Animal management can be a huge asset to its community; working to keep its public safe, offering a service that protects people and their animals and leading the way in compassion. Or it can work against its public, seeing them as an enemy that needs to be coerced with more laws, more fines and expanded powers to officers to seize and kill pets.

In 2008, there was recognition of a pet crisis in Victoria;

Reporter: There’s currently 10 times the average number of dogs looking for a new home. Staff are blaming pressure on family budgets for the increase, for some it’s just too expensive to collect their precious pooch.

Sue Conroy: If the dog’s going to cost them fines for being out with the council, or microchipping fees and desexing fees, then maybe they’ll opt not to take the dog back home again.

In 2010, despite the experience that fines are an obstacle that keep people from collecting their lost animals ensuring shelters stay perpetually full, and ignoring the global financial meltdown which has stretched families even further than two years ago – issuing larger and larger fines is still the Victorian government’s preferred approach to animal management;

Errant dog owners face harsher fines

Wandering dogs deemed an imminent threat to people could be destroyed on the spot under laws coming into effect today.

Pet owners who fail to register their dogs or cats face doubled fines of almost $2400.

New penalties include:
DOUBLING of potential fines for owners who fail to apply for or renew dog and/or cat registrations to $2389.
FINES up to $717 for dogs found wandering during the day.
FINES doubled to $4778 if a dog attacks someone.
The laws also broaden the criteria for declaring a dog menacing or dangerous.

The Herald Sun, 1st Sept 2010

Victorian groups The Lost Dogs Home and the RSPCA, both supported this move by government to strengthen laws against roaming dogs (commonly known as ‘lost dogs’). The Cat Protection Society has long called for stronger laws against ’semi-owners’, the group least likely to have their free-roaming cat registered.

Prepare for a bloodbath as people who’ve lost pets give up all hope of being able to afford their release. Prepare for the enormous increase in ‘unavoidable’ killing as dogs who’ve never caused a problem in their family or community are branded of ‘dangerous’ breed and are seized from their families. And don’t forget the thousands of cat carers now facing fines of over $2,000 if they continue to give their local stray a little bit of food.

We are witness. We should not forget who stood by and not only let this appalling action against animals and their owners happen, but encouraged it. Those groups claiming to be working to ‘protect’ pets.

A case against a Sunbury man whose three dogs were accused of roaming and killing four chihuahuas and a maltese cross has been adjourned until August 17. Scott Chapman (whose appearance on A Current Affair can be seen here), had pleaded guilty to allowing his dogs to roam and kill, and Hume Council have applied for the three staffordshire crosses (Kaos, Phantom and Bean Bag) to be destroyed.

What is interesting about this case, is how human morality has been projected onto the animals involved. There is no doubt, the effect on the owner of the dogs who were killed in the attack would have been catastrophic. However, the job of the law and of animal management is to be a neutral party, looking for failures in the system that can be remedied and taking the minimum action needed to avoid the situation happening again. Instead we have anthropomorphism at its finest; dogs being held up as ‘victims’, other dogs being held up as ‘perpetrators’ and the real causes and solutions being lost in the fray.

The morality of breed

Despite the fact the dogs have been described by authorities as ’staffordshire crosses’, the Lost Dogs Home used the attack as a chance to continue their campaign against pit bulls. Though the dogs were known as dog pound “frequent flyers” and the owner has since been able to get another staffy, authorities fixated on the (incorrect) ‘breed’ as the issue.

An effective animal management system would take the opportunity to examine the failure of early intervention strategies from keeping these ‘repeat offender’ dogs from eventually getting themselves into serious trouble. Any group of large breed dogs roaming about is dangerous. However, just as we wouldn’t look to ban large breed dogs, neither does it make sense to ban an entire breed of dog, when it was the owner’s behaviour at the core of the problem.

Any owner who repeatedly fails to protect their dogs and keep them from harassing the community presents a public danger. This can be remedied by targeting those owners who do the wrong thing. By contrast breed-specific laws target dogs who’ve never caused a problem in the community, seizing them from loving owners and killing them for being the ‘wrong’ breed, and is simply an unethical, ineffective, waste of resources.

The morality of punishment

Hume City Council have applied to kill the dogs, as the owner failed to meet the deadline to build a suitable enclosure to contain them. In short – Hume City Council has applied to kill the dogs because their owner is a loser jerk.

