You could really help a dog we have in care at our shelter at Armidale in northern NSW in need of surgery before we can make her available to be adopted.
Neither the shelter nor our RSPCA branch, who are providing support, can afford the amount needed so we have launched a campaign to raise funds for this specific cause. All the details are here. Any help in publicising Millie’s plight will help her get her new home.
thanks
*************************************************
Phill Evans
New England Regional Companion Animals Shelter
http://armidaleanimalshelter.blogspot.com
New England Strategic Alliance of Councils – Balancing autonomy and cooperation to enhance services to our communities
Armidale Dumaresq Council www.armidale.nsw.gov.au
Guyra Shire Council www.guyra.nsw.gov.au
New England Weeds Authority
Millie is a 9 year old labrador who was abandoned by her owners. With the cataracts completely blinding her estimated to cost $5,500 to remove, she could have easily been deemed ‘unsavable’ and euthanased without fanfare. But the unreasonably compassionate staff of the New England Regional Companion Animals Shelter, took it upon themselves to ask the community for help, setting up a blog to promote Millie’s plight, called ‘Help Millie See’.
Launched the end of February, it featured a heart-melting video of Millie which showed exactly how her cataracts effected her quality of life. They used this blog to thank donors as they came forward. They publicised Millie in the local media. They kept the community updated on Millie’s progress and the progress of their fundraising.
Less than 15 days later, the group has raised more than the money needed – they’ve raised nearly $6,000 to Help Millie See… An extraordinary achievement brought about simply by asking the community for help.
A huge congratulations to Phill and his team.
Groups who spend their time criticising their community for their faults are missing awesome opportunities to tap into their compassion. Groups who spend their time ruminating on how the public is the ‘problem’ and advocating for laws to ‘teach them a lesson’ build barriers between themselves and their community, and ignore the reality which is, overwhelmingly, the public are good and kind and pet loving… and the solution to reaching ‘unreachable’ goals.
The shelters who will see success in the future are those that promote saving lives in the face of obstacles. Those groups who will thrive in the future, are those who believe in serving and involving their public and who refuse to be content with ‘blaming and killing’, instead taking the time to advocate to their communities on behalf of the pets. Those groups who will lead us into a future where shelters are a safety net for animals, are those who recognise the ‘good’ people in the community, make up 100 times over for any ‘bad’ people in the community and that engaging the good people should be the focus.
Powerful opportunities for social engagement come from transparency, trust and creativity. This is the new world of animal sheltering.
If you haven’t already; check out this OK Go clip, featuring some amazing rescue dogs (background on the clip here);
Not only is it an absolutely fantastic hat tip to rescue, with clearly happy dogs doing ‘doggy’ things, this video is a bit of a microcosm for what is happening right now in the rescue industry.
If you’re old like me, you’ll remember a time when music videos weren’t allowed on YouTube. If you recorded one of your favourite bands off Rage and put it up, it would immediately be taken down for infringing copyright and you’d receive a stern letter from the record label. This was because the music industry saw the public as a threat to its profit model, wanted to maintain absolute control on how and where its artists were represented and really liked the status quo and didn’t want to change.
Unburdened by the restraints of big music labels, small artists bucked this trend. They interacted with their public directly through mediums like YouTube, Myspace (and more recently Facebook and Twitter) and started to actively encourage people to share their music and ideas. They could see their public wasn’t their ‘problem’, but were in fact their customers. And they realised that people if people were inspired, engaged and given tools to share their passion that they could generate millions of dollars worth of free promotion (personal recommendations, the holy grail of marketing!)
Now nearly all music videos are uploaded to YouTube by bands. This OK Go video has been viewed 4.4 million times in 8 days! The capacity of an empowered fan base is immeasurable.
The major rescue groups in Australia, are still maintaining a very 1990’s-music-label view to business. They see the public as a threat and an enemy to be coerced at every opportunity. They work to maintain absolute control on how and where their animals are represented, often not only NOT using free social media tools, but actively chasing and threatening the public who take their time to do it on their behalf. They like the power they have under the status quo and don’t want things to change.
