Until you have one of your own, you won’t understand the phrase “pets are like family.” That’s why there are laws to protect our furry friends, including those against animal neglect. Neglect is defined by the Animal Legal Defense Fund as the “failure to provide basic care required for an animal to thrive.” As much as you love cats or dogs, if you cannot afford to house, feed and care for them, you should wait until you’re ready. Today, we are sharing the story of Belle, a beautiful dog in South Africa. She is a victim of extreme neglect. When she was taken into a facility in September 2016, staff at the organization Community Led Animal Welfare (CLAW) were in tears. The small canine was covered in large ticks. Fortunately, Belle was taken care of immediately and CLAW stated that the owners would be held accountable. She has also found a new forever home. Here are photos of this “unwanted” dog’s transformation. Trigger warning for animal lovers: These images are graphic.CLAW, a welfare organization known as a pioneer of community-based primary veterinary care in South Africa, posted these photos to their Facebook page.
You’re looking at dozens of ticks in, on and around her ear. Belle is not a stray dog. She was in the care of someone when this happened.
On Facebook, they wrote, “Just in. Unwanted and collected by our team. We are all in tears, but Dr. Marike has treated her and put her on a drip. Yes, these are ticks and yes, she is positive for tick bite fever. We have to wait for the ticks to fall off; otherwise she will bleed terribly and she is already anemic…”
Here’s Belle shortly after being taken into CLAW. The ticks began to fall off and her condition has improved.
When Belle was admitted to the clinic, she was dubbed an emergency call. Pet Rescue Report reminds us that it is against the law to allow pets to become infected with this many parasites. It’s about time she was treated with proper care!
At the facility in Durban Deep, she was provided with basic care and more. She was even given a comfort blanket.
“We are very grateful for our supporters, without you, we could not do what we do,” they wrote on their Facebook page.
“Many dogs are surrendered to us, we work in 33 townships, servicing the poorest of the poor to provide free vet care and education. “Majority of the dogs we deal with are well loved and looked after, even if their owners cannot afford to feed themselves. Then, we get cases like Belle that make us want to cry (in fact, we often do shed tears at the state of some of the animals that we deal with). “There is a grain of truth in saying that Africa is not for sissies. Sometimes it is a lack of education on animal needs that lead them to this state, others blatant cruelty. Each case is studied and investigated.”
Thanks to the caring staff at CLAW and the power of community (the Facebook post of Belle was shared over 10K times), Belle now has a forever home.
