RSPCA Braces for More Animals Over Christmas Prompting Adoption and Fostering Plea. ABC News 13/12/22

[Deeds]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-13/rspca-expecting-more-animals-for-full-shelters-over-christmas/101753510

[tdierikx]

Considering a couple of months ago, RSPCA NSW was the only shelter that steadfastly said they weren't seeing any increase in surrenders when every other rescue/shelter/pound was saying they were full, this is a bit of a turnaround from them, don't you think?

 

I actually heard that RSPCA Yagoona was basically not accepting surrenders, so I decided to test that theory... I called them and gave the best sob story for wanting to surrender a dog - and was basically told to go to PetRescue website and look up the rescue directory there and try getting one of them to take the dog... so that seems to be true... they didn't even want to put me on any waiting list or anything, just fobbed me off to try contacting all the rescues I could find instead. Interesting to note that in their recently released annual report, they (RSPCA NSW) have pretty graphs showing that intake of dogs and cats has actually decreased from previous years... mind you the survival rate is still pretty grim once an animal does end up there.

 

Another interesting move from RSPCA NSW is that once the legislation came in that means that all NSW pounds must make solid attempts to offer all rehomable animals to private rescues before euthanaisia is an option, RSPCA NSW suddenly announced that they were withdrawing all of their tenders for pound services in NSW... one can only draw their own conclusions there, yes?

 

As for the dog referred to at the beginning of that article... if one goes to the actual listing detailing the dog's needs, it's an interesting read. The dog is 9 years old, requires ongoing medication for health and behavioural issues, has been in foster care for 2+ years, but still has obedience and behavioural issues that require more "training"... sure, I want to adopt a pet that has all of those requirements... not! I'm sure it's a perfectly delightful dog, but the requirements placed on any potential adopter are pretty steep...

 

Also, while I understand that renting with pets is a minefield at the best of times, what seems to be strange is the sudden massive numbers of people all needing to surrender their pets due to not being allowed to have them in rentals. The rental issue regarding pets hasn't really changed over the past few years, so I'm thinking that some people are using it as a "palatable excuse" for surrendering their pets rather than admitting to something more likely like they simply can't afford them in this financial climate - cost of living PLUS rental price hikes is much more likely, don't you think? Still a perfectly legitimate reason, but not as easy to admit for the average person... much easier to focus on landlords not allowing pets than admitting you are struggling financially...

 

T.