The reason most ‘big’ animal welfare groups fail in their efforts to engage their community’s is, like the music industry, you can’t despise your public and ask them to help you. You can’t ask people to be inspired and spread your message, while keeping your performance hidden and refusing to be truthful. You can’t enter the social media space and refuse to talk honestly about your successes and your failings. You can’t present your organisation as a community member, when you lock out your public and refuse to let them work with you.
The new, No Kill advocates are the remixers, the independents and the rock stars of the modern rescue industry, empowering their public to not only speak up for animals, but to promote and support their lifesaving mission. They see their public as a fan base to lead and inspire. They encourage participation and demand that their public aren’t just silent spectators, but vocal advocates helping spread their messages. They are modest, don’t take their community’s support for granted and work to be transparent and accountable.
The shift in mindset is profound. It may even be impossible for those who’ve always had complete control to ever move comfortably in the cloud, working without the safety of ‘walls’ between the public and their organisation. But for tomorrow’s No Kill leaders, this is an enormous opportunity. With no limits, there is no limits to what can be achieved.
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?
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
I work part-time for a large, bureaucratic animal welfare group.
They were a bit baffled by ‘The Facebook’, and knowing I’d been using the accounts since I started here, they asked me to explain how they were set up.
They have one ‘personal’ profile called, let’s say… ‘Fluffy Pets Rescue’
Which, once it was created, made a Fan Page called ‘Fluffy Pets Rescue’.
Oh NOooooo! they wailed! WE HAVE TWO ACCOUNTS?! This is a *disaster* we won’t know which one to contribute to!
No, that’s fine, I said. Being a organisation, you’ll just want to direct everyone to the Fan Page.
Now, I also have to tell you the volunteering department has an account called ‘Volunteer Manager’. This allows the volunteer department (me) to post updates to the Fan Page.
THREE ACCOUNTS?! they screeched, trying not to faint.
Yes, I said. In fact, I suggest that every department is issued an account so that they too can contribute to the Fan Page. Like you give each department an email.
We can’t give everyone an account or they will be creating folders and posting pictures and OMG!
But isn’t that what we were complaining about, not a month ago? That no one had the time to contribute to our Facebook regularly and it sat untouched?
But what about strategy! they wailed. Things will be getting cross posted and they’ll be on our Facebook and there WON’T BE ANY STRATEGY!
So determining that the staff cannot be trusted to represent themselves to the public (and ignoring the fact every one of us have an email and a phone) they swiftly directed all ancillary accounts be canceled. I’m still confused as to what they thought might be such a terrible contribution to the Fan Page. Happy photos of volunteers? Pictures from our events? Photos of boobs and penises? Certainly, all would have been very likely.
However, they returned the sacred Facebook login to the desk of the CEO, who is probably still a little too busy to contribute regularly, but whom has a full knowledge of the ’strategy’ and all is again safe.
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.
A man walks into your shelter and drops off a canary in a box. Do you
a) recognise that you don’t have any aviary facilities, so do the ‘kindest thing’ and kill the bird. The man should have been a more responsible owner!
or
b) post the bird to your Facebook fan page of over 10,000 members offering him ‘free to great family’ and have a new home before COB?
The internet is changing everything.
I presented on this topic at last year’s NDN conference. But the potential just keeps growing…
With most organisations now recognising that social media is vital, a new animal welfare related Facebook page or Twitter account is appearing daily. But not all groups have the same levels of success. What makes a group become a viral phenomenon? And what makes it all go wrong?
Thinking of starting a two way conversation with your public? Then check out these case studies to help make your own steps into social media graceful, rather than painful.
Thriving
Pets Haven A grassroots organisation, feeling the love
Pets Haven in Victoria has found an enormous boon in their Facebook page, growing from a few hundred members to over 7,500 in less than a year.
The secret to their success? Constant and personal update about the pets entering the care of the group. By keeping it very real and very genuine through hastily shot action pics and heartfelt commentary, and allowing supporters to track both their successes and their failures, they’ve created an online soapie for pet lovers that is both as addictive as it is bittersweet.
