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

Bear with me guys – I’m working full time this week so have just enough time to pull some rescue news. Back to regular programming next week!

Dogs

I’m very pleased to welcome Mike Bailey to Saving Pets. He’s working hard following the changes in Victorian legislation and when he’s not blogging, he’s the creator of the rescue website Good for Dogs.

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The Fraser Coast Council says it is being “swamped” by stray dogs, with about 125 captured in Hervey Bay and Maryborough in the past three weeks.

Council has returned 46 of the dogs to their homes, but about 40 per cent will have to be euthanised because their owners cannot be found.

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The RSPCA in Tasmania has taken a strong stand against the proposed laws targeting pit bulls in their state:

The RSPCA has labelled the State Government’s new dangerous dog control laws discriminatory.

RSPCA state president Paul Swiatkowski said the animal was responsible for attacks on people and other animals, not the breed.

“Classifying dogs as dangerous should be done on an individual basis and not a breed basis,” he said.

Congratulations to the RSPCA Tasmania for taking a strong stand against this ineffective legislation.

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Meanwhile in Victoria, councils have jumped at the chance at expanded powers to kill dogs.

The Moyne Shire has welcomed legislation introduced to State Parliament last week to control dangerous dogs.
……
Mayor James Purcell says tougher laws were badly needed.

“Better late than never – we’d be pleased to see that the restrictions are put into place rather than not have them at all,” he said.

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This Queensland family had enough time to get attacked by a roaming dog, contact the council, call the media, have a photoshoot and see the rest of their street interviewed and guess what… the dog is still causing problems;

The council has confirmed a statutory declaration regarding an alleged attack on another animal has been received and council officers are investigating the matter in accordance with normal procedures.

These are the kinds of situations that see people calling for ‘breed bans’ and stronger penalties because of problem owners; that are caused primarily by a lack of enforcement of existing laws. Dogs shouldn’t be getting third and forth chances to hurt someone.

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Cats

The RSPCA in WA today started the process of saving 50 white cats:

There were over 50 white cats inside the house and the owner’s life had been completely taken over by caring for them.

And the cats weren’t in a bad condition, it was just that there were just too many of them.

The owner reported that it cost him over $350 a week to feed all the cats, which had exploded in numbers after a few un-spayed cats quickly multiplied and overran the house.

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Puppy farms

The ‘Oscars Law’ website has now launched. Oscar was one of a number of dogs who were rescued from a puppy factory in central Victoria where they had been neglected to the point they required urgent veterinary care. Days later and recovering from surgery, Oscar was returned by authorities to the very people neglected him. This campaign hopes to change the governments stance on puppy farming in Victoria.

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The Pet Industry Association of Australia has a problem keeping its CEO – from May 2008:

The PIAA also has a new CEO–Dr Joanne Sillince a vet who was previously a Board Member and former President of the Australian Veterinary Association–but also former EO of the Australian Chicken Growers Council in 2001 and CEO of the Australian Meat Processor Corporation later. She’s the third PIAA head in as many years and the 8th in the 15 years that organisation has been incorporated.

But Dr Joanne has also bounced. Today, the PIAA announced their newest boss:

The President of the Pet Industry Association of Australia (“PIAA”), Steve Austin, announced today that the Board has appointed Roger Perkins as Chief Executive of the PIAA.

Mr Austin said: “The board was delighted when Roger accepted the position. Roger, educated with Engineering and Master of Business Administration Degrees, has applied his business expertise at the helm of a number of significant enterprises. His most recent CEO role was with the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW and prior to that ran ANL Limited, the previously owned Australian Government shipping company.

When taking the reins of office he said: “As Chief Executive of the PIAA, I will continue to build a rigorous financial and management framework which supports our core programs of membership, training, conferences, education and government relationships.”

It’s not very surprising to see that they have again had to replace their top dog. I’m sure it’s no walk in the park to be the head of the major lobby group for live animal sales, puppy farmers and the primary defender of high volume dog production in Australia.

Check them out defending pet shop puppies sales in the recent ABC 7.30 Report into the industry.

And this gem will make you chuckle;

Pet shops do not buy from puppy mills because the pets are of poor quality and often not well, and that’s the last thing a pet shop owner wants at the window.
– PIAA CEO Dr Joanne Sillince.

Image from ACA/Banksia Park dog farm: PIAA member

Plan for super-sized puppy breeding centre
March 29th, 2010

A Melbourne puppy farmer has unveiled plans for a super-sized breeding centre at Ballan, about 70km north of Geelong.

Planning documents filed with the Moorabool Shire Council show the proponents, Robert and Chanthavilit Attard, want to build 52 runs, each to hold two breeding dogs, and a birthing shed on the 20ha farm on the Ballan-Geelong Rd.

….
Animal Liberation Victoria’s Debra Tranter said the group would be lobbying to prevent the permit being granted.

“The plans for this puppy farm resemble a piggery,” she said.

“Dogs are not primary producers, they are companion animals and deserve to be treated as such.”

Here’s a layout of the 52 kennel dog farm where the 100+ breeding dogs will spend their lives:

So how does a puppy farmer present this info to the public?

According to Who Is, this is the website of Robert Attard

It’s amazing how a few stock photos can change the image of the business from ‘high production kennel’ to wuvvy-dubby dog sanctuary.

C’mon people!? Really?

The Paxton’s have piles of shit raining down on them. Seems fitting given that’s what their dogs have been living in.

RSPCA swoops on puppy farm as public outrage builds

The RSPCA last night raided a puppy farm exposed in a damning council report amid public outrage over the suffering.

