In this interview, Lee Anne Ramalho, a 46-year-old animal advocate, has found a way to improve the lives of thousands of dogs as well as the humans who love them. Using her registered Non-Profit Company, ‘The Dogs Trust’, which she founded in 2018, Lee-Anne Ramahlo has grown what was once a small personal project to help a few dogs in Diepsloot, into a much larger affair.
Diepsloot is a settlement of about 500,000 residents north of Johannesburg, a place where both humans and their dogs live in abject poverty. Most people keep dogs for their personal protection, but few can afford to care for them. Lee-Anne came to understand that the desperate conditions dogs were being kept in weren’t just due to a lack of resources but also to a lack of education.
Unfortunately, too many of these animals were kept tied to short leashes and completely dependent on their owners for food and water, and when Lee-Anne's scouts found them, many were literally starving to death, unable to fend for themselves.
Dogs Trust sends out scouts daily to search for dogs who are abused, neglected, injured, or kept in substandard conditions. They aim to either remove or re-home those who are severely neglected or help improve the quality of living conditions for others by providing the education owners need, as well as food, leashes, water, collars, and beds.
Q: How did you get community engagement? I Imagine It wasn't easy?
Lee-Anne: In the beginning, some communities were understandably cautious. Outsiders coming in to talk about animal welfare can easily be seen as judgmental or disconnected from daily realities. But over time, relationships changed everything. We stopped arriving with answers and started arriving with questions. We listened. We asked owners what they needed. We respected cultural norms while gently introducing better practices. That’s when doors opened literally and figuratively. The biggest lesson? Real change happens with communities, not to them. When people feel respected, they become the strongest advocates for their animals.
“The beginning of The Dogs Trust wasn’t one dramatic moment. it was a slow, undeniable awakening. Walking through township streets, I kept seeing dogs tied to short chains, hungry, sick, or simply forgotten. What struck me most wasn’t cruelty in the obvious sense, it was normalised neglect. The suffering was so common it had become invisible. What many outsiders overlooked was that people weren’t heartless; they were under-resourced.”
Q: What about education?
Lee-Anne: In South Africa, education is essential because many people simply haven’t had access to reliable animal-care information. Knowledge about vaccines, sterilisation, nutrition, and humane treatment isn’t always widely available. Common misconceptions include believing dogs don’t feel cold, don’t need medical care unless severely ill, or are “happier” roaming freely and breeding. None of these beliefs come from cruelty; they come from tradition and a lack of exposure to new information. Once people understand the why, they are often eager to do better. Education replaces inherited habits with informed compassion.
Many volunteers distribute leaflets that inform and educate owners and help ease the abuse and neglect that hundreds of the townships' dogs suffer daily. Dogs Trust has had an incredible impact on the dogs themselves. To date, they feed on average:
- 300 dogs a week, providing 1000 plus KG of food every week.
- Cover ZAR50,000 Vet Bills covered monthly
- Assist 2500 Animals per month
- 80 Dogs sterilized monthly
- 100 families positively impacted
- 1000 school-aged children reached through educational activities
- 20 Dogs re-homed per month.
But this isn’t the whole story. They also have a Sanctuary where they can house 200 dogs at any one time. While the dogs have makeshift homes to protect them from heat and cold, they are all looked after by volunteers. Dogs Trust collaborates with other animal welfare organizations as well as veterinarians since they don’t have one on staff. Dog owners who volunteer to work with them are not only provided with free sterilization as an incentive, but their dogs also get vaccinated, and every sterilised dog is gifted with a kennel, blankets, a collar, food and water bowls, and a supply of food on an ongoing basis. This is only actioned once the owner has agreed to work with them to provide better living conditions and have their animals sterilized. Dogs Trust also holds regular cleaning days where the residents can bring their dogs to a central point so that they can be bathed to get rid of ticks and fleas.
Q: Your organisation, Dogs Trust, has really had an incredible impact, but you say that Stats don’t tell the whole story. What do you mean?
Lee-Anne: Statistics matter, but they don’t tell the whole story. Success isn’t just how many dogs we vaccinate or sterilise; it’s the shift in how communities talk about and treat their animals. It’s the child who explains to a parent why a dog needs water in the heat. The owner who proudly builds a shelter after a workshop. The fewer calls about suffering animals in areas we’ve worked in for years. To me, success is when care becomes normal, local, and sustainable, when communities no longer need us in the same way.
Q: Your organisation operates on 4 Pillars. What are they?
Lee-Anne: Provide, Protect, Care, Educate. Philosophy: All four pillars matter, but Educate is the one that changes the future. Providing food or medical care helps today. Protection saves a life in crisis. Care restores dignity. But education prevents suffering before it begins. When people understand why sterilisation matters, why dogs need shelter, companionship, and healthcare, entire communities shift. Education turns charity into empowerment. It means fewer unwanted litters, fewer preventable diseases, and a long-term improvement in how animals are treated, even when we’re not there.
Q: The work that your organisation does must be incredibly difficult, especially for those who find it difficult to watch animals suffer. How do you and your team cope?
Lee-Anne: The emotional weight of this work is very real. You don’t walk away unchanged from seeing suffering every day. I’ve learned that coping isn’t about becoming numb; it’s about staying open while building healthy ways to release what you carry. I lean heavily on my team. We talk, we debrief, we remind each other of the wins. I also make space for quiet recovery, time in nature, reflection, and moments of connection with the very animals we’ve helped.
Strangely, it’s often a rescued dog’s simple trust, a wagging tail after trauma, that restores my strength. Hope doesn’t come from ignoring the pain; it comes from witnessing healing. One rescue I’ll never forget was a small female dog found tied up with a heavy chain so short she couldn’t lie down properly. She was terrified and had clearly never known kindness. When we returned after building trust with the family, they agreed to surrender her. Weeks later, after medical treatment and gentle care, she rolled onto her back for a belly rub, completely relaxed, completely safe. That transformation, from fear to trust, stays with me. It’s proof that no matter how hard a beginning is, healing is possible.
Q: Mahatma Gandhi stated, “The Greatness of a Nation can be measured by how it treats Animals". Do you believe this sentiment is true?
Lee-Anne: If people understood one thing, it’s that kindness toward animals reflects the health of a society. When we practice care for the most vulnerable beings, we strengthen empathy in every direction. Animal welfare isn’t separate from human welfare. It’s connected. Communities that value compassion create safer, more respectful environments for everyone. Goodwill is contagious; when people see kindness in action, they’re more likely to extend it themselves.”
Q: What do you say to those who also want to help animals where they live?
Lee-Anne: It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but meaningful change often starts small. One simple action anyone can take today is to learn and share one piece of responsible pet-care knowledge, whether it’s the importance of sterilisation, vaccinations, or proper shelter. Compassion grows through everyday choices: supporting local welfare groups, reporting neglect, adopting rather than buying, or even just having a conversation that shifts someone’s perspective. You don’t have to save the world alone. You just have to make your corner of it kinder than you found it.
Q: Is there something special that Women bring to the work you do?
Lee-Anne: Women often bring deep empathy, intuition, and collaborative leadership into this work. We’re used to balancing emotional labour, caregiving, and resilience — all of which are vital in animal welfare and humanitarian spaces. There’s also strength in leading with compassion rather than dominance. The ability to listen, nurture trust, and hold firm boundaries at the same time creates environments where both people and animals feel safe. Compassion is not softness. It's a powerful leadership tool.
Today, Dogs Trust is made possible by an incredible team of staff, volunteers, donors, and compassionate members of the public who all come together to support the work we do.
