Is your cat worth $500, or would another cat do?


That’s the dilemma to be faced by cat owners in the Northern Territory, held to randsom by local councils thanks to new laws that, according to RSPCA Central Australia manager Jill Hall, are set to see up to 70% of domestic cats killed.

Under the tough new registration changes passed by Alice Springs Town Council earlier this month, cat owners will have to pay $330 in penalties if their cat is found unregistered.

And to get their loved pet back from the RSPCA it will cost $240.

So it is $570 if an owner wants their unregistered cat back.

That is about five times as much as it costs to buy a new cat.

Just as anyone who’s taken the time to think this through all the way to the end would predict, each new and more draconian law pushed forward by cat ’supporter’ groups sees the most disadvantaged pet owners targeted and shelter kill rates rise.


What programs should a cat welfare group push for? Ones that protect cats. Why instead are they pushing for compulsory cat registration? Because there’s money in registering cats. But rest assured, according to the Darwin local council, they’ll be taking no prisoners.

An unregistered cat caught in council traps in public places will be destroyed.

So this ‘great’ new law to protect cats is nothing more than a licence to kill.


In other news, cat welfare groups in WA have a problem; they can’t rehome desexed kittens for a couple of hundred dollars, because free to good homes kitties are everywhere. There was a lovely colour article about it in the West Australian today;



Healthy, playful and all dead by yesterday afternoon

The Cat Haven has to put down almost 70 per cent of the 10,000 cats dumped on its doorstep every year.

Is the answer according to the biggest cat welfare group in WA, the Cat Haven, more support for owners and the cats they care for to keep cats in their homes? Nope;

In an attempt to decrease the number of unwanted and feral cats, Premier Colin Barnett recently backed calls for compulsory cat sterilisation.

Theorising that the same people who won’t, or can’t, pay to buy a desexed kitten are somehow going to be inspired to invest in desexing by a law which sees fines and seizures of their undesexed cat should they not…


Seriously – you couldn’t make this stuff up.

Now xmas is over and the pressies are done with, I can tell you that the items I was wrapping earlier in the month were 400 copies of Redemption by Nathan Winograd.


This is a huge donation on behalf of Nathan to the rescuers of Australia. One I think shows quite clearly that he’s not in it for $$, but that’s it’s simply his life’s mission to see pets survive the shelter system.


The book blows apart the commonly held belief that pet owners are to blame for the killing of millions of adoptable animals each year. This conventional wisdom says, that if people cared more, they wouldn’t give pets up so easily and would desex them and be responsible, and that it is these irresponsible owner that cause all the problems… and that, that’s why so many pets are killed in shelters.


That’s exactly what I believed too and yet, after reading ‘Redemption’ …  now I don’t.


Instead, Redemption puts the blame firmly back in the hands of under-peforming ‘shelter’ executives who, while failing to implement programs that would save the lives of animals, still proclaim themselves as experts and defend killing as “unavoidable” and No Kill as “unattainable”. Despite taking in millions of dollars every year, having the full support of a pet loving community and overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they repeat a now all-too-familiar cliche’ - “too many animals and not enough homes”. Killing animals, Winograd argues, has become systematic and unquestioned and defeatism, entrenched.


But his vision isn’t just theoretical. From Pet Connection blog;

In questioning the killing, he lays out the path to a different outcome.

The road to a “no-kill nation,” says Winograd, begins with shelters that no longer view killing adoptable pets as acceptable work for nonprofits formed to advance the humane treatment of animals. Shelters must enlist the pet lovers in the community as partners — not as enemies who must be punished with ever-harsher pet limit and neutering laws. Working harder to make a bad system work won’t fix it, he argues.


“Redemption” advances strategies that have worked in progressive shelters and offers point-by-point answers to those who have every excuse for why such plans won’t travel. City shelter? Done it. Rural shelter? Done it. Management of feral cats? Been there, done that, too.


Can a shelter go from a one-way door to the euthanasia room to 90 percent adoption rates? The answer is “yes” for any community willing to try, says Winograd, and the only thing stopping change is unquestioning acceptance of the way things have always been.

