TEARS launches Break the Chains Campaign to combat improper chaining of dogs

As a B-BBEE LEVEL 1 contributor TEARS Animal Rescue measures its impact by the number of community beneficiaries that it supports. COVID19 has impacted low-income communities the hardest and TEARS has been providing pet owners with pet food, healthcare and rescue support to sick, starving, injured and homeless animals.

On Friday last week TEARS announced the launch of a dedicated fundraising and donation campaign aimed at improving the lives of dogs that are improperly chained.

The TEARS Break the Chains Campaign was launched after the TEARS Welfare Clinic veterinary team have increasingly seen cases where rescued dogs are exhibiting life-threatening wounds and showing severe deterioration of bone structure and muscle loss as a direct result of chaining.

Says TEARS Operations Manager Mandy Store, “Living in overcrowded and cramped conditions leads many pet owners to chain or restrain their dogs in order to avoid them wandering away or being stolen. The Campaign will enable the TEARS Mobile Clinic to provide suitable collars, leads and running chains that ensure the correct and safe restraining and chaining of dogs, and ensure ease-of- movement within their yard.”

Says TEARS Head Veterinarian Dr. Tania Heuer, “Dogs are commonly chained on hard or cement floors which results in pressure sores from sitting or lying on the hard surface for extended periods of time. These sores extend through the skin to the bone. In many instances, chains are used as collars, which offer no flexibility as the animal grows. This results in open sores on the neck, with the chain sometimes becoming embedded in the skin. The worst case TEARS recorded was that of a Border Collie dog that had a climbing-carabiner pierced directly through the skin at his throat and connected directly to a chain, with no collar at all!”

The TEARS Mobile Clinic, which operates within a 250 square-kilometre area in the Cape’s Southern Peninsula, estimates that at least 40-percent of dogs living in the low income and over-populated communities that it serves are improperly chained. The campaign provides a simple but effective running-chain solution at grass-roots levels that can be easily replicated by pet owners.

TEARS Senior Animal Welfare Assistant, Sive Twani, who is responsible for the TEARS Mobile Clinic’s rescue work, believes that intervention without education is meaningless.

“Now that we’re able to operate at full capacity again we’re seeing numerous cases of incorrect and inhumane chaining of dogs. The only way we will start to make a sustainable impact is by working with pet owners to help them understand the consequences of improper chaining methods. The TEARS Mobile Clinic Outreach Programme supports communities to help improve humane education,” he comments.

Sponsorships and donations allowing, and based on the capacity of the TEARS Mobile Clinic, the goal is to execute five running-chain solutions every week over the next three months, totalling approximately 60 interventions (one per dog) between March and the end of May.

By investing in low income communities where resources are limited, TEARS helps educate pet owners and improve the lives of dogs that are chained.

Capetonians can help the TEARS Mobile Outreach Programme reach more dogs that are improperly chained and educate more people about how to invest in their pets’ well-being. Donate to the TEARS Break the Chain Campaign by visiting the TEARS website and/or donate new or used dog collars and leads and help TEARS improve the lives of improperly chained dogs in Cape Town.

Collars and leads can be dropped-off at one of TEARS’ four Charity Shops or the TEARS Kennel or Cattery.