This is simply revenge. A dog gets no say in whether they’re owned by a great owner who loves them for a lifetime, or someone who needs to be banned from owning pets altogether. But as anyone in rescue knows, a crappy owner does not immediately, a ‘bad’ dog make. Most dogs, once in compassionate hands will blossom.

These dogs don’t deserve to die because their owner let them down, once in letting them roam and then again in not complying with the directions that could have saved their lives. When dishing out ‘punishment’ we must make sure that the innocent animals aren’t dealt the retribution that should be directed at their negligent owners.

The morality of animal instincts

The dogs were saved from death row previously, when the court ruled there was insufficient DNA evidence to conclude which dog/s carried out the attack. The determination then, that these dogs should be killed as the perpetrators of a crime, raises an interesting question; if we’re going to give these animals the very human attribute of ‘evil killers’ do they also deserve the human protection of ‘innocent until proven guilty’? If we don’t know whether all of the dogs were involved, how do we know know all of them should be killed under the charge?

But this waxing lyrical about dogs who kill other animals as being beyond redemption, completely ignores the nature of dog behaviour, which is that it is circumstantial, fallible and able to be manipulated. The likelihood of a unsupervised pack of three dogs meeting a pack of five dogs, without injury is low, and with the enormous difference in size between the animals the tiny dogs stood little chance of surviving. If it were to happen in the wild we would consider it a territorial dispute. While terribly tragic, it’s certainly not ‘evil’.

Accepting dogs as dogs, faults and all

While there is no doubt that the owner of these dogs is negligent, are the dogs dangerous? Without a professional and unbiased behaviour assessment, we’ll never know. If they are untreatably aggressive, then they should be destroyed for public safety. But they aren’t criminals and we shouldn’t feel a moral obligation to kill them. We should instead recognise that they are animals, who do what animals do – and at the very least they deserve a fair evaluation and possibly a chance at a better life with a better owner.

From the Lilydale and Yarra Valley Leader;

‘Mt Evelyn nurse slams kill Bill proposal’

A Mt Evelyn vet nurse and dog owner says she fears that increased council powers under a proposed State Government blitz on dangerous dogs will lead to the needless killings of pets.

Tough new laws to crack down on dangerous dogs, including increased powers to immediately destroy them, were introduced to Parliament last month and are yet to be debated.

“This Bill is giving council officers with little or no dog behaviour training, knowledge or experience the authority to destroy dogs,” Ms Revell said.

Agriculture Minister Joe Helper said the laws would give council the authority to seize and destroy unregistered or unidentifiable dogs found unsupervised in public if they reasonably believed the dog was a danger to public safety.

“The proposed legislation will also empower an authorised officer to immediately destroy any dog that they believe will cause imminent serious injury or death to a person or another animal,” Mr Helper said.

Eltham canine behaviour specialist Catherine Saunders is worried.

“The name of this Bill is grossly misleading in its reference to dangerous dogs because it increases the powers of councils to destroy any dogs, whether or not they have been declared dangerous,” Mrs Saunders said.

“This act also allows for bias, personal opinions or preconceived ideas to go unquestioned, which may result in a beloved pet’s wrongful death.”

One would have to ask why a vet nurse and a dog trainer are the ones speaking out against this bill and in defence of dogs, while those in charge of managing dog welfare in Victoria, remain silent?

Well, not totally silent.

Giving animal management the power to kill roaming dogs, rather than impound them is unprecedented in Australia. The power to kill impounded dogs, without allowing them the community agreed holding time is in no way making the community safer and is simply unethical, convenience killing. With the rate of misidentification of dogs by professional animal welfare workers estimated to be around 70%, and with the new laws to be used against dogs identified with the vague description of ‘pit bull type’ – how can anyone who cares for dog welfare support such a grossly over-reaching law?;

Because it has benefits

What’s one of the biggest problems faced by animal shelters? Big black dog syndrome. Basically, a lot of the nice, friendly dogs you get in look like this;

While the dogs that are easily adopted and walk out the door, look like this;

With the huge momentum of No Kill across the world, and the community of Australia demanding groups release their kill statistics, those groups who’ve built their business on collecting valuable pound contracts, killing the majority of the pets and saving a few, can see their empires beginning to crumble. If they’re not willing to work with community rescue groups to save the lives of pets and would rather kill, than share their fortunes, then they need to find some manner in which to defend this monopoly as the animal sheltering world evolves around them.

