29 Jan 2019

In its effort to fulfill its corporate social responsibility, Matebeleng Milling has pledged to donate 10 bags of Furry Tail dog food to Botswana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) every month for a year.

Speaking during the launch of the dog food pledge on Jnauary 28, production manager at Matebeleng Milling, Mr Nkeme Mochine said Furry Tail was Botswana’s first locally manufactured dog food made up of cereals, soya, meat, vitamins and minerals.

He said Matebeleng Milling, a family run manufacturing and milling company, was sourcing as many of the dog food ingredients as possible locally, including animal by-products from Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) in order to support other local businesses.

Mr Mochine acknowledged Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) for their support in areas such as regulations, licensing and market access.

He said Matebele Milling had been licensed for production since last year to use local products, create value as well as create employment opportunities for locals.

“We have always believed that Botswana has the potential to create some of the world’s greatest products, and that we need to start, not only, using and supporting local products and businesses, but also exporting our products and building our country’s employment opportunities and overall wealth,” he said.

The society’s animal welfare inspector, Ms Lesedi Boduwe expressed gratitude towards Matebeleng Milling for their support and collaboration with the shelter.

She said one of BSPCA’s main focus was ensuring that they achieved five freedoms of survival, among them freedom from hunger, malnutrition and thirst.

The donation of Furry Tail, she said, would go a long way in ensuring that the shelter provided dogs with highly nutritious foods that was vital for their health and wellbeing as it contained nutritional properties such as protein, carbohydrates and fats among others.

Furry Tail products are available in most stores in Gaborone including Pick and Pay, Choppies and Saverite and will soon be joined by Sefalana and Shoprite.

The BSPCA’s mission is to raise awareness on the abuse of animals in Botswana, and to teach and foster good pet parenting practices as well as to promote, spay and neuter programmes with the goal of eradicating the need to euthanise healthy and adoptable animals.

This is done through providing shelter and re-homing opportunities for stray animals and sterilising all pets re-homed from the BSPCA shelter. Ends