Animal advocate Cecilia Jacobs shares her home with 60 dogs and nine cats.
Ms Jacobs, 60, started Imagine Animal Dreams, a non-profit animal rescue centre, 10 years ago, and since then, abandoned dogs and cats have found refuge on her Joostenbergvlakte farm.
Ms Jacobs works a day job to pay for many of the centre’s expenses, but costs keep rising, and she said it had become increasingly difficult to keep the centre going, as animals were rescued almost daily.
Volunteer Hesme Giliomee said the organisation, which relied on the generosity of the public for financial support, was battling to find the money it needed to repair kennels, rebuild a flooded cattery, pay staff and see to plumbing work.
Animals at the centre needed medical attention, but volunteers paid for a vet out of their own pockets, she said.
“It is not an easy task to take on, but once you become part of it, you won’t stop because caring for the animals becomes second nature, and we do it for the love of animals,” she said.
The shelter charges R850 for adoptions and the fee includes up-to-date vaccinations, deworming and sterilisation.
Contact Ms Jacobs at 072 462 2664 or adopt.imagineanimaldreams@gmail.com for more information.