Vickie, JB and I have discussed the book for hours, it’s implications and the exciting and proven alternatives to killing it offers. We had always felt the key was engaging the community. We had always felt we should be marketing ourselves better. We had always felt that the people who love pets should be able to access shelters as a resource and as a support. And we had always felt that the next generation isn’t going to respond to hollow threats from finger wagging ‘compulsory desexing’ advocates; instead they need to be inspired by the promise of a better future.


That is really what this book is about – the promise that there is indeed a better way. The historically appalling kill statistics aren’t set in stone and that if we choose to examine the rescue industry warts and all and start using the language of success rather than a language of punishment and failure, we can inspire our community to help us.


There is success in our future and the blueprint is this book. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Some pics from wrapping central…

The books arrive!

The production line - I put my mum to work!

Lookie how many we done! 400 to be exact :)

 From the great xmas themed article today from the Sydney Morning Herald’s, Nick Galvin; A grim end for Christmas puppies;

 Wendy West, a veterinary nurse, is the owner of a Victorian business called ACA Breeders Kennels. Each week she supplies between 50 and 100 puppies to pet shops around the country as well as selling them through her own shop in Melbourne. The dogs come from up to 40 different breeders of all sizes. She rejects completely the critics of commercial breeders.

“You can do everything right but there are always groups with their own agenda that will give you grief. We have a great commitment to health and wellbeing and to helping people get the right pet.”

ACA Breeders Kennels breeds a range of crosses, often called designer dogs and given exotic names such as groodle (golden retriever/poodle) and pugalier (pug/cavalier King Charles spaniel). Ms West said there was a great demand for these types of dogs, and because of this they rarely add to the growing numbers of dumped or surrendered dogs.

A response from rescue;

Monika Biernacki with some of the 100 dogs she cares for at Doggie Rescue in Ingleside.

“People get rid of their dogs before Christmas”

And Where Do Puppies Come From? gets a feature;

It would be a hard heart that could resist the sight of puppies tumbling over one another in a pet shop window.

But behind this heart-warming scene a venomous debate is raging about the way puppies are bred and sold. Opponents claim it is a profit-driven, inhumane business that indirectly causes the destruction of more than 60,000 unwanted dogs a year. But to the dog industry these critics are reckless extremists who will do and say anything to further their agenda.

Vickie Davy is a dog trainer, campaigner and creator of the website Where Do Puppies Come From?

She and other campaigners claim many of the thousands of puppies required to supply pet shops come from so-called “puppy farms”.

“It’s quite a veiled industry in Australia,” she said. “A lot of people don’t realise where puppies do come from.”

 See also; You are an activist

Ever told someone you know about the problems with pet shops? If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then I suspect you probably have. What say you, then to the claim that this makes you an activist with the efficiency of PETA and that you’re trying to wipe out companion animals?

In December’s PIAA CEO report, Joanne Sillince urges her members to take action against activists who are deliberately ignoring facts, using simplistic analogies and are trying to take away people’s right to own pets . Too many of their potential clients they fear are so weak-minded as to ‘believe everything they read on the internet’.

Considering it’s in the top five on Australian google searches for ‘puppy mills’ and has recently featured on ninemsn, one of the activist organisations referenced is most certainly our site ‘Where do puppies come from?’ Joanne claims activists like us are trying to keep people from getting a pet these holidays.

We are prepared for the likelihood that the activists will use the Christmas quiet news period to ramp up activity – to try and make people ashamed to own a puppy or a kitten. What a way to celebrate the Christmas season! ref

Ouch!

Seems our efforts to give people the full range of information about the issue of puppy farming, our highly researched website, our panel of experts and our dozens of case studies… not to mention our concurrent campaign to find 1,000 homes for 1,000 homeless pets for the holidays… is us simply being anti-pet.

Now in my view obviously, websites like ‘Where do puppies come from?’ aren’t the enemy to pet ownership. Rather the problem is a lack of responsible information from the pet industry on what environment is required to produce a well socialised and behaviourally healthy pet. ’Where do puppies come from?’ wouldn’t exist if the pet industry was diligently addressing the issues surrounding dog farming with science-based information, available from any of the many studies into the effects of the first 12 weeks of a dogs upbringing on its later personality. Any dog behaviouralist worth his salt knows that puppies raised in farms and displayed in windows are likely to have issues. See this quote from Karin Bridge, President, the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia;

“Puppies should never be raised as ‘livestock’. Their role is that of a companion animal for people and they are able to fulfill that role best when they are born into a family home and raised amongst the noise and chaos of the human family. Puppy mills and pet shop windows cannot replicate a home environment.

