Anyone See This? Rescue Trashes Boarding Kennel

[*kirty*]

http://m.gympietimes.com.au/news/pet-motel-owners-big-clean-up-task/2421152/

Pet motel owner’s big clean-up task

THE smell is a bad first impression at the Gympie Pet Motel and former home of the Best Friend Fur Ever Rescue Service.

The property's angry owner, who also owns the business, did not want to be named, but said she was distraught at the results of having leased the property and business out for the previous 12 months.

"It isn't pretty and it doesn't smell good," she told The Gympie Times when we arrived.

Manager Doug Seaman said the mess was so bad he was having the owners of any remaining animals collect them so he could close down for a month to repair and clean the premises.

The two were waiting for RSPCA inspectors to arrive at the Eel Creek Rd property so they could assess the state of the property before clean-up work began.

The animal rescue service has been under pressure recently with neighbours complaining about constantly barking dogs and Gympie Regional Council moves to shut it down in response to the complaints.

"This business has been here as a boarding kennel and pet motel for 40 years and it's never been like this," the owner said.

Mr Seaman brushed flies aside from his face as he took us through the dog and cat cages, where gutters did not appear to have been hosed out and rotting food and excrement fouled the air.

The two were waiting for RSPCA inspectors to arrive at the Eel Creek Rd property so they could assess the state of the property before clean-up work began.

The animal rescue service has been under pressure recently with neighbours complaining about constantly barking dogs and Gympie Regional Council moves to shut it down in response to the complaints.

"This business has been here as a boarding kennel and pet motel for 40 years and it's never been like this," the owner said.

"There's a cow and a horse in the paddock and another horse that's dead," Mr Seaman said.

"I'm dreading the owner coming around for his horse and I'll have to ask him if it's the dead one in the paddock.

"This was a nice clean business I was proud of.

"It should be cleaned and disinfected every day.

"It's shocking to find the business in this state.

"I've been shaking and even throwing up and it's not the smell.

"It's just the shock of seeing the business in this state.

"We're going to close for a month to sterilise, repair, rebuild and paint.

"I spent seven years rebuilding this place.

"It caught fire and I spent three years after that rebuilding again.

"And now this happens."

The former operator said she had saved many animals in the past 12 months.

[RuralPug]

Would like to know the full story...unsure as we definitely have only one side of it in this article. One single line at the end seems to have come from the other party?

I am also confused as to whether it was operating as a shelter or as a boarding facility while leased to the rescue group - or was it both?

From that article obviously sub-standard care was provided and the owner took no interest in all that time in how his business was being managed? Who was getting any profits form the boarding while volunteers instead of paid staff were working at the business?

Not a lot of information on that rescue's FB page, except to say that they have "removed all the fosters" from there and have rented a 12 acre property with a dam elsewhere for their animals in care and have started a foster care network.

ETA: here is an earlier newspaper article from earlier this year: http://www.gympietimes.com.au/news/fate-in-councils-hands/2247203/

"OWNERS of a Gympie dog shelter are facing a battle with Gympie Regional Council over noise complaints.Best Friends Fur Ever Rescue is a no-kill dog shelter which works as a boarding kennel and rescue shelter.

The facility, located on Eel Creek Rd, is home to 40 dogs, and residents in surrounding streets have made complaints about the barking.

They petitioned the council to have the kennels reach "no noise" status by the end of April.

Operator Peta Herrero-Lopez was warned by Gympie Regional Council that if she made no immediate solutions to the noise, she would face a $30,000 fine.

Ms Herrero-Lopez said she needed to raise funds to make changes and it was impossible to create a no-noise shelter.

She created an online petition to ask the council for more time to raise funds for noise reduction infrastructure.

"The business has been here for 40 years and there have been complaints for a long time, but mainly since I took over in October because I have the dogs in the outdoor runs," Ms Herrero- Lopez said.

"The council has said there can be no noise whatsoever but that's not possible with all the work we do.

"The council has not measured the noise, all they have told me is that it is too noisy."

The petition, which received more than 4000 signatures, has been handed to Gympie Regional Council.

However, Councillor for Planning and Development Ian Petersen said no decisions had been made yet and further action may be taken.

"The situation is that their time has expired and we are undertaking noise testing," he said.

"If the testing confirms the complaints, we will go to court and it will be up to the court to decide."

