06/09/2026
🐾 PLEASE HEAR THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS DEBATE — FROM THE PEOPLE WORKING IN ANIMAL WELFARE. 🐾
Before everybody becomes angry about stricter animal by-laws, licensing, sterilisation, breeding controls and responsible ownership requirements, please understand WHY many of us working in animal welfare welcome stronger and properly enforced regulation.
We are the people who see what happens when there is NO CONTROL.
As animal welfare organisations, rescue organisations and Animal Welfare Inspectors, we deal with the consequences every single day.
Our shelters and rescue organisations are FLOODED. 💔
Animals are surrendered or abandoned because people are:
• Emigrating
• Divorcing or separating
• Moving somewhere that does not allow animals
• Moving into smaller properties
• Losing their jobs or being retrenched
• Unable to afford veterinary treatment
• Unable to afford food
• Simply tired of the responsibility
• Or they have allowed uncontrolled breeding and suddenly have animals they cannot place.
And then there is another terrible reality — deliberate exploitation.
We encounter animals that are bred repeatedly for money, irresponsibly cross-bred, used for dog fighting, chained permanently, neglected, traded, abandoned, starved and kept in completely unacceptable conditions.
Female dogs become nothing more than breeding machines.
They produce litter after litter without adequate recovery, veterinary care or consideration for what happens to those puppies.
Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of unwanted animals already need homes.
Then the shelters and welfare organisations are expected to somehow pick up the pieces.
People often shout:
“DON'T EUTHANISE!”
But where must all these animals go?
Who must feed them?
Who pays their veterinary bills?
Who vaccinates, sterilises, deworms, rehabilitates, microchips and houses them?
Who takes responsibility when every shelter is FULL?
This is the reality people do not want to see.
We find sick animals abandoned or roaming the streets suffering from mange, parasites, injuries and preventable diseases such as parvovirus and distemper because veterinary treatment was never provided.
Cruelty does not always begin with somebody deliberately beating an animal.
Cruelty can also develop through ignorance, neglect, uncontrolled breeding and irresponsible ownership.
🐾 ANIMALS ARE SENTIENT BEINGS — NOT POSSESSIONS, ORNAMENTS OR MONEY-MAKING MACHINES.
Why own a dog if its life will consist of being:
⛓️ Chained
💔 Starved
👊 Abused
⚠️ Used for fighting
🔒 Locked permanently in a tiny enclosure
💰 Used repeatedly for breeding
🚮 Abandoned when it becomes inconvenient?
A puppy is cute for a few months.
Then that puppy becomes an adult dog requiring perhaps 10–15 years of commitment.
Responsible ownership means much more than putting food into a bowl.
It means appropriate food and constant access to fresh water; vaccinations and regular parasite control; veterinary treatment when necessary; sterilisation where appropriate; identification such as microchipping; safe shelter; exercise and stimulation; training and socialisation; behavioural care; attention to dental, ear, skin and other health problems; and, above everything else, love, respect and lifelong responsibility.
🐾 THE FIVE FREEDOMS OF ANIMAL WELFARE
Animals should have:
1️⃣ Freedom from hunger and thirst.
2️⃣ Freedom from discomfort.
3️⃣ Freedom from pain, injury and disease.
4️⃣ Freedom to express normal behaviour.
5️⃣ Freedom from fear and distress.
These are not unreasonable expectations.
They are the foundation of humane animal care.
Responsible regulation should therefore not be viewed as punishment for genuine, responsible pet owners.
The purpose should be to create accountability and give authorities stronger mechanisms to deal with irresponsible breeding, neglect, cruelty and people accumulating animals they cannot properly care for.
If you genuinely love your animals, provide appropriate veterinary care, feed them properly, keep them safely, meet their behavioural needs and accept responsibility for them throughout their lives, then you are exactly the kind of owner responsible animal-welfare legislation should protect — not persecute.
Yes, legislation must be reasonable.
Yes, implementation must be fair.
Yes, legitimate owners and genuine welfare organisations must have a voice when these laws are written.
But please don't fight every attempt at regulation simply because somebody says:
“Nobody is going to tell me what I can do with my animals.”
That attitude is part of the problem.
Animals are not objects we should be entitled to collect, breed and dispose of simply because we can.
🐾 WE NEED ACCOUNTABILITY.
🐾 WE NEED RESPONSIBLE BREEDING CONTROLS.
🐾 WE NEED RESPONSIBLE OWNERSHIP.
🐾 WE NEED ENFORCEMENT AGAINST CRUELTY AND NEGLECT.
Personally, after seeing the enormous number of unwanted animals entering welfare, I would support a serious national discussion about a temporary breeding moratorium or extremely strict breeding controls, subject to what is lawful, practical and genuinely in the interests of animal welfare.
Something has to change.
We cannot continue producing animals faster than responsible homes can possibly be found for them and then expect welfare organisations to carry the consequences.
God entrusted animals to mankind's care. That should mean stewardship, compassion and responsibility — not exploitation. 🙏🏻
Before opposing stronger animal-welfare laws, spend one week alongside an Animal Welfare Inspector.
Walk through overcrowded shelters.
See the neglected dogs.
See the exhausted breeding females.
See the sick puppies.
See the chained dogs.
See the abandoned animals.
See what rescuers and inspectors see.
Then ask yourself:
Who really needs protection — our convenience, or the voiceless animals who depend entirely upon us?
🐾❤️ BE A VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS. ❤️🐾
Estelle C. Smith
Founder / CEO — Underdogs South Africa
Animal Welfare Inspector
Animal Behaviourist
