cape of Good Hope SPCA said: “We see so many dogs admitted to the SPCA who are broken in spirit and in body as a result of chaining.

“All dogs should be free to express their natural behaviour and to be free from the suffering that chaining brings. Some owners don’t know that this is wrong and some believe that they are chaining their dogs up in the interests of their own protection.”

Gil aims to help dogs - and their owners - which are found in these circumstances in townships by putting up fences around the yards of these houses. They encourage the public to share unwanted materials to use for the building of the fencing.

If the public would like to get involved with this project, visit www.givingisliving.co.za or e-mail [email protected]

@Sukainaish

[email protected]

Cape Argus