“Puppies who fail to receive adequate early exposure and socialisation are sometimes never able to cope with modern, urban living. Training can then become a constant uphill battle. Typical problems resulting from a lack of early socialisation include shyness, sound sensitivity and fear aggression. For ex-breeding stock who may have spent years in an impoverished environment the problems may be so severe as to make life as a normal family pet impossible.”

The new wave of community and web-based campaigns against pet shops are simply a symptom of the pet industries failure to put animal welfare first and educate their clients themselves. People are researching puppy mills on the internet, but this isn’t because they’re in anyway gullible or caught in hype – it’s simply because they are interested in ethical pet acquisition and want to make the best pet choice for their family.

Information websites shouldn’t be considered the enemy – we should be glad people are asking questions and getting educated before they get a pet. Without a doubt the enemy to pet ownership is profit motivated breeders raising pets in a way that make it difficult for them to be good companions; they’re the ones causing enormous amounts of suffering, for pets and their owners alike.

The Network for Good has released an Online Fundraising Survival Guide that’s really fantastic;

This is obviously a very scary time for fundraising – perhaps the most terrifying that many of us have ever experienced. But even when the economy looks bad, your online fundraising and marketing doesn’t have to suffer. Downturn or not, it is important that we don’t assume a defensive posture: Times like these really demand that you go about fundraising and marketing your organization smarter and more effectively than ever before. As fundraisers and marketers, we need to create plans and strategies for dealing with a downturn that are as detailed as those drawn up for normal times. That’s why we created this guide, to give you 12 real-life strategies and tactics to go about marketing and fundraising your organization more effectively during these difficult times.

Download the guide here

The Assistant Dog Care Manager, John tells Ellen how he came to be an animal lover. He then describes how he helped rescue 22 of the canines involved in the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dAeQfUgPtI]

And this lovely tale of a wee bulldoggy. Gosh, I love DogTown :)

Finding a home for a squat’y bulldogish dog that falls over and occasionally drops poop; it just a little bit harder to find the right person for them – it just takes a little more time.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yno6kgiYME0]

While most people’s only contact with chicken is original recipe and chips, those people who’ve experienced the love of a chicken,  their engaging personalities and their quirky birdy behaviours, know they are one of the worlds most underestimated animals. And they are winning converts around the world.

“In the same way that a dog wags its tail in response to your voice, a chicken will actually answer you back verbally. It’s that conversation that people are really warming to.”
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – The Times Online

But being a chicken lover is not without it’s perils. The Atlantic reports on the difficulties faced when baby chicks are sexed… but they get it wrong;

Simply put, it’s not easy to size up a chicken’s true leanings, at least not right away. That’s a lesson many urban chicken owners learn the hard way, because no matter how attached they become to this creature they’re raising from an egg, even chicken-friendly cities such as Portland (where a tour highlighting the best in backyard avian architecture—think coops with eco-roofs and heated floors—attracted more than 600 people last year) draw a firm line at roosters. So the question becomes: How to get rid of them?

Turning them into dinner does not seem to be popular, sustainability benefits aside. Instead, other, more decidedly urban solutions have emerged. New postings pop up almost daily on Craigslist featuring roosters that need to leave Portland, pronto: “cute rooster who crows too loud for the neighbor. very sad to let him go, but we must until the city changes its mind.” Like personal ads for humans, many include descriptions of the ideal match, mentions of farm fantasies, and attempts to warn away the wrong partner: “Too small for a chicken dinner.”

“I’ve had grown men in tears because they raised them as babies and they live in the city and can’t have a rooster,” Rushing says from behind the feed-store counter.
Read more…

And like all pets, chickens need care and vet attention. And dedicated owners see no cost too much for a loved family member.

(US) Couple pays $4,000 for leg surgery on pet chicken

This could be the world’s most expensive chicken leg.

When Lily the chicken needed surgery, her owners sacrificed to do whatever it took to help their pet. She had gotten her left leg stuck in a barbed wire fence.

The veterinarian told Lily’s owners, Vicky and Sam Mills, that it would be extremely costly to save her leg. But the couple told the vet to do whatever it took to save their pet chicken.

