Giving second chances to furry friends

CUTIE PIES: Joanne Lefson, director of Oscars Arc/Woof Project, holds Robin Hood, while Chanel May, co-ordinator, holds Bob Hope at the mobile Woof centre at the Sea Point Promenade. Picture: David Ritchie

CUTIE PIES: Joanne Lefson, director of Oscars Arc/Woof Project, holds Robin Hood, while Chanel May, co-ordinator, holds Bob Hope at the mobile Woof centre at the Sea Point Promenade. Picture: David Ritchie

Published May 22, 2017

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Saving the lives of our four-legged friends, one dog at a time.

That’s the aim of the Woof Project’s initiative which seeks to save shelter dogs.

About 150 dogs roamed along the Sea Point Promenade on Sunday where the public was invited to spend the day with the furry friends.

Visitors could either play with the pups or walk the older dogs. “Our project is part of Oscars Arc which is a charity trust dedicated to inspire dog adoption. The whole concept is to take dogs from existing shelters that are really in need of a second chance and bring them out into amazing locations in the Western Cape or more specifically in Cape Town,” Joanne Lefson, director of the project, said.

It costs R1 000 to adopt a dog which includes sterilisation before being handed over to the new owners.

“We have dogs that have been sitting in our Western Cape shelters for more than four years and through this programme we are able to put them in a lovely home,” Lefson said.

Some of the dogs that they’ve taken in come from distraught backgrounds, she said.

One was Jack Nicholson, a puppy from a rural township who was taken in by Woof. A British couple visiting Cape Town fell in love with him.

He was taken in and spent three weeks with the couple at the Bay Hotel before leaving with them.

The project is driven completely by dedicated volunteers. Gael Neuhaus, who comes from Johannesburg, decided to participate in the project when she moved to Cape Town to study at UCT. “Being part of this project is so amazing, especially for me as I stay at a hostel and I’m not allowed to have any animals. So doing this makes me feel like I have these pets,” she said.

Woof Project will be taking a three-month break before launching again in September just in time for spring.

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