Community worker to climb Kilimanjaro for animal welfare in Gauteng

Veenay Mungal will attempt a Guinness World Record by recording the highest podcast while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of the Society for Animals in Distress (SAID). The 49-year-old from Johannesburg will join the organisation’s ‘Driving Compassion’ expedition in July, and the money raised will be used to purchase a new vehicle for its veterinary services. He is the secretary of the Gauteng branch of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha and runs a men’s cooking group that does a food drive once a month in Midrand.

For him, the expedition is about ‘adding value and making a difference’. He says seeing animals suffer because help cannot reach them is something he cannot bear. “Animals are hurt and killed along our highways every day.

Seeing working animals injured or sick and knowing a simple intervention could change everything shifted my perspective. It made me realise how closely animal welfare is tied to dignity,” he says. That realisation led him to become involved with SAID.

[paywall]

“They don’t just talk about compassion, they deliver it daily, often in difficult environments with limited resources,” he says. SAID teams operate in underserved communities, treating pets and working animals essential to families’ livelihoods. “They provide veterinary care to animals whose owners often cannot afford private treatment.

The care includes treating injuries, vaccinations, sterilisation programmes and preventative care,” he explains. Mungal adds that a key part of SAID’s work is its mobile clinic outreach, bringing fully equipped veterinary services to low- and no-income communities.

[/paywall]