The first effort was to change the code of practice to exclude community rescue groups. Thanks to community backlash this is now under review, but these efforts to make community foster care groups illegal, would have allowed pets to continue to be killed because there is ‘no alternative’.

This second effort is to manipulate the kill rates of these ’super pounds’ in Victoria. The idea that each and every pet should be given the chance at a fair evaluation, kept healthy and adopted into a home no matter how long it takes, is incompatible with the ‘push them out the backdoor in the bodybag then blame the irresponsible public’ business plan.

Given big, black dogs can be the hardest to rehome, simply by expanding the killing they are already doing for ‘pit bulls’, creating a new classification for killing – ‘government mandated dangerous dog’ – pets which would take up space, or take an extended time to rehome, can be killed without question.

Like ‘feral’ cats (any cat can be determined to be ‘feral’ and therefore unrehomable and excluded from annual shelter figures) ‘pit bull type’ is suitably vague, open to interpretation and hard enough to quantify that it gives pounds and shelters the ability to kill any dog that comes into care, call it ‘of pit bull type’ and not have it impact their statistics… and volia! high kill rates can be manipulated to look low again.

Expanding the killing

We must reject these laws which mandate the killing of friendly, healthy animals. This was never about ‘public safety’, but simply insulating groups from criticism of shelter killing, maintaining control of pound contracts and blocking the community from taking action on behalf of animals.

The Lost Dogs Home is again calling for a ‘pet owner licencing scheme’ on the back of their efforts to develop a short pre-adoption quiz for people adopting from their shelter (I know, screening potential adopters before adoption – it’s ‘revolutionary’).

“Pet Licences issued by The Lost Dogs’ Home should be made mandatory across Australia”.
Lost Dogs Home website

But should they really? Lets look at the ‘reasons pets end up in shelters’;

Adoption returns
We can reasonably assume that there isn’t a huge problem with people returning adopted animals to the Lost Dogs Home. If there is, then certainly there is something wrong with the way they’re matching pet to owner and the follow up support they’ve been offering; because this isn’t common amongst rescues. So that could be fixed by the pound doing a better job.

Lost pets
Most intakes of any pound with a Council contract are the result of pets getting loose. This is why pounds exist and that’s ok. Having photos of each animal up on the internet helps owners be reunited with their animals, so the Lost Dogs’s Home could do a better job by taking photo of each pet on intake and getting it up on the web.

Fines, which deter people from collecting their pets, could be waived to people whose pets have never been impounded before – that again is the pound understanding its public and doing a better job.

Surrenders
The smallest intakes of a pound, despite popular opinion, are owner surrenders.

A percentage of people have a genuine or unforseen reason for giving up their pet; moving house, getting sick, pets not getting along, change of family circumstance, loss of job.

A percentage are less-than-genuine (however still valid because if someone doesn’t want their pet, it’s important to get that pet into a new home); including no longer ‘wanting’ the pet, unrealistic expectations of pet ownership, un-treated behavioural problems and unwanted litters.

And some people have genuine reasons relating to that particular pet (unmanageable aggression, hyperactivity, personality clashes between pet and owner, or pets who don’t cope with a change of circumstance, like moving to a smaller property).

It’s complicated

They’re proposing that of the 6 million owned cats and dogs of Australia, of which only a couple of hundred thousand use shelters each year, where most are claimed – and with the myriad of unforseen, genuine reasons for surrender, with only a tiny percentage of pets entering shelters because their owners are fickle…

…. the easiest way to stop shelters killing these animals is to quiz every single pet owning family before they get a pet.

Sorry, what?

The easiest way for the Management of the Lost Dogs Home to effect the number of pets killed in their shelters – is to stop killing pets in their shelters.

- Not killing young, or sick pets who could be saved by foster care.

- Not supporting draconian and unhelpful owner targeting initiatives like the Frankston ‘desex before release’ pound program, mandatory pet desexing or ‘Who’s for Cats’… all of which have seen impoundments and killing surge.

