GEORGE NEWS - The Garden Route SPCA (GRSPCA) is appealing to the community for support after Meta unexpectedly shut down both its George and Mossel Bay Facebook pages.
The organisation says this disruption has severely impacted its ability to communicate with the public.
“Social media is not a ‘nice to have’ for us - it is one of our most critical tools to reach the community, especially during emergencies,” the GRSPCA’s regional manager, Cheri Cooke, said.
She used the recent fires in Mossel Bay as an example, when real-time updates can be vital in saving lives.
The public were able to use the pages to report animal cruelty, request help for animals in distress, and promote pets available for adoption. The suspension means many animals are staying in kennels longer, delaying their chances to find loving homes and putting additional strain on the organisation’s resources.
The GRSPCA has engaged a professional social media company to work on reinstating the pages, but the process is slow and frustrating.
Meanwhile, it is urging the community to follow it on Instagram for updates on adoptions, emergencies and animal welfare:
• Mossel Bay: @grspca_mossel_bay
• George: @grspca_george
It also asked anyone with contacts, expertise or influence to help get the Facebook pages restored to reach out to networking@grspca.co.za.
For urgent assistance, the public may contact the SPCA offices directly:
• Mossel Bay SPCA: 044 693 0824
• George SPCA: 044 878 1990
“We will continue doing everything in our power to protect the animals, but our ability to communicate with our community has been severely impacted,” said Cooke.
The Mossel Bay SPCA Facebook page is also down at this stage. Readers are urged to rather make use of the Instagram account.‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