The shelter's fundraising manager, Jazmyn Smith, said there were many factors the council had not considered. She said the dogs generally only bark during feeding or the arrival of visitors.

"It simply cannot be helped that the dogs have to spend a large part of their time caged in runs and lack of exercise and stimulation can cause all sorts of problems for dogs, one of these being a lot more energy to bark," she said.

"However, the shelter is built from the exact same materials as both the RSPCA and Council shelters; besser blocks, wire and concrete."

Councillor Peterson said other residents are entitled to enjoy a quiet neighbourhood.

"The council is sympathetic to people who care for animals and no-one wants to cause problems for the owners of the shelter but we have a duty of care to maintain the other residents' quality of life," he said.

"Barking is frequent and , it can go on for hours, no-one can be expected to put up with that."

Ms Herrero- Lopez said fundraising efforts were being undertaken to buy acoustic foam, noise barriers and plants to alleviate the noise."

Edited October 21, 2014 by RuralPug

[Little Gifts]

This statement by Ms Herrero-Lopez worried me most given they are/were a no kill rescue:

"It simply cannot be helped that the dogs have to spend a large part of their time caged in runs and lack of exercise and stimulation can cause all sorts of problems for dogs, one of these being a lot more energy to bark," she said.

It's why I prefer home based fostering over a shelter. If a dog is in care in a shelter for an extended period of time that is it's life and it is one that does not mimic the life it would lead with a family. If the rescue group has a low staff and volunteer to rescue dog ratio that dog gets even less human interaction, exercise and stimulation than it deserves to be rehabilitated so it can make a good family pet. Vicious cycle.

[tdierikx]

Just because you may have X number of kennels - doesn't mean you HAVE to fill them with X number of animals...

If you can't adequately exercise and stimulate X animals, simply don't store X animals in your kennels.

The rescue I volunteered for had 80 kennels - and we worked out that 25 animals at any given time was the best number for us - just in case vollies didn't turn up and only 1 person would be left to do all the work on any given day. You can't bank on vollies always showing up...

T.

[Pjrt]

Just because you may have X number of kennels - doesn't mean you HAVE to fill them with X number of animals...

If you can't adequately exercise and stimulate X animals, simply don't store X animals in your kennels.

The rescue I volunteered for had 80 kennels - and we worked out that 25 animals at any given time was the best number for us - just in case vollies didn't turn up and only 1 person would be left to do all the work on any given day. You can't bank on vollies always showing up...

T.

Yep!! I had room for probably 50 dogs if I wanted, but very rarely did I go over 10 and then that was usually when I took a litter under 12 weeks old because they could be safely housed together and better than having a single baby.

[Little Gifts]

Just because you may have X number of kennels - doesn't mean you HAVE to fill them with X number of animals...

If you can't adequately exercise and stimulate X animals, simply don't store X animals in your kennels.

The rescue I volunteered for had 80 kennels - and we worked out that 25 animals at any given time was the best number for us - just in case vollies didn't turn up and only 1 person would be left to do all the work on any given day. You can't bank on vollies always showing up...

T.

Yep!! I had room for probably 50 dogs if I wanted, but very rarely did I go over 10 and then that was usually when I took a litter under 12 weeks old because they could be safely housed together and better than having a single baby.

Very true. Hadn't thought to express it from that angle because this sounded like the type of place where as many dogs as possible were being squeezed into whatever space was available without consideration of what happens after that. All just for the sake of saving lives. Shelters and kennelling certainly have a purpose in rescue but so many just don't seem to get that quality of life balance right. It would be much easier on the dogs and the staff/vols if they did.

[Loving my Oldies]

Vicious cycle.

It doesn't have to be and it shouldn't be. If you don't have the staff or the time and energy to manage when staff aren't available DON'T DO IT.

And as T says below, don't store X animals in your kennels.

Just because you may have X number of kennels - doesn't mean you HAVE to fill them with X number of animals...

If you can't adequately exercise and stimulate X animals, simply don't store X animals in your kennels.

The rescue I volunteered for had 80 kennels - and we worked out that 25 animals at any given time was the best number for us - just in case vollies didn't turn up and only 1 person would be left to do all the work on any given day. You can't bank on vollies always showing up...

T.

Well there were definitely more than 25 animals on the couple of days I went there and the person tried to tell me they had 300. I won't go on with the details of that conversation, which I can remember almost verbatim I was so shocked. Edited October 23, 2014 by Dame Danny's Darling