The idea of a national pet owner licencing scheme is nothing but Australia’s most ineffective shelter – the one who kills a larger percentage of their intakes than any other – expanding their failed programs beyond Victoria (the home of some of the worst pet laws in Australia). We must reject the idea, not just because it passes the buck for shelter killing back to ‘bad owners’ – a theory which has since been exploded as simply an excuse for poor shelter performance – but because those who are driving it, have no experience at all in leading a successful, life-saving community.

Let’s not follow any more ‘great’ initiatives from Victoria until they are able to get even one of their communities away from the bulk-killing of shelter animals. Forget the rest of Australia, so far they only work the leaders of animal sheltering in Victoria need to do, is to drag themselves out of the high-kill mentality.

Graeme Smith – CEO – Lost Dogs’ Home

I delayed posting on this article from last month’s Animal Sheltering magazine, because I wanted the public version to go online – but this article about the importance of exercise for shelter dog’s adoptability is freaking genuis!

One of the first and most essential components of modifying almost any inappropriate behavior is proper exercise. Unless you have a team of fit volunteers who happen to be training for a marathon, it is unlikely you will be able to provide these dogs with enough walks to supply them with the amount of exercise they’ll need to become mentally and physically calm. In the beginning, hard dogs may need long stretches of exercise to make up for weeks or months of inadequate energy release and to combat the symptoms of cage anxiety.

For this reason, I highly recommend a daily, or even twice-daily, supervised, controlled romp or game of fetch in a fenced area, followed by a controlled walk. These supervised play sessions should last a minimum of 20-25 minutes (shorter durations in hot weather) and can involve Frisbees, balls, or other exercise-inducing toys. (My favorite is the Chuckit! line, which can be used to toss a tennis ball long distances without the need for slobbery ball handling.)

It is not important that the dog actually fetch the object—although this time can also be used to teach appropriate play drive and even fetching. What is important is that the dog use this time as an opportunity to appropriately release pent-up energy and get the exercise he needs, and have the opportunity to move forward unfettered, which is an inherent and necessary behavior for all dogs.

You can use a variety of toys and other tools to stimulate the dog to move during this supervised romp. If the dog is friendly and non-aggressive with other dogs, find another non-aggressive, high-energy dog and allow them to romp together (supervised, of course). You can even play a game of tag with the dog yourself, as long as this does not overstimulate the dog and lead to wild leaps at your face or tackling maneuvers.

Once the dog appears to be tiring (and happy!) from his unfettered romp, you now have an opportunity to teach him how to walk on leash and move forward with humans instead of pulling and working against them. Now that he has had the opportunity to release stored energy, his mind will be in a better state to focus on commands and comply with your wishes.

As someone who works in a shelter where the dogs are kept entirely separate and walked by volunteers on leash only, the revelation that this isn’t even close to enough exercise for even a moderately active dog was a bit of a light bulb moment.

Can you imagine cooping your own dog up in your bedroom for a week, then releasing him to someone who’s never met him to take him for a leash walk to judge his personality? No wonder our potential adopters aren’t enamored!

Get this article, print it out and GIVE IT TO YOUR SHELTER MANAGER. It will absolutely save lives.

I’ve always considered PetRescue to be a very charmed project. My best mate JB is a technical genius and an all round nice guy. My shared-brain friend Vix and I both purchased wonky dogs at around the same time (hers from a pet shop, mine from a guy in a pub carpark) who would catapult us into the ‘dog world’, to discover rescue and the myraid of issues surrounding pet ownership. And six years ago around a pint of beer the idea for PetRescue was born.

We would go on to discover not only could we work together, but that our passion for pets would grow an enormous beating heart – the community all pulling together to get the PetRescue project off the ground and build it into one of the most successful animal welfare iniatives in Australia. Little did we know getting pets up onto the web would be the first step in a huge labour of love, working to turn animal sheltering into a little known and misunderstood industry, into one of the country’s most fashionable social movements.

JB, Vix and me! – PetRescue 2009

Capturing the love

Everyone who has a pet, understands the love of a pet. Harnessing that love and turning it into action has been key in bringing rescue pet adoption to the masses. Adoption adverts focused around blaming the pet’s old owner for its current predicament, or designed to shock or horrify the public had long been shown to be building a barrier between rescue groups and their communities. Potential adopters were actively avoiding rescue fearing they would feel sad or guilty after visiting their local shelter.