It took seven operations and a leg amputation to get Lily back to normal. The Mills have paid almost $4,000 for their pet chicken’s medical bills. They took out a bank loan, and lived a minimal lifestyle for a year to pay for Lily’s treatment.

But the Mills said it is completely worth it to see a smile on Lily’s beak.

Initially, treatment failed, and the veterinarians said that Lily’s leg would have to be amputated in order to save her life. And then, the pet chicken was diagnosed with depression after the operation.

Pet experts said Lily was sad when she was alone in the house, so the UK couple left the television on whenever they left home.

Vicky Mills said: “She’s worth every penny. I love her to bits and it would break my heart if anything happened to her.” The couple said they couldn’t bear to put their beloved chicken down. They added that Lily is a happy hen again and is fine hoping around on one leg, but when she tries to scratch herself with her missing leg, she does fall over. ref

… going to show species is no barrier to empathy, compassion and deep bonds between pet and owner.

So when you’re sitting down to christmas lunch this year, give a thought to the humble chicken. She is a complex, lovable creature who deserves respect. And if you feel compelled to help a rescuer caring for chickens here in Australia, check out A Poultry Place;

Bede Carmody offers a sanctuary to injured or abandoned chickens, ducks and geese at his property near Canberra.

Watch the video here

My response to a DOL thread where someone posed the question;

With the term PTS (’Put to sleep’) I think we actually inadvertently sanitise/minimise what actually happens to hundreds of thousands of perfectly healthy rehomable dogs in pounds around Australia each year. They aren’t ’sleeping’.

Wouldn’t it be more helpful and accurate in relation to pound euthanasia if we called it what it is? PTD or ‘Put to death’? I know its not comfortable – but the number of dogs who die in pounds each year isn’t either. Maybe we need to ratchet up the accurate publicity of these mass killings through DOL and elsewhere using accurate language around what actually happens in pounds each year.

It’s lovely to hear such progressive thoughts being aired in a public forum in Oz and well done to ‘westiemum’ for bravely heading into the lions den. But I knew my own answer would be longer than what is appropriate for a forum, so here goes ;)

Although PetRescue’s message has always been a deliberately positive one, we’ve never shied away from using the term ‘killed’ when describing pets destroyed in pounds. We’ve had feedback from the industry recommending that we change this policy but seeing a pets life ended as a system failure, not a necessary evil, has always been an important part of what we’re trying to achieve. We feel that glossing over the act of killing with a euphemism is being neither respectful to the animal, nor honest with the public.

Using the word ‘kill’ represents part of a new wave of accountability that’s happening in all facets of society. Since the inception of the internet, both commercial and non-profit businesses have been hit with a demand for transparency like we’ve never seen before. People can question policies and procedures in very public ways. Anyone from the top executive to the front line worker can be a whistle blower. And they’ve got a voice like never before.

The public is also becoming more discerning. They are making appraisals on who to support based on information that’s freely available and no longer able to be controlled and sanitised by those in power. In short, people now know everything about you, so you’d better be performing. Or they’ll instead support someone who is.

Animal rescues who are innovative, welfare focussed and saving the lives of the pets they’ve been encharged to care for will continue to thrive in this new environment. They’ll come up with fantastic new ideas, encourage the next generation to get involved and make enormous improvements in the industry. Under-resourced council pounds have the capacity to ask for help in ways we’ve never seen before; they can get their animals up on the internet to improve their adoptions, they can send messages to their public to say ‘help us’ and they can coordinate with rescue groups both locally and nation wide. They can be an efficient and caring first step in a process which sees all adoptable animals come out alive and improved for the experience.

By contrast, the days of under performing groups are numbered. Whereas in the past the solution was to shift blame onto the public, kill animals and hide behind euphemisms, the public now demand answers. They’re going to want to know why their local pound has high kill rates if other don’t. They’re going to want to know why they should give their cash to a rescue group who’s kill rate hasn’t improved in years. They’re going to want to know all about your operations. And they’re going to be outraged if you’re found to be acting inhumanely as we saw recently with the Wyong Pound media lynching.

But mostly, they’re going to want to be allowed to have a say, help out, be part of your fan club and make things better and this is a very, very good thing. Sure, a team of overworked pound staff are going to find people questioning their performance confronting – but the upshot is with this new level of accountability comes the support of a humane community with unlimited resources, new ideas and enthusiasm like we’ve never seen before.

