Nelson Mandela Bay’s biggest animal pound is facing an uncertain future as its contract with the municipality remains in limbo.
This follows the busiest festive season in recent memory for the Bay’s animal welfare organisations as strays and abandoned animals numbered in the hundreds.
And among the biggest concerns is the issue of livestock roaming the streets, resulting in accidents across the metro.
The Uitenhage SPCA in Kariega had been running the municipal pound since 1969 and its three-year contract expired in October 2025.
Uitenhage SPCA chair Deirdre Swift said the municipal pound had been closed since their contract ended on October 27, leaving local welfare organisations to carry the load through the festive season.
“On the 19th of December, the municipality advertised for a service provider to operate the pound.
“The deadline for submissions was December 31.
“We did not have the time or capacity to apply for the tender within 10 days over Christmas.
“The time frame was just impossible for us to work with.
“We knew our three-year contract was due to expire on October 27, so we started to try to renew it in May.”
Swift said in previous years an interim contract of six months would be in place while the three-year contract was being finalised.
“If the three-year tender had still not yet been finalised we would run on another six-month informal tender until we signed the three-year contract.”
But municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said this was not the case and that after the three-year contract had expired they would run on a month-to-month basis until it had been finalised.
Soyaya said the municipal pound was operational at present.
“The municipality operates its own animal pound and wishes to clarify that it is not legally obliged to renew contracts with any service provider, including the SPCA.
“In line with public procurement legislation, all services are sourced through an open and competitive bidding process, which allows all qualifying service providers an equal opportunity to participate.
“No service provider is guaranteed contract renewal.”
Soyaya confirmed that a service provider had been duly appointed through a competitive procurement process.
However, when asked to supply the name of the service provider, he failed to do so.
Swift disagreed with Soyaya and said the pound remained closed, though the SPCA had continued to take in smaller animals, using its own funds which would normally be reimbursed as per the contract.
“Without a contract, the SPCA has been forced to carry the expense of housing these animals.
“Despite not having a contract, nothing has changed for us; we just have an increased workload and we are not being reimbursed.
“It clearly is a crisis and I have no idea what the situation is with the tenders and contracts.”
When The Herald visited the large animal pound, which houses livestock on the SPCA premises, it was empty and overgrown with weeds.
However, Soyaya said: “The pound was never really closed. The dog control team has been operating from the pound ever since the contract expired.”
Swift, however, said not a single animal had been brought into the pound by the animal control team.
“They have come in occasionally but just sat in their office.
“They have not brought any animals to the pound since October 27.”
The Animal Welfare Society and the Animal Anti-Cruelty League are also not aware that there is an operational pound and have exhausted staff and resources over the festive season.
Animal Welfare Society general manager Cynthea van Rhijn said the pressure over the festive season had been extreme.
“The intake of surrendered and rescued animals at the Animal Welfare Society in December 2025 was 312, which was more than double the figure for December 2024.”
Van Rhijn said without a functional pound, the load had become almost impossible to handle.
“This is a regulated industry, with municipal bylaws that are not being enforced and it is out of control, and we [nonprofit organisations] have to pick up the pieces.
“The animals suffer as a result and we can’t turn a blind eye to that.”
Van Rhijn said the problem got worse every year due to illegal breeders operating in a market where people would rather have a new puppy or kitten than adopt a rescued animal.
“Backyard breeders are trying to make an income off of selling animals, and this creates a huge problem for us.”
Van Rhijn said without a functioning pound, there was also nowhere for stray livestock to be taken to.
“We can only intervene if the animal is suffering. We don’t have the capacity or facilities to take livestock in; this is what the pound is actually there for.
“We are fighting a losing battle without the support of the municipality.”
Attorney Karien van Schalkwyk, spokesperson for the northern areas-based Animal Anti-Cruelty League, said their focus was on their veterinary day clinic, fieldwork and outreach teams with inspectors to address cruelty and neglect.
“All healthy collected stray animals would ordinarily be taken to be impounded at the Animal Welfare Society and SPCA Uitenhage.”
Van Schalkwyk also believed the large animal pound remained closed, which meant roaming cattle could not be impounded.
“In the last month, four cows, that we know of, had to be humanely put down after motor vehicle collisions.”
