Hoedspruit, South Africa's wildlife haven, is surrounded by impoverished communities that are overlooked when it comes to veterinary services. Unemployment is high and poverty is a real struggle where many owners have no funds to properly feed their dogs or pay for sterilisation of their pet. At the same time, the area has many private game reserves and their wildlife is at risk of rabies and distemper, spread by free roaming dogs.
In 2016, HALO (Hoedspruit AnimaL Outreach) established the first outreach program together with the tribal office and a community member.
Soon, more communities followed and currently HALO reaches out to eight communities around Hoedspruit; The Oaks, The Willows, Mulalani, Finale, Santeng, Manoutsa, Tswenyane and Acornhoek, all impoverished communities that have no access to veterinary facilities.
HALO PROJECTS
Outreach program
Our volunteers visit The Oaks, The Willows and Mulalani once a month with a stationery outreach, offering free health checks, signing dogs up for sterilisation and giving education to owners. These busy outreaches are visited by 75-200 dogs per outreach.
All dogs are vaccinated against rabies, parvo and distemper and treated for external and internal parasites. Dogs are signed up for sterilisation, receive additional welfare care when needed and are admitted to our camp if they require further care.
Once a month we also conduct a door-to-door outreach in rotation to the smaller communities we serve where our focus lies on vaccinations. We vaccinate an average of 3,500 dogs per year, making us one of the largest NGOs in Limpopo in eliminating rabies.
HALO is a Rabies Center of Excellence member of End Rabies Now for our efforts in eliminating rabies.
Sterilisation program
Keeping the dog population under control and uplifting the lives of the dogs is an important goal and HALO achieves that through its sterilisation program. Sterilisation also prevents the spread of dangerous diseases like TVT (Transmissible Venereal Tumors). HALO sterilises approximately 200 dogs per year.
Ambulance service
The HALO dog ambulance is on standby 6 days a week to alleviate the suffering of dogs in need of emergency veterinary care. Community dogs live a risky life with chances of getting hit by a car, contracting diseases like TVT, parvo, distemper, tick bite fever and more. Our ambulance volunteer gives first aid and rushes them safely to the veterinary practices.
Once treated dogs will be either returned home or stay in our camp for convalescence. Our camp has capacity for 30 dogs at a time.
Education program
Educating adults and children on animal kindness and responsible pet ownership is crucial to prevent animal cruelty by uneducated owners. From basic information on feeding, to the need for shelter and responsible chaining, to recognising when a dog is sick, keeping dogs safe from parasites and the importance of sterilisations: HALO teaches the five freedoms of animals during outreach and in classroom sessions.
Rehoming rescues
HALO tries to rehome unwanted litters of puppies, "problem" dogs (usually from eating chicken due to starvation), and dogs suffering from severe neglect and unsafe living conditions. We give them temporary homes in our network of foster families or our HALO camp as we try to find them the perfect forever homes.