PetRescue banned all ‘death row’ style advertisements and stories of animal abuse. Recognising the need to promote the positives of animal adoption, the site became a place of happy stories with an emphasis on those things that build bonds between pet and owner. People should feel happy when they’re bringing a new family member into their lives!

Be able to use the power of the internet to reach a new audience was also vital to increasing awareness of just how many adoptable pets are available in rescue. It’s only when the public were able to see each single pet as an individual, most highly adoptable and simply lost, or homeless for one of the myriad of genuine and not-so-genuine reasons that see pets surrendered, that the public were able to make their own determination that shelter pets are in fact, simply pets who need a new home.

So from 2004 onwards, we set out to convince animal shelters that online pet advertisements were the way of the future, overcome fears that it would lead to hoards of ‘irresponsible’ owners acquiring and discarding pets and coaching them to write pet profiles that attracted people to adoption.

Later we would include ‘holiday promotions’, the use of video in pet profiles, effective use of traditional media and the huge different great photography can make in animal adoption.

Nearly 60,000 pets later, PetRescue’s online advertisements are still a testement to what positive attitudes and community engagement can achieve. Adoptions are up in 2010. The number of potential adopters visiting PetRescue has grown immensely this year and we are now seeing over 1,300 dogs and 750 cats finding new homes each month. In addition to those enquiries made by phone, every month over 3,500 email enquires are sent by our mail systems to our rescue group members and a staggering 150,000 pet listing alerts are sent to people looking to adopt a new pet.

Overcoming distance as a barrier to happiness

In 2007, PetRescue coordinated its first ‘interstate adoption’. A small, tufty-haired dog called ‘Penny’ had been taken into care by POOPS (Pets of Older People) when her owner passed away. She had been waiting for two months in foster care with no-one interested in adopting this well-mannered elderly girl.

After a plea for help from Penny’s carers, PetRescue enlisted the generous support of Virgin Blue and Jetpets to give Penny a second chance at life;

And so began Penny’s big adventure!

Penny was offered a free flight to Brisbane to meet up with a carer from Save a Pound Dog, who had a great new home ready and waiting. Penny traveled like a celebrity pet, with a personal pet travel consultant from Jetpets arranging her flights and door to door service to her new digs.

Now settled in her new home, Penny sends licks! and woofs! to the team at Virgin Blue and Jetpets for helping her find a fantastic new forever home.

But that was just the beginning. Jetpets generously went on to donate three free interstate flights for needy pets each month – that’s over 100 pets that have found new homes by flying across the country! By connecting rescue groups with like-minded groups in other states, a safety net can be created and opportunities to move pets from places of low demand, to places of higher demand are discovered.

The biggest boon for this program was in mid 2009, when PetRescue’s first ‘Jet Setting Kitten‘ rescue saw nine death row kittens moved from Queenslands, where they have a year round kitten season, to South Australia where they were adopted in just four hours! 54 kittens would go on to follow in their footsteps that year.

See Vickie waving goodbye to these kitties in this news video:

Getting pets out into the community

One of the easiest ways to overcome myths and misconceptions about rescue pets is simply to let people to meet them. That’s why in 2008, PetRescue developed an in-store adoption program that could be rolled out into pet store in the country. The program launched in 2009, in PETstock stores around the country, and now in 2010 is being expanded to all pet stores who’d like to offer the program.

Working with ethical pet stores nationwide, PetRescue’s In-Store Adoption Program brings pets out of cages and into the community. Giving adopters the chance to meet and interact with rescue pets, learn about responsible pet ownership and speak to an adoption adviser about how to choose the best pet for their family. Rescue groups are offered support that can help improve the client experience and resources on best practice adoption processes.

Redemption – how it changed everything

I remember reading Nathan Winograd’s Redemption and folding corners to highlight paragraphs I wanted to share – it completely blew me away! Finally, everything we had been working on made sense. Suddenly PetRescue’s belief that there was so much more we could be doing, wasn’t some naive dream. We did need more positive promotions, we did need to attract adopters and we did (and still do) need stronger and more dynamic leadership from the management of animal welfare groups in Australia.

But most importantly; we absolutely can adopt our way out of killing.

