HeelerLove Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) I hope you don't mind me posting here and I hope this is the right section for this. The shelter that I adopted my boy from just released the following statement: 7th March 2012 Yesterday we were inspected by the RSPCA after being reported by a local resident with a personal grudge. The report was for having too many dogs and the premises being untidy. We have never described the shelter as ‘The Ritz’. We are aware on first impressions that it looks like a mess but we use and salvage every item possible for the benefit of the animals. What we can’t salvage for our own purposes we sell as scrap, including cans, bottles and scrap steel. The shelter is for animals with no other option, who without us would’ve been put to sleep. Some animals come in heavily traumatised from the abuse suffered at their owner’s hands. We do our best to rehabilitate, medically treat and provide love and care to these animals and we have a very good success rate in doing so. These dogs are now in happy, loving homes and described as the ‘best dog ever’. Most of our dogs and cats come from the local Riverland Councils and community, yet we get very little support in return. Of the thousands of residents in the Riverland we have only 3 regular volunteers to care for the animals and clean the kennels. Yesterday we had to surrender seven of our dogs and one kitten. This was a heartbreaking day for us. One of the dogs was blind, but happy and secure in his run. Another had been heavily traumatised and showed fear with strangers but loved the volunteers. He was a silly, happy, wiggly boy when with them. Others we don’t understand why they were chosen, except for maybe their breed. One of them being a girl we had spent several thousand dollars on removing a limb when she was involved in a car accident. This has been a heavy blow to us as we have always tried to do everything possible to save the lives of these unwanted animals and find them safe and happy homes. We receive no government funding. All our helpers, including administration, are unpaid volunteers who also have their own lives, families, pets and employment to work into their timetables. Our funds come from the sale of animals, volunteers own pockets and sponsorships. We have never refused an animal. No matter if the animal requires intensive care or is easily rehomable we have always assisted. It didn’t matter if the animal was a purebred or a cross breed, we didn’t discriminate. We now have no choice but to limit our intake of animals to only the local councils. We will no longer be able to assist private surrenders or anyone outside of the Riverland community. Lola McLachlan Moorook Animal Shelter I am disgusted that because one person holds a grudge (apparently this person wanted to adopt a dog but were refused due to their past questionable animal keeping ethics) the RSPCA can swoop in and seize these animals. The shelter in question is a not for profit, no kill shelter that, until now, accepted not only animals from the council but charged residents of the riverland no fee to dump their no longer wanted pets on them. They have had litters of puppies and kittens dumped in boxes at their front gates in the middle of the night and in one case, a mother cat and her kittens were left at the gate in a taped up box in the middle of a 40+ degree day.. the shelter was open that day, there was no reason to leave those poor animals at the gate. I have been a 'liker' of their facebook page for over two years now and some of the dogs up for adoption have been on there since that whole time. They care about the animals when no one else does. They are ethical - all dogs are vaccinated, wormed, flea'd and if they came in entire, desexed before going to new safe and loving homes. Amendment - three out of 7 dogs were euthanised within a couple of days of being taken by the RSPCA. These dogs were all healthy and happy and were pts simply for 'being old'. This post is moreso a bit of a rant.. but also serves a purpose. Can anyone tell me if the RSPCA has acted properly here? I have not been to the shelter myself so can not comment on the condition of the place, but my boy came to me clean, no worms, no fleas and if anything, a little bit overweight. That suggests to me that if the health or intergrity of the animals was in danger, there would have been a good chance he would have at the very least had fleas. I look at the photos of dogs available for adoption almost every day and have never noticed anything that would suggest the conditions there are concerning. I do not know a lot about rescue.. is there a limit to how many dogs a shelter can have at one time? I know it will most likely be overlooked, but I will be writing a letter to the RSPCA expressing my disgust at what they have done. There are numerous other people on the shelters facebook page that will be doing the same. If there is anything you think I should include or can pass on to others to include, I would love to hear it. Edited March 15, 2013 by BlueyLove Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salukifan Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) Usual statement from me: there's their side of the story and the RSPCA side... and somewhere in the middle is the truth. I'd avoid leaping to conclusions. "Rescue" isn't a cast iron guarantee of good animal welfare practices anymore than "RSPCA" means that there's definite cruelty. Edited March 8, 2013 by Haredown Whippets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheilaheel02 Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) I have just about lost complete faith in the RSPCA. While I can't comment on this particular case, I've long since stopped donating to them for many reasons. Too much power which is often weilded at the wrong targets and no effective accountability. We have worked with several fantastic individuals employed by the RSPCA who are genuine, but the organization as a whole has lost it's way