Humans can do anything if we truly put our mind to it. We cure diseases, transport people across the world and build unimaginably large buildings. To claim  it’s impossible to save the hundred thousand pets annually that we’re presently killing is selling ourselves ridiculously short. No Kill communities are not only desirable, but inevitable as we all get better at harnessing the resources available to us.

The first step is acknowledging, without excuses, blame shifting or sugar coatings… that we KILL these pets. And that’s it’s a failure on our part when we do.

As rescues across the country brace for the xmas rush, one metropolitan council has taken the perverse step of reducing their communities capacity to save the lives of dogs and cats by enforcing a law previously ignored for 75 years.

Council pounces, stripping Lort Smith of its pound status

Victoria’s largest animal hospital has been banned from finding new homes for cats and dogs lost in the City of Melbourne, as local pounds brace for a sharp increase in the number of pets dumped over Christmas.

After helping to rehouse abandoned pets for the past 75 years, Lort Smith Animal Hospital has suddenly been ordered by Melbourne City Council to transfer all seized animals to a North Melbourne pound.

Lort Smith director of development Cath Hoban said the animal hospital was unaware it could not house and rehome seized animals under its shelter licence.

“It has been brought to our attention that we can no longer provide pound services under our shelter licence,” she said.

“Lost animals seized by council rangers or members of the public and brought to Lort Smith will be treated and cared for in the first instance and then transferred as soon as practicable to the appropriate facility,” Ms Hoban said.

The Lort Smith is one of the good guys, having recently joined forces  with the progressive Animal Welfare League of Australia group who include No Kill branches like the AWL QLD. They raised over $125,000 in September at their first ever Strays Birthday fundraising event and $130,000 at their November Gala Dinner from animal lovers who want to see pet’s lives saved. They run rehabilitation and foster care networks, support for victims of domestic violence and an adoption program through Pets at Home. They even have a television show on Channel 9.

But this organisation, focussed on saving lives and protecting pets has now had it’s core business and primary life saving capacity removed two weeks from Christmas. So where will the pets go now?

The Lost Dog’s Home

This week has been spent wrapping xmas gifts for PetRescue members; 204 of 400  so far to be exact! Each one having been glued, wrapped and lugged lovingly to the post office – I look forward to being able to share with you soon what’s in the pressies!

In other PetRescue news, announced today is a partnership with PETstock who are supporting us with the first ever national pet shop adoption program! From PetRescue.com.au;

PETstock General Manager of Marketing, Matt Taylor said, “PETstock is very excited about joining forces with PetRescue and the many hundreds of shelters they support around the country. Too many people will purchase a new puppy or kitten in a pet store without really thinking about what is required to responsibly own this animal and this subsequently results in the animal ending up in a shelter. Through our large number of stores and our strong online presence (www.petstock.com.au) we think we can help PetRescue make a real difference and rehome these animals to families who can and will care for them properly.”

We’re obviously ecstatic that not only do PETstock ‘get it’, but that by working together we can really increase the profile of rescue and homeless pets. What a lovely xmas present for us! :)

Another great pressie, this time for the cats,  is this interview with Christine Yurovich of The Cat Alliance of Australia (I’ve blogged about them before here). They’ve had a fantastic piece in the local paper about how they’re working to get councils to act proactively and offer cheap desexing to at risk pets.

The Cat Alliance of Australia is calling on local councils to dedicate four weeks of every year to a ‘De-sex in the City’ month, to provide cheap de-sexing for cats in order to restrain the spiralling epidemic of unwanted cats having to be euthanized

Baldivis resident Christine Yurovich said she founded the alliance earlier this year because no action was being taken at a ground level to control the epidemic of unwanted and feral cats.

The alliance is also raising funds for a mobile de-sexing clinic to travel around each area offering cheap sterilisation during kitten season and has started a ‘Trap, Neuter and Return’ program to reduce the number of feral cats. ref

It makes my heart sing to hear the words ‘Trap Neuter and Return’ in the popular media. Oh happy day!

And finally, here’s my interview with ABC radio the other week. Doesn’t James have the most fantastic voice? He’s really just lovely.

More pics