I was desperate for the plan in this book to become common knowledge. We contacted Nathan and asked if he would be willing to give our shelters a discount on bringing a bulk lot of books to Australia. He instead donated 400 copies; one for each of our shelter groups. We wrapped them in xmas paper and delivered them to every shelter in Australia.

PetRescue also invited Nathan to come and speak at the NDN Conference. His presentation can be seen here:

Being able to harness the momentum of the US No Kill movement has been a huge boost to rescue here in Australia. We are very blessed to have the amazing leadership of Nathan to help lead us into a better future for animals.

The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive brings a new dawn for homeless pets

In PetRescue was blessed to develop a relationship with PEDIGREE® which launched as the 2009 PEDIGREE Adoption Drive. Incorporating TV, print and online media and featuring real-life homeless pets, the campaign was designed to highlight the plight of the thousands of dogs euthanased every year because homes aren’t be found.

In 2010 PEDIGREE has again made an enormous commitment too help support the animal rescue groups of this country. With guidance from PetRescue, PEDIGREE will be investing $4 million into an awareness campaign designed to pull on the emotional heartstrings of all Australians and bring adoption to the masses.

This year the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive will run from the 3rd June to the 30th July. Celebrity ambassadors Tom Williams and Myf Warhurst will launch ‘Yellow Dog Day’ which will see yellow dogs appear across Australian capital cities, officially kicking off the campaign.

Also, the campaign this year doesn’t only focus on awareness. For every person who joins the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive Facebook page, PEDIGREE will donate a bowl of food to a rescue group. They are also offering every single new adopted dog parent a free Adoption Kit. The campaign will also launch the Dog Adoption Index, a report into the issue of Dog Homelessness in Australia, in collaboration with PetRescue.

Foster carer save lives

With the majority of our members operating foster care networks, one of the ongoing needs is more carers. The PetFoster initiative will market pet foster caring to the mainstream, bringing community resources, skills and knowledge to our industry.

Designed to link new carers with foster care groups, provide resources to existing foster care groups and to help new groups develop a program based on the experiences of successful foster groups across the country, PetFoster aims to empower a community that helps save Australia’s homeless pets. The program will be launching this month.

See Vix talking about PetFoster here:

Caring for Cats

Cat ownership is in decline and we believe that this trend must be reversed. In 2010 PetRescue will be working in conjunction with PIAS (the Petcare Information & Advisory Service) to create the first of many programs and campaigns to elevate the status of cats in our society.

A campaign launched through PetRescue’s large email database and social media networks will use viral marketing to bring cats into the spotlight. These guys did a great campaign last year, naming cats Australia’s greatest ‘modern pet’. Check it out below:

What’s the ideal pet for busy people?

It seems these days we’re busier than ever. We work longer hours, there’s more traffic, we even work on weekends. In addition to this, we also seem to be living more than ever in high density living. So where do pets fit into our busy, modern lifestyle?

Video

While, a favourite campaign of mine, the ‘Secret Cat Society’ aims to improve the welfare of free-roaming cats, by empowering carers with simple steps they can take to care for their Secret Cat.

With over 40% of cat owners feeding a cat they don’t own, a movement towards compassionate cat solutions exists through improved vet care, desexing rates and care for these misunderstood animals.

The changing face of communication

- A rescue group has a new litter of puppies, rejected by their mum. A post on Facebook connects them with their community and several foster care options are found within the hour.

- A YouTube video becomes a viral smash amongst supporters of a particular rescue. Within days a dog that had been languishing in the kennels for months, has two new families fighting for the privilege to take him home.

- A post on a rescue group blog about a dog with bad hips calls for donations to the fosters local vet clinic. Within the week, not only is that dog’s life-saving operation paid for, but a family has come forward to adopt the pet and offered to pay too.

All of these examples are real-life situations where clever use of the internet has meant pets who could have been killed, are instead saved.

The internet is changing everything. Things that seemed impossible, are not only happening, but the results are being spread so other groups can also engage in innovative ways. PetRescue is working to bring information from around the world to Australia, through blogs like this (Saving Pets), our informative internet videos and and PetRescue ‘Pet Rescuer’ educational newsletter.

