The staff at Khayelitsha’s Mdzananda Animal Clinic has hailed ten-year-old Andiswa Kwele as an animal hero after she recently saved a very young puppy from certain death.
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Kwele was returning from school when she spotted a small puppy lying on the ground.
‘Many people would walk right past but this young child picked the puppy up and walked all the way to Mdzananda to get it help,’ said Marcelle du Plessis, fundraising and communications manager at the clinic, adding that they were hoping to use Kwele’s actions as a teachable example through their community education programmes.
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Three days old, the puppy was immediately covered in a blanket, placed on a warm water bottle and given puppy milk via a bottle.
‘We believe that a community that loves animals is a healthy community and that, through our educational and health care initiatives, we are helping to create a community with compassion and care for every animal,’ says du Plessis.
The puppy, now named Jelly Bean, is doing very well and is being fostered by one of the clinic’s veterinarians until he is ready to be adopted.
‘I was so proud of this young girl,’ said General Manager Heidi May. ‘Seeing children act in this way shows me that our education programmes are working.’
With a variety of programmes, including on-site education, door-to-door education, school classes and events in collaboration with other organisations, the animal clinic places a strong emphasis on community education.
‘We are proud to announce that we have gained permission to start animal education in four schools in their life orientation classes. We started these classes at the beginning of this school term and will be working on entering more schools in the rest of the year,’ added May.
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Pictures: Supplied