More than 2,000 photos have been posted to the page by the group and its supporters, along with adoptable animal videos, events and topical advocacy. There is a whole lotta love being shown for the work of Pets Haven.
AWL QLD Big but not bureaucratic, opening the doors to the public bringing huge rewards
One of the most effective ‘tweeters’ on the web, the AWL QLD has developed an army of followers on Twitter and Facebook which allow it to achieve such remarkable results as 84 pets rehomed on the Easter weekend and huge promotions throughout the year focusing on traditionally ‘hard to place’ pets like adult cats.
By tapping into people’s love of animals and taking a witty, upbeat approach to their promotions (check out this Australia Day promo and this deaf dally) they have created a true fan club rooting for their success.
PIAS Australia Cementing themselves as a knowledge base
With such excellent daily tidbits as “56% of women and 41% of men say their pet is more affectionate than their partner”, the ‘drip, drip, drip’ approach of PIAS Australia’s twitter feed ensures that followers are entertained, but not bombarded. Showing that you can’t build a community overnight, but that you have to love it a little every day, this twitter feed also generously contributes to the success of other organisations by showcasing their pet friendly initiatives. Sing with me – You’ve got to give a little love, take a little love…
Australia Says No to Puppy Farms People care
This is one of PetRescue’s projects, but the success of this page has left us all astounded. With over 8,500 members and an active contributing base, it supports the Seth Godin notion that the most impassioned tribes are those advocating for change.
I also think the title ‘Australia Says No to Puppy Farms‘ is key to the success of this group. Remember bumper stickers? It’s what everybody had before Facebook. Bumper stickers stood for something; ‘vegans make better lovers‘, ‘save the whale‘, even the ‘Jesus fish’ all say something about the car’s owner. When naming your Facebook group, expand beyond the name of your organisation (which is all about you) and look at what unites your supporters. Make it all about them.
Struggling
Pets Paradise When transparency is your enemy, best stay off the interwebs
When an organisation starts astroturfing, the ‘pants down’ honesty of social media can be disastrous. Pets Paradise, the largest seller of pet shop puppies in Australia, created a Christmas campaign purporting to support rescue pets. Except that rescue groups reacted badly to them using rescue’s ‘halo’ for their own promotions. This was followed up by an equally phony donation drive to support a sick puppy being sold by a PP store. Again, rescue groups were outraged that this $80 million dollar corporation were using rescue group techniques to elicit sympathy, and the business’ Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hallam-Australia/Pets-Paradise/22200944937) was targeted. It was taken down last month.
The lesson for this business was simple; when you don’t want people to talk about your business practices, social media isn’t for you. Unless you’re willing to accept criticisms openly and take the time to explain the reasons for your actions, then people will rapidly become incited by you lack of transparency.
The Lost Dogs Home Accountability’s a bitch
After years of holding back its statistics from the public, the Lost Dogs Home was finally pressured into formally releasing them when the results from council data collection exercise was released to the media. The online community began criticising the operating procedures of the organisation, who responded by denying responsibility, limiting access to the shelter and closing open membership to their facebook page.
By going to ground, rather than addressing people’s concerns openly, they guaranteed that the conversation would go nuclear. Websites, anti-LDH Facebook pages and blogs sprung up overnight, demonstrating that when your community turns, the worst response you can make is to try and quell dissent. If you don’t allow people to have a discussion with you, you almost certainly guarantee they will have a conversation about you.
Thriving and struggling
Because the RSPCA’s all operate independently of each other, some are going great, while others are bombing.
The future response to these inconsistencies will likely be a standardising the RSPCA social media policy and maybe reconciling the accounts into one corporately managed one, however the nature of social media actually calls for less restriction, not more. No one wants to talk to a corporation.
The ideal way to move this forward would be to allocate every person in the RSPCA organisation a Facebook identity (just like you would an email) and require that everyone participate. By blowing the lid off who can contribute, they could empower all in the organisation to speak to their communities.
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