See me speaking about all PetRescue’s projects here:

The modern rescuer; part of something enormous

PetRescue is the definition of a community initiative. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the last six years; we honestly couldn’t be fighting this fight, without you. We love getting your feedback, hearing about your successes and where we can, helping you to enhance the amazing work you do for the animals of Australia.

Together, we have come an awfully long way. Companion animal rescue has never been more needed, nor more relevant in today’s animal loving society. The community is coming together to help spread the word, distance has been eliminated as a hurdle to happiness, and homeless pets are being given a second chance by being seen out in the community through great positive promotions.

Advancements that once seemed completely beyond what we could have hoped for, are now gaining incredible momentum. Even those animals that were once deemed unworthy of a happy life, such as Pit Bulls and community cats, are being recognised as deserving of compassion. PetRescue’s programs continue to make this a reality.

With dedicated, fearless modern rescuers driving Australia to be a world leader in innovative animal sheltering, a No Kill future is a certainty

Rescue news from around Australia…

Dogs

Ipswich (QLD) – Confirming that dog attacks often happen in the home, a blue heeler has bitten the nine-year-old girl on the lip. Thankfully, although police were called, the girl’s injuries weren’t life threatening.

Health and Regulation Committee chairman Councillor Andrew Antoniolli said the incident highlighted the importance of parents to supervise their children around dogs.“A good percentage of the dog attacks that we’ve been seeing lately are attacks that are occurring within the dog property,” Cr Antoniolli said.

“It just indicates that at all times you must ensure that you’re vigilant with children and dogs.”

Congratulations to Cr Andrew for his considered response to this attack. All dogs can bite.

Also in Ipswich, the beginning of the fallout from the recent Supreme Court decision that dogs registered as Amstaff’s are actually ‘pitbulls’;

The city’s health and regulation committee chairman Andrew Antoniolli said the redefinition of the American Staffordshire was the result of a drawn-out court case on the Gold Coast.

“We are concerned that we have at least 126 of the 30,000 dogs registered in Ipswich which were identified on their registration as American Staffordshire terriers,” Mr Antoniolli said.

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Mornington Peninsula (VIC) rangers have killed a dog, that had been impounded while its owners built a dangerous dog enclosure;

Ms Clements and Mr Bartling had erected a locked 2m-high cage in their backyard, but had not finished the required roofing and guttering when their pet was impounded.

Four days later they received the devastating phone call.

“They said they had put the wrong dog down,” Ms Clements said.

“They said he was in the fridge and when did we want him dropped down?”

Mr Bartling described Syphon as his best mate and said there was no excuse for the mistake because his pet was microchipped.

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Manningham (VIC) will be getting its first dedicated dog-friendly park from July.

The dedicated dog zone will be fenced off to give pets a safe place to run free off-lead and to socialise with other dogs. The park will also feature drinking water taps for dogs, and extra seating for pet owners.

Cool! Single use, fenced and patrolled parks are vital to the health of the dogs in any community, especially as people’s backyards shrink. Patrols are also vital; not only to ensure that people using the park are doing so in a responsible manner, but as a chance for council animal management to have positive interactions with the pet owning community.

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While the RSPCA ACT have again, showed us the way with this post on their Facebook and Twitter;

The video of the dogs is here:

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Cats

Mitcham Council (SA, not VIC) is encouraging residents dob in neighbours who own more than two cats or who fail to microchip and register them, as part of the enforcement model for their new cat bylaws. Thankfully, some councillors are not convinced;

Cr Grant Hudson told the meeting it was the council’s role to intervene in cat problems, not a neighbour’s job.

“These days a lot of neighbours don’t even know each other and making complaints about pets is one way to create neighbourhood friction where none existed before,” he told the Eastern Courier Messenger after the meeting.

If the bylaw is passed, which will force cat owners to register and microchip their pets from August 1st, the only way to actually enforce the model would be some kind of ‘neighbourhood spy’ campaign. Cats don’t carry their licences in their wallets and those people with ‘too many’ are going to go to ground. So with neighbours dobbing on neighbours and everyone now complaining about that free-roaming cat that no one owns, Mitcham Council animal control is going to be busy! busy! busy! trapping and impounding cats.

The bylaw is set to cost $252,000 for five years. The RSPCA supported the introduction of the bylaw and have accepted a ‘generous grant’ from Mitcham Council to buy cat traps to hire to the public.

