The Blessed Life of Little Bea

Written by SPCA Brakpan Fundraising and Social Media – Tamaryn Lombard

Photography by Tracy Bezuidenhout

Little Whisper, now lovingly known as Bea, was taken in by us about twelve-and-a-half years ago. I do remember the amazing family that adopted her; they were the absolute perfect family to adopt this beautiful baby. That’s because, after all these years, they never gave up on this girl.

Bea got to be on their adventure. No matter what. We’re just so grateful to see how she’s lived and thrived and is part of every move the Bezuidenhout family makes. This is what commitment to an animal looks like. Above all the possible odds in life, they found a way!

Tracy Bezuidenhout, Bea’s owner, shares...

Our precious Bea (her name was Whisper when we adopted her in January 2013) was a wonderful addition to our family.

I saw the photo of Whisper in the Brakpan Herald on the Thursday and knew I had to have her. I called my husband and showed him the photo and his response was simply: go get her!

We decided on the name Bea as she joined our family after the loss of another family pet who unfortunately was with us for a very short time.

“Bea” means blessing and bringer of happiness and is of Latin origin.

From day one, Bea did nothing but bring joy and happiness. She completed our family, slotting right in with our two other fur kids.

Fast forward quite a few years…

We made the decision to move to England. Major planning and, of course, our three (all rescues, two adopted from the Brakpan SPCA) were going with us. The process was started with all three as there are numerous tests and additional inoculations to be done for animals to be accepted into the UK. What should have been a six-month process took a year – due to Covid, everything took so much longer.

Unfortunately, we lost two of our fur babies due to health issues whilst trying to get ready for the big move. But, in August 2020, we set off for the UK – and of course Bea came with us. She’s now an Essex girl!

Bea came over on the first available flight – all animal flights had been stopped as they weren’t sure at that stage whether dogs were carriers of Covid. We left three weeks before her. She stayed in a doggy hotel and was extremely well looked after. The day of her flight was nerve-racking. We tracked the flight the entire time until she landed.

When she came home she was a bit unsure as she didn’t know the house, furniture or surroundings. She knew she was home the minute she saw some of her old toys that we’d brought with us. At first we had a bit of a hard time as she’d become nervous. It took patience and a thunder-shirt, and soon we had our baby girl back.

Bea got used to going on new outings, going to the pub for a meal, and even going into certain shops and getting to choose her own toys.

Not only has she settled so well (and has a European Passport), but she also settled us. I honestly don’t think the transition would’ve been so easy if it weren’t for my little princess.

She loves sniffaris, irrespective of the temperature, sun, wind, rain and snow.

Bea does all things normal little girls do, trick or treat, afternoon naps, walks along the beach… She might be getting older and sleeps a lot, but she still acts like a pup at times.

We’re truly lucky that she chose us!