The Animal Anti-Cruelty League History

The times are a changing… well the Animal Anti-Cruelty League has certainly seen change in their 50 years of operation. Were they all good? Certainly some were, but if we consider that animal cruelty in all forms still continues to this day, then no, not all have been good. Our mission is the Care and Protection of all Animals and long may this charter endure, for the need is great and our ethos strong.

On the 28th February 1956, through the determined efforts of a few volunteers, not least Founder, the late Olga R. Allen and compatriots Martin Hind and Wendy Harvey to mention a few, a body was formed in Johannesburg, to oppose the practice of holding rodeos. With less than ‘5 Pounds’ in the kitty, efforts were extended into the rescue and treatment of animals after Olga Allen accompanied a journalist into the townships of Soweto and Alexandra and realized the dire conditions that many animals were subjected to.

At this time, the Anti-Cruelty League’s (as they were formerly known) mission, included the harbouring and care of abused women and children, but it soon became apparent that this would be a difficult mix to maintain and that concentration should be given to the area of animal welfare.

Based out of a private house in the north-eastern suburb of Bramley, the group continued to be active and July 1959 saw the advent of the first branch office being established in Durban, after a meeting was held in a coffee shop between Olga Allen and the late AACL™ chairlady and doyen of animal welfare, Joyce Northend.

History in the making

6 Marjorie Street, Regents Park, became the home of the Johannesburg Society and subsequently the office of the National Body, when it was acquired during the early sixties and has remained the base for operation.

However, with the advent of the N17 motorway, this led to the expropriation of some of our land. Our entrance and address changed to 59 Alice Street, Regents Park, which was the back part of our premises and included our stables. In those early days, an important function of the League was that of horse rescue and a fulltime farrier was employed at the society.

Today, while we no longer treat horses at the Johannesburg Society, we continue to assist in rescue operations when called upon.

In 1972, the organization met with financial difficulties and the threat of closing down seemed imminent. But at the eleventh hour, a Johannesburg based businessman came on board and managed to save the day and the organization has gone from strength to strength.

In 1969 the Cape Town office was started; in 1979 the Ladysmith branch; in 1983 an office opened in Port Elizabeth; in 1986 the Pietermaritzburg branch and during 1989 in the heart of the farming area, a branch was established in Bredasdorp, Western Cape. In 1982 a branch was started in Pretoria, however, due to mismanagement, was closed in 1998.

Mobile clinics and crime

An important part of the Johannesburg Society’s activities became mobile clinics and it was through this para-veterinary service that we were able to reach many disadvantaged communities, who had little or no access to primary health care for their animals. In the main, this service was fully subsidized by the League and thousands of animals were treated and sterilized over the years.

But the times, they did indeed change and the element of crime began to seriously threaten the operation. After two armed robberies within two months in the district of Lenasia, South of Johannesburg, it became clear that new areas would need to be identified where the need was as great, but the threat to the lives of our staff, diminished. In January 2002, on visiting a squatter camp in the eastern area of Primrose, the League’s staff and mobile clinic service were again subjected to a violent robbery and of necessity, the decision was taken to discontinue this part of our operation indefinitely.

Alarmingly, within that same month, our Cape Town Society experienced a similar violation with the armed hijacking of their mobile clinic at their premises in Epping, (an industrial area of Cape Town) and it was at great cost to their already limited resources, that this vehicle was eventually replaced. In that same year, a longstanding volunteer at the Johannesburg Society’s charity book shop, was murdered in her nearby home. All senseless crimes and ultimately, to the detriment of the animals.