By ZARA KANU
CITY residents turned up with their dogs for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) annual paws walk yesterday.
The purpose of the walk was to create awareness on what RSPA does, the welfare of the animals and the services currently available to animals.
RSPCA president Seema Dasi-Raju said that when one decides to adopt a dog that animal becomes a part of the family “so you have to take care of them and that’s what we are promoting”.
“We are encouraging people to bring in their dogs for immunisation and de-sexing to control the population.
“We run a veterinarian clinic and we have all the facilities in town to look after the animals and we also have an animal shelter which has 21 dogs and 40 cats,” she said.
The walk started from the Ela Beach road along the ring road to Stanley Parade through Cuthbertson Street and up Douglas Street and aback down to the Tafe-Ela Murray school yard.
The walk involved dogs of different breeds with their owners and after the walk, fun and games entertainment were set up for the families and public.
The RSPCA runs programmes to nurture stray animals (dogs and cats) and awareness on de-sexing, immunisation and adoption processes.
“We’re promoting adopting and we also go through a process when a person comes in they fill up an application and we go and check their properties where the animals will be looked after.
“Because we’ve had experiences in the past where animals are mistreated.
“There are to date 21 dogs in the shelter and if someone is interested in adopting a pup, they can come to the vet and enquire,” she said.
Dasi-Raju encouraged the public and dog owners to make use of the services provided at the RSPCA veterinarian clinic as most funding to care for the animals came from the vet clinic.