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An update on the disastrous removal of feral cats from Macquarie Island.

A team of experts are bound for a remote island equipped with helicopters guns and dogs to eradicate rabbits, black rats and house mice.

The imported species have wreaked environmental havoc on Macquarie Island, a tiny piece of Australian territory halfway between New Zealand and Antartica.

The World Heritage listed island serves as the mating and nesting place of countless penguins, seabirds and seals who are under threat from the pests.

This exercise has been required after parks and wildlife management, removed all the feral cats from the island to save the native seabirds. Unfortunately, the decision allowed the rabbit population to explode and, in turn, destroy much of its fragile vegetation that birds depend on for cover. The resulting “environmental devastation” was estimated to cost $24 million Australian dollars to remedy. Whoopsies.

See another post: ‘Introduced’ doesn’t mean not important

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Shelter news

Wanneroo (WA) has problems with its pound;

Councillor Rudi Steffens said the current facilities were “old and aged”.

“There is still no exercise area for the animals, the kennels are constantly wet through the day and animals are susceptible to cutting their feet on the cages,” he said.

“I don’t believe this facility is standard, I believe it is substandard.”

Councillor Alan Blencowe agreed.

“Six dogs die every day in the City of Wanneroo, that is 2000 dogs per year and we only have one crematorium in the northern suburbs,” he said.

“As a council, we need to be a little bit more responsible than to have these animals’ bodies just being put into landfill.”

You could try not killing them – just a thought.
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And Australia gets its own rescue pet stamps out on the 29th June;

This stamp issue promotes responsible dog ownership and supports the dedicated work of organisations re-homing lost and abandoned dogs.

Their number is significantly boosted by the many other small shelters also re-homing dogs.

Congratulations to NSW Animal Rescue for punching above their weight, being included alongside the RSPCA and Lost Dogs Home.

Another pound using the media to get the word out about their available pets;

While I’m not a fan of the associated article that details how awfully irresponsible their community is, at least these guys are trying to get the word out about the pets they have in their pound. Maybe, just like in the instance of Fraser Coast, the ‘irresponsible public’ will be the ones to answer the call and save the lives of these pets.

Combined with their new outreach desexing program for the pets of the disadvantaged, low income earners and pensioners, Logan seems determined to turn the situation around for their homeless animals.

An interesting statistic from the report was that 9 out of 10 cats are entering the Logan shelter are unidentified and undesexed (unowned). Unless a program of non-lethal ‘community cat’ management is introduced, it will be impossible to bring the kill rate of 600 cats in three months down. Fractious cats who’ve never lived in a home have no adoption prospects once in care – we must protect them from entering the shelter in the first place.

Logan needs their community’s support. If you live in the area, take the time to spread the word about their ‘Save a Pet’ campaign – they need everyone to step up and help them change their future.

Get ready to find out!

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Pedigree teams up with PetRescue

SYDNEY: Pet brand Pedigree is set to launch a $4 million campaign for its 2010 Pedigree Adoption Drive in partnership with rescue organisation PetRescue.

Designed to pull on the emotional heartstrings of all Australians, the campaign takes in TV, print, online, digital, PR, and point of sale to highlight the 100,000 unwanted dogs which are euthanased every year because homes can’t be found.

Pedigree brand manager Ryan Buckle said the campaign was part of the brand’s global positioning to make the world a better place for dogs.

“At Pedigree we believe that every dog should be fed well and have a good home. We do this by offering them the best value supermarket brand pet food, and championing initiatives such as The Pedigree Adoption Drive with our partner PetRescue.”

Creative agency Whybin\TBWA will drive the TV and print execution, media agency Starcom has booked the media schedule, which includes a partnership with Channel 7 and AFL sponsorship with sporting ambassador Western Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson.

Whybin\TBWA will also work with Digital Democracy to launch a website to encourage Australians to either adopt a homeless dog, donate online or buy Pedigree, with proceeds going to PetRescue.

The campaign will also launch the Dog Adoption Index, a report into the issue of Dog Homelessness in Australia, in collaboration with PetRescue and celebrity ambassadors Tom Williams and Myf Wharhurst and will feature a ‘Yellow Dog Day’ event on 4 June, created by Ambient, which will see yellow dogs appear across Australian capital cities.