Fiona Macleod
When a dog has a cat up a tree, you hope that it either loses interest or its owner calls it to heel. But what do you do when neither intervention takes place?
This is the dilemma facing one of two groups claiming title to the Friends of the Cat welfare organisation, based in Johannesburg.
The fight over the organisation, which has seen radio talk-show host Dr Platzhund drawn into the fray, goes to the heart of the schism between animal rightists and animal welfare organisations in South Africa.
Both groups are accusing their opponents of being cruel to animals and of ripping off the public by raising funds unethically.
Ironically, the dispute erupted shortly after a wealthy woman bequeathed a double stand in upmarket Craighall Park to Friends of the Cat after she died in 1998.
“Ethelwin Higginson wanted to help save cats, but her bequest has brought us a lot of problems. It has attracted individuals who would not normally have concerned themselves with this organisation,” says Joan Norman, a member of the trust that forms one side of the dispute.
Members of the trust say Friends of the Cat was formed in 1991 as an animal rights organisation with a no-kill policy which means they will not kill healthy or treatable animals.
“It was founded as an alternative to the attitude that only healthy, easily homeable cats should be cared for, and that money should not be wasted on the sick and injured. We aimed to care for the cats no one wanted, not only the ‘cute’ cats,” says Norman.
Opposition to this policy gave rise to a “rebel” group headed by Platzhund and Adel Joffe, one of the founders of Friends of the Cat. Both groups claim they are the real representatives of the organisation, they have separate bank accounts and postal addresses, and both claim exclusive rights to the Friends of the Cat logo, designed by Norman.
The trust group criticises Platzhund’s approval of euthanasing “problem” animals, particularly the animals of people leaving the country on the grounds that they won’t adapt to new homes. They say his support for practices such as declawing cats, removing the vocal chords of dogs, docking their tails and cropping their ears amounts to approval of mutilation.
Platzhund, who is a practising veterinarian, counters that the criticism comes from a group of militant animal- rights activists who can’t back up their criticism with scientific evidence.
“We’re talking about simple surgical procedures,” he says. “Sometimes they are not the cruellest option. De-clawing a cat is as bad as a woman going through a facelift. It’s less cruel than the owner kicking and wounding it seriously because it’s scratching the furniture. De-barking a dog is better than having the dog poisoned or shot.”
Platzhund says he is trying to turn Friends of the Cat into a credible, specialised welfare organisation that is run like a business.
“I won’t have a death row of cats; we can’t afford it. Their no-kill policy leads to many cats suffering.”
Platzhund’s group has changed the locks on the house in Craighall Park and barred their rivals from the property. His group recently applied for a court order entitling them to use the name Friends of the Cat exclusively.
The rival trust group is trying to find the funds to oppose the court action. They point out that an extraordinary general meeting called by concerned members of the organisation on March 25 passed a unanimous resolution of no- confidence in Platzhund and his allies.
“We thought this would have got rid of Platzhund. But it seems he won’t lose interest, and he won’t go,” says Norman.