Dear PUPP supporter

You may well be wondering why there has been such a deafening silence from PUPP for the past year or so. The truth is that there have been tremendous changes taking place and I am now able to tell you the exciting news –

PUPP has entered into a joint venture with the Animal Rescue Organization (ARO) and it is working fantastically well, to the benefit of both organizations.

For reasons detailed below, it was decided that PUPP should slim down the more costly parts of its operation, while continuing with its commitment to sterilizing an increasing number of needy animals and that this could be achieved in conjunction with, and to the advantage of, one of the other animal welfare organizations. ARO, having the most in common with PUPP, has taken over full responsibility of one PUPP vehicle. ARO’s driver/fieldworker team covers the original PUPP areas, but has also branched out into some new areas, which has resulted in a lot more animals for sterilization. The team reports directly to ARO management. In addition to PUPP making a monthly donation to ARO to cover some of ARO’s running costs, PUPP also continues to pay ARO for every animal brought in by the team for sterilization by ARO, but we no longer have responsibility for the workers and all the associated expenses and liabilities.

It was important to us for PUPP to retain its identity. Our modus operandi has always been to proactively search for animals to sterilize and the challenge was to find a way to form a joint venture with ARO while remaining two independent animal welfare societies. We managed to find a successful way to do just that, but unfortunately a number of retrenchments had to take place as part of the process. This is inevitable when major changes are made in any organization, especially when a joint venture is forged, but this was a very sad and unpleasant period. Instead of seven paid employees, we now have just two. The rest of us are volunteers. We hope this will mean a further significant reduction in the cost per sterilization, building on the efficiencies already achieved over the past year (see below).
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Those of you who have supported PUPP since our inception will remember that it was June Woodman of the Animal Welfare Society (AWS) who first offered to sterilize PUPP animals. AWS Philippi Branch was a fantastic help to us for many years and even when the Bellville branch closed and they were put under extreme pressure, the Philippi Branch continued to help us in any way possible. PUPP will be forever grateful to June Woodman and the staff of the AWS. The SPCA also responded to our plea for help and for two years was prepared to sterilize fifteen animals per week for us. Then ARO opened their hearts and came on board with the offer of a further fifteen animals per week. PUPP was overwhelmed by all this kind assistance and we wish to record our lasting gratitude to these organizations for all their help over the years.

Let us now bring you up to speed on events which led up to the decision to form this joint venture. In June 2006 Ben Daum resigned as PUPP chairman. Ben had guided PUPP through some tumultuous times, starting from its inception in 1995, through its growth and expansion, to our own modest sterilization clinic (PUPP South) and our very own veterinarian, Dr Yvonne Robson, to the sadness when we had to close PUPP South through insufficient funds. Fortunately, Dr Robson is committed to the sterilization of underprivileged animals, so she and her supporters formed SASHA and the good work is continuing.

After the closure of PUPP South, we realized that we would have to make some changes. We needed to make PUPP more efficient, while concentrating on increasing the number of sterilizations per month, with the purpose of decreasing the overall cost of each sterilization. We needed expert advice at board level. Two people agreed to come out of retirement to help PUPP for one year – Errol Marshall, former Chairman and CEO of Shell Southern Africa, who filled the position of PUPP Chairman, and Ted Lawrence, former Regional Executive for OK Bazaars and an ex-driver for PUPP during 2004, who filled the position of PUPP Manager/CEO. Errol and Ted brought very different skills to the table and, thanks to these two dedicated and determined men, PUPP sterilizations have increased in leaps and bounds - we have now reached a very pleasing total of between 120 and 130 animals sterilized per month by ARO and a grand total of over 27,000 animals sterilized to date.

But the agreed period of one year was rapidly drawing to a close. PUPP was faced with two choices:

1. We could expand, get a young upwardly mobile person to fill the position of PUPP Chairman, increase the number of board members, start to fundraise far more aggressively, be more active in the community and bring in more and more animals for sterilization; or

2. We could trim and slim the PUPP infrastructure, enter into a joint venture with another like-minded animal welfare society and see how we could best create a symbiotic relationship, while still increasing – or at least maintaining – the number of animals sterilized each month.

This was no easy decision. Most of the board members could only spare a limited amount of time to the running of PUPP, so we had to conclude that we did not have the personnel to put choice no. 1 in place. Choice no. 2 was therefore unanimously selected.

We had always been aware that ARO was the welfare society that had the most in common with PUPP. As luck would have it, ARO’s hospital facilities were underutilized at the time and they were actually keen to increase the number of animals sterilized. This was extremely good news for PUPP and meetings between PUPP and ARO began in earnest, resulting in the joint venture.

We are sure that you, our supporters, will understand why we are so excited by this joint venture with ARO – it is a truly win–win situation. ARO benefits because they now effectively have a presence in an area previously unserviced by them AND they have had a vehicle donated to them by PUPP, equipped with a superb state-of-the-art cage facility fixed to the back, so there is no need to drag an unwieldy trailer behind and the animals remain dry when it is pouring with rain and cooler when the summer sun is at its strongest – GOOD NEWS INDEED.
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We would like to reiterate that PUPP and ARO remain independent and autonomous. Your ongoing financial support is more important than ever before – the more animals the ARO team brings in to be sterilized, the more we are achieving in our quest to sterilize as many animals from underprivileged areas as possible.

BUT THIS COMES AT A PRICE – PLEASE, WE IMPLORE YOU TO CONTINUE HELPING US AS YOU HAVE IN THE PAST If you can offer help financially or in any other way, please phone 021-712 2939 and speak to Maureen.

To avoid duplication and to save costs, there will be no further editions of PUPP TALES. Instead, PUPP will have a column in the ARO newsletter. If you wish to receive the ARO newsletter every quarter, please telephone ARO on 021-396 5511 and your name will be added to their database.

Hopefully YOU will wish US luck in this new
JOINT VENTURE WITH ARO!