Tails are wagging all over Cape Town thanks to an animal lover's brainchild that has led to a dramatic increase in stray-dog adoptions.
Over the course of 89 weekends, Joanne Lefson's Woof Project has found homes for almost 1,500 dogs after the animals were taken from shelters to a "sexy and cool" converted shipping container placed in pleasant locations.
Against the backdrop of the Sea Point promenade, the V&A Waterfront or the Kalk Bay coastline, adopting a dog becomes much more appealing than when it involves driving to a distant, sad-looking animal shelter.
"I wanted to transform it so that the depressing side was taken out of it," said Lefson. "People come and meet the dogs, walk the dogs, bring their own dogs to meet them."
The Woof Project's success rate so far has been 10 times better than that of a traditional shelter, where an average of one or two dogs are adopted a week. All the usual procedures are in place such as sterilisations, vaccinations, home checks, follow-up calls and a customer service guarantee.
What's different is that the dogs are brought to their potential new owners; and Lefson learnt the value of this from personal experience when she met Oscar at a shelter in 2005, on the eve of his scheduled euthanisation.
"He was an incredible dog who changed my life," she said. "Everybody wanted Oscar when he was out in public, yet hidden away in a shelter, he was about to be euthanised. So that got me thinking - how many Oscars die every day because nobody goes to the shelters?"
She and Oscar "travelled around the world together", and after his death in 2013, Lefson returned from California to open a shelter in Franschhoek, called Oscar's Ark.
She set up the Woof Project to market the dogs, and on the first day eight dogs got adopted. "I knew what I had to do - set up a marketing platform for the dogs already in shelters."
Lefson also knew it had to be an upbeat experience. "We don't do the pity factor. Everything for us is positive because the dogs are superheroes, as are those who adopt."
Lefson hopes to expand the Woof Project in an attempt to find homes for the tens of thousands of shelter dogs that are euthanised countrywide every year.
Shelters in the Western Cape collectively have about 24,000 dogs at a time, of which only 4,000 find homes. Legally, the shelters have to put the dogs up for adoption for 12 days before euthanising them.
Meg Wilson, head of public relations at the NSPCA, said it was impossible to say how many strays or shelters there were nationally, but the number of dogs was growing because of their high natural birth rate.
"The biggest issue is irresponsible breeding and irresponsible owners," said Wilson.
Sharon Lack, who was cycling on Sea Point promenade after her dog of 18 years died, said she adopted Zoe and Mr George through Lefson after coming across the adoption container.
"Mr George ran to me and melted my heart and has never left my side since," she said.
"They are the most beautiful and loving animals."..