After Elfriede’s dog swallowed a fish hook, the determination to make sure this wouldn’t happen to any other animal kicked in for the dog owner who is now making a difference!
Muizenberg, South Africa (26 May 2024) — Last week Friday, Elfriede Webb faced a frightening experience for any dog parent or animal lover.
While walking pooch Mason at the Zandvlei Reserve, the pup ended up swallowing a fish hook, something that could have been prevented entirely had responsible discarding practices been followed.
Stray fish hooks and fishing lines have long been a problem in South Africa; causing havoc for wildlife and the environment. From birds of the sky to sharks in the sea and dogs on the ground, fishing lines and hooks that aren’t properly disposed of have become a matter for push-back.
The Dyer Island Conservation Trust launched the Fishing Line Recovery and Recycling Programme in Gansbaai in 2010 but has since teamed up with the likes of Plastics SA to install more fishing line bins across the country, kickstarting two years ago.
However, for people like Elfriede, the job is not one that should simply be left up to ‘someone else’ to take care of.
Since the incident with Mason and the fish hook, Elfriede has been “determined to prevent this from happening to any other animal again.”
“I have already received four fishing line bins,” Elfriede tells Good Things Guy of the bins already received from Plastics SA.
Now the job is to get them installed at Zandvlei, with Chairman David positively sharing that the idea is “grand”.
Elfriede adds that green trash bins for general waste would also be a big help in the area, considering that there are reportedly not enough.
There’s facing a hectic situation and being rightfully upset, and then there’s making sure it never happens again. Keep it up Elfriede!