Our Pets Left To Die

[Teebs]

http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/news...ie/1779932.aspx

BY BEVAN SHIELDS

18 Mar, 2010 10:35 AM

MORE cats and dogs are being impounded or abandoned in Orange than most other towns and cities, with over a third of all animals going into our RSPCA shelter never making it out alive.

“There’s no doubt the city has a significant problem,” RSPCA NSW animal wellbeing executive manager Susan Hill said yesterday.

“Orange is one of our smaller facilities but it’s a very busy shelter compared to others across the state.

“It is constantly running near capacity or full to capacity, they just don’t get a break.”

In the seven months between July 2009 and January 2010, 1454 cats and dogs were impounded or dumped at the William Street shelter.

Nearly 600 were euthanised, equivalent to over a third of all animals that went into the facility.

“I think it’s appalling and a very sad reflection on pet ownership in Orange,” said councillor Neil Jones, a member of a newly formed group hoping to tackle the problem.

There appears to be a direct correlation between the failure to register and microchip animals and rates of impoundment or abandonment.

Sixty per cent of the 979 dogs housed at the shelter in the seven- month period were not micro-chipped while 80 per cent were not desexed.

Just 35 of the 475 cats at the shelter were desexed.

The figures demonstrate residents continue to ignore the Companion Animals Act.

It dictates the mandatory registration and microchipping of cats and dogs..

“I believe we need to start getting tough in relation to enforcement,” Cr Jones said.

“However, whether penalties would be a deterrent to people who simply can’t afford to pay fines is another issue.”

The Companion Animals Management Advisory Group, made up of representatives of the RSPCA, Orange City Council, veterinarians, pet shop employees and pet owners, has a big task ahead of it to get the microchipping, registration and de-sexing message through to a community that appears not to be listening.

“There needs to be a much bigger focus on compliance with the law because that will start to reverse the rates of animals being discarded,” chairperson Marissa Clifford said.

“It does becoming frustrating because the RSPCA is open to helping people comply with the requirement of being a responsible pet owner.”

Ms Hill stressed the best way to reduce the number of animals being euthanised was through microchipping, desexing and registration.

[Teebs]

http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/news...ly/1779935.aspx

Bonnie dog finds love with family

BY BEVAN SHIELDS

18 Mar, 2010 10:40 AM

IF only there were more people around town like Allan and Anne Reith.

The couple’s German shepherd Bonnie and two cats Jimmy and William Wallace faced uncertain futures inside the RSPCA shelter before they found a new home with the Reiths.

“The one thing you get from an animal, particularly one from a shelter, is unconditional love,” Mr Reith said.

“I was walking Bonnie the other day and I was talking to a guy who said ‘what a lovely dog, do you know any breeders?’.”

“I said ‘there are a couple of German shepherd down at the shelter right now that would love a home’.”

“Getting a dog or cat shouldn’t be an impulse, but I encourage everybody who has thought about it fully and decide to go ahead to go and have a wander down at the RSPCA shelter.”

Of the 979 dogs impounded or surrendered at Orange’s RSPCA shelter between July 2009 and January 2010, just 133 found new homes.

The rest were reclaimed, transferred or euthanised.

Aside from being the proud owner of three former shelter animals, Mrs Reith is also president of the organisation’s local fundraising branch.

“I see my wife and her five or six stalwarts rushing around trying to find homes and raise money and I just shake my head at times and wonder how they can be all so committed when they are really pushing uphill the whole time,” Mr Reith said.

“Orange really is probably the worst place we’ve been to for this issue, we lived in Dubbo for nine years and they didn’t have anywhere near the dog problems Orange has.

“People need to understand that a pet is a pet for life.”

bevan.shields@ruralpress .com

[Teebs]

and last week there was this:

http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/news...ux/1775092.aspx

Shelter full amid animal influx

BY BEVAN SHIELDS

12 Mar, 2010 07:59 PM

GOD knows how Jenny Chapman finds the strength to come to work each day.

It’s the Orange RSPCA shelter manager’s job to decide which animals are euthanised to make room for the hundreds of new arrivals dumped at the William Street facility each month.

The shelter is so packed puppies are being housed on the floor of the catteries.

Even the boarding kennels are being used to accommodate the increasing numbers of dogs and cats needing a home.

If the boarding kennels remain closed the organisation will lose $50,000 income each year.

“If we all worked together and took responsibility for the animals in our own backyards we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Mrs Chapman said yesterday.

“It’s hard to get the community to understand that every litter counts.

“It all adds to the numbers that come through the shelter and have to be put to sleep.”

Space for expected new arrivals on the weekend will only be made available by euthanising others.

The shelter was “over-run” with nearly 100 cats and kittens yesterday alone.

They sell around 15 a month but have more than 1500 a year coming in.

Dozens of young dogs, most likely Christmas presents, fill the shelter’s 44 kennels.

In one day alone Mrs Chapman had 44 kelpies seeking new owners.

“They may have found homes when they were pups or kittens but are they still in that home six months later?” she asked.

“It’s all so unnecessary and frustrating because it’s simple to solve.

“If you don’t want a pet for life, do not get one.”

Sixty thousand animals are euthanised each year in NSW.

“I’m led to believe Orange has one of the worst records regarding impounding animals per head of population,” Orange councillor Neil Jones said.

Mrs Chapman and Cr Jones both urged people to take the time before buying an animal to consider the responsibilities of pet ownership.

They also urged people to have their pets desexed.

[justin19801]

So the R$PCA solicits funds to save animals then kills them. There is no doubt in my mind that if we had a RICO act in Australia there'd be some wellknown brownshirts doing time for racketeering offences.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Simply appalling. WTF is the matter with people in Orange?