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About us
Alley Cat Action (ACA) is a non-profit organisation
formed to protect feral and domestic cats and to alleviate their
suffering.
ACA's founder, Linda van der Poel, has been actively involved
with feral cats for the past six years.
It all started whilst reading a newsletter written by the
Alley Cat Allies from the U.S., explaining what a sad and lonely
life alley cats live and how much help they need. After numerous
telephone calls and thorough investigation, she realised that
there was not one organisation in the whole of Durban dedicated
to the plight of feral cats. Although all the organisations
contacted were very aware of the existence and suffering of
street cats, there were far too many other needy animal causes
and the excuses were that funds were low and manpower not
available to deal with society's outcasts. All animal welfare
groups are completely reliant on public and corporate support
and ownership of the feral cat dilemma was not recognised by
most sponsors. These organisations were doing their best by
promoting sterilization and removing ferals where the public
had threatened to "take matters into their own hands".
Linda realised that the problem was bigger than that and
that something had to be done immediately. She had found her
purpose in life. With the help of FALCON founder, Mandy Crerar,
and a few other devoted cat lovers, she started the South African
version of the Alley Cat Allies. The Durban S.P.C.A. invited
A.C.A. to join their organisation. This was a wonderful opportunity
for A.C.A. as hospital care and veterinary services were far
more easily accessible and they could use the S.P.C.A.'s
fund-raising number. This went well for four years. Feral colonies
were established and managed successfully by volunteers, lots of
kittens and some adult cats were adopted into good homes and the
suffering of many ill and unwanted cats was stopped by humane
euthanasia.
Personal circumstances then moved Linda to Cape Town, where,
as she expected, the problem was as big and not addressed by any one
organisation in particular. Linda immediately got involved and has
been working on her own for the past two years, relying on the goodwill
of vets and other animal welfare groups. She supports herself, 14
cats, 5 feral cats, 5 dogs and 5 rabbits by grooming dogs. Her spare
time is dedicated to feral cats. As the problem is so out of control
and there is too much work to be done by one person, it was necessary
to start from scratch and get people involved, therefore the start of
Alley Cat Action. This organisation is still but a kitten, but we
have very ambitious goals for the future. We believe that if one person
can make a difference, then standing together as cat lovers we can
definitely solve the feral cat problem.
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