IMHO. I've been following the situation with the Penderlea horses (Save the Penderlea Horses on FB) which is much closer to home for me. The fact that despite previous reports, this horrific neglect has been going on for more than 20 years, beggars belief. S Edited to add that I haven't just taken the FB site as gospel. I've had a number of local sources confirm the situation when I made some discreet enquiries. Edited March 9, 2013 by Sheilaheel02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Bluey it is so hard to comment on this. People in rescue tend to be very passionate about their beliefs in what they are doing and why. How shelters or private rescues are run is often determined by the resources available, including manpower for cleaning, feeding, socialising and training. This group sound like they have been doing their very best with what they had but maybe it still wasn't enough for the animals in question? That's why it is hard to comment without seeing or knowing the shelter or skills of the volunteers. Perhaps things have deteriorated since you got your dog from them? Perhaps the RSPCA had already notified them of changes that needed to be made and they were unable to comply? It is so hard to know but I understand your anger and the distress of those who have been running the shelter going through this experience. I know that I would feel the same way if this happened to a group I was involved with. And please don't take this the wrong way - it is simply a comment to get you and other angered supporters thinking - in the time it takes you to do up and send a letter of complaint to the RSPCA you could've cleaned a couple of those kennels or fed the dogs at that shelter or taken a couple for a walk. It sounds to me like they desperately need more people to volunteer regular time at the shelter and I just wonder if any of you who are angry have thought about how you can assist in a more practical and ongoing way so this never happens again? Volunteering is incredibly rewarding for both the individual and the animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Why were the dogs killed immediately? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytmate Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 It's very sad, but if they have never refused an animal they were always in danger of one day becoming overcrowded. Their response was sensible and dignified and I hope they get community support to help them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebanne Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Why were the dogs killed immediately? were thy killed immediately? I'm with HW on this one. 2 sides to the story with the truth somewhere in between Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Dogs shouldn;t be kept in sub standard, make do conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Squish Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Sometimes it kinder to euthanize dogs humanely, than have them live a life of hell in a shelter like this one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 All rescuers need to be aware of how many animals they can adequately care for at any given time... and not rely on volunteers to reliably turn up on a regular basis to help out. If you can't adequately care for the animals, their housing, and the grounds of your premises on your own (read 1 person), then you probably have too many animals in care. T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crickets Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Its been a long time coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Sometimes it kinder to euthanize dogs humanely, than have them live a life of hell in a shelter like this one! That's what has worried me and this is not the only place that could be guilty of saving dogs and then keeping them in alive in a less than satisfactory situation for indeterminate periods with pretty much no hope of rehoming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Have those criticising been there to see these apparently substandard conditions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crickets Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) Have those criticising been there to see these apparently substandard conditions? Yes. And I suggest the Op might like to visit there before being disgusted about the actions of locals & the RSPCA. They might be more disgusted about other things after a visit. Places like this are why I abhor the concept of no kill shelters. Edited March 8, 2013 by crickets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Moorook were borderline hoarders and until we had a massive thread here about them they weren't desexing either. The rspca needed to finally act with this place. One of those places that reminded you there were worse things than being PTS, but I think some of their new vollies were working hard to sort the issues out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackJaq Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Is that thread still around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Are You Serious Jo Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Should be, wasn't all that long ago, 2-3 years? I was still living not that far from them at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackJaq Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Oh ok I think I found it :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 It's like I've read this before? This happened to them another time as well yeah? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_PL_ Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) They used to be the 1 woman $50 no vet work place and as far as I could see had made a huge change in that regard. I've not seen or heard anything of the shelter so can't comment on what's happened now. Edited March 8, 2013 by Powerlegs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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