What a rollercoaster 2022 has been. The year started off with a crazy 1800 km round trip, in February, to Port Nolloth in the Northern Cape where we uplifted over 50 dogs and pups who had nowhere to go, and no Animal Welfare organisations to help them. It was an epic journey and one we will never forget with many highs and lows; sadly our shelter was hit with a Parvo outbreak soon after our return and over the next few months we lost over 30 pups to the dreaded virus.
Although we lost many precious souls, we saved many more, not only from the trip but this year we have taken in so many puppies and adult dogs. As a result of the floods many people lost their homes and before we knew it our “boarding kennels” were full of adult dogs that had been surrendered.
As a result of some of the challenges we faced this year, we decided to focus on a few projects that would ultimately change our adoption centre for the better. We built a Quarantine Block where all our new puppy intakes spend 14 days in isolation to ensure that they are not carrying any fatal viruses. We have added 5 new Cabins to our existing 9 to allow for the Mutt Motel boarders we have had during this festive season and will going forward. We have tripled our puppy area in order to take in more pups and give our “teenagers” their own space and garden. Our shop “Central Bark” has reopened and is filled with delightful gifts and goodies to help raise funds for the centre. And even more exciting we have started working on our Dog Trail where we will be able to take our dogs for walks through the bush and along the stream.
Reflecting on this year we are so grateful to the people who have supported our adoption centre and all the rescues by donating funds, supporting our raffles, attending our adoption days and events, volunteering and spending quality time with our babies, and sharing our posts on social media. We are extremely thankful to all those new parents who adopted a furry rescue from us this year and gave them a second chance and a loving home and family.
We would like to say a massive thank you to all those suppliers and contractors who have also helped make our vision come true. We have a dream to be the very best Adoption Centre and the Ultimate Doggie Destination and that would not be possible without all those who are helping make the dream come true.
We are so blessed to have so many amazing volunteers who give up their personal time to come help us keep the centre clean, our babies bathed and cuddled, and our bigger dogs walked. We love having visitors and volunteers and honestly wouldn’t exist without their support and commitment.
2023 holds many new exciting projects for Paw Prints Rescue and Rehoming. We can’t wait for you to be a part of the next step in our growth and vision, and look forward to spending the next 365 days with you.
The Paw Prints Rescue team, and all our rescue dogs and pups, would like to wish you a happy 2023 filled with laughter, new adventures and good fortunes.