Geelong Advertiser readers yesterday demanded authorities put a stop to the “sickening” conditions at the Beremboke farm, north of Anakie.

Animal welfare inspectors swooped on Leslie and Melinda Paxton’s farm to ensure the welfare of animals.

The investigation follows a damning Moorabool Shire report, which alleged the Paxtons kept 59 dogs in shocking conditions on the property.
…….

Photographic evidence taken by council rangers revealing the full extent of suffering was deemed too distressing to be shown to the public.

A council report said the kennels breached council policies for keeping dogs and failed the minimum standards for the Code of Practice for the Private Keeping of Dogs under the Planning and Environment Act.

See the story also in the Herald Sun, including these pictures;

The Paxton’s have, according to Council reports, been selling their puppies through the Melbourne Trading Post. If you are one of the people who have purchased one of these puppies and kept these guys in business, shame on you. There are literally thousands of website detailing how to avoid puppy farms and buy a healthy pup, but as you didn’t take the time to research where these pups were coming from, and now you are part of this.

There’s no law in the world that can stop mouthbreathers from setting up puppy factories. As the public who support their business we’ve got stop, knowingly or ignorantly, enabling their cruelty by buying their wares.

[ Debra Tranter speaks to ABC Radio ]

Now, before you read this just remember, Pets Paradise made a cool $80 million dollars profit last year from pet and pet product sales.

Heart money

Cally Loridas and puppy Harry were born with the same heart condition.

A Berwick girl is using all of her pocket money to kick start fundraising efforts for a critically ill puppy in need of surgery.

Lauren Callander decided to help three-month-old Harry Heart Murmur, a King Charles Cavalier puppy who has a serious heart condition and is being cared for by Pets Paradise at Parkmore Shopping Centre in Keysborough, because she too has a heart condition.

The 10-year-old was diagnosed with a heart condition during her mother Michelle’s pregnancy and had open heart surgery when she was only 10 months old.

Lauren wanted to lend a helping hand to Harry Heart Murmur who has been diagnosed with the serious heart condition known as Patient Ductus Arteriosis.

The puppy needs surgery, which has been estimated to cost up to $10,000.

“I want to help fix the dog like the doctors fixed me,” Lauren said.

“I feel sad for him because I know what it feels like.”

The Berwick Chase Primary School student said she would feel proud of herself if she could help raise the much-needed $10,000.

“I’m going to donate my pocket money. I have $95 in the bank,” she said.

“The kids at school are also helping make posters to hang up around the school.”

Lauren and her family are hoping the community will also dig deep and support the fundraiser for Harry Heart Murmer.

I think I’m going to vomit.

In case you’d like to let the journalist for this series know what you think of Pets Paradise, Kelly Yates, can be reached on Kelly.Yates@starnewsgroup.com.au.

Be nice.

Planning Application 2008-047; Mr. L. Paxton; Use of the Land to Keep 30 Dogs (Animal Keeping); 456 Marshalls Lane, Beremboke

Approval is sought for the use of the property for the keeping of thirty (30) dogs (Animal Keeping) in a Farming Zone. This application is retrospective and the use of the site for animal keeping has been established for several years without approval.

In excess of 30 dogs (59 confirmed by a site visit undertaken by Council Compliance Officers) are currently being kept on the property.
………

From photographic evidence provided by the Compliance Officer it is apparent that the applicant fails to comply with the Code of Practice for the Operation of Breeding and Rearing Establishments.

- Photos show raw meat on the ground for animals to eat, and water containers tipped over.

- Pens do not appear to be cleaned regularly, faecal matter and significant amounts of mud present in pens, around property and on dogs.

- Current method of faeces disposal (Waste bin provided by SITA environmental solutions) not satisfactory. A waste removal method must be implemented which complies with the EPA code of practice.

- All areas appeared to be wet and unclean in photos, there had recently been rain however the dog pens should be designed to provide shelter from this.

- Photos show standard wire farm fencing approximately 1-1.4 metres high, with a family of pigs grazing on the opposite side, next to the road. Neighbours have reported dogs and livestock escaping on a number of occasions.

- All kennels appear to have concrete bottoms, do not appear to provide protection from rain and five kennels are not sufficient to provide for 30 dogs.

- Photos show between 2 and 5 adult sized, large dog species (eg. Alaskan Malamutes) being kept in one pen.

- Applicant has previous history of unregistered dogs.

Objects to the planning application based on the following:

Investigations on the property show that the applicant is running a puppy farm and often advertises through the Melbourne Trading Post. Compliance Officers attended at the property on the 07/09/2009 and 08/09/09 and obtained photographs of the living conditions that these animals are currently enduring. A copy of these photos has been given to planning. Other issues that arose from the visit were;

• The inappropriate and unhygienic manner of animal carcasses left to rot on the ground
• Uncontained livestock on the road
• The number of dogs on the property- 59
• The manner in which the dogs are housed. The house does not provide adequate shelter or space per animal and as shown on the photographs obtained by compliance officers, many of the animals were living and covered in their own faeces.

And today;

The pleas of a Beremboke couple to keep 30 dogs on their property fell on deaf ears last night, as Moorabool Shire councillors unanimously voted to deny them a permit.

Melinda and Les Paxton addressed councillors at a meeting at Bacchus Marsh last night to defend themselves against claims in a council report that they had as many as 59 dogs on their property at one time.

The couple made a retrospective claim to house the 30 animals on their Marshalls Lane property.

“The whole thing has got out of hand a little bit,” Mr Paxton said.

“There have never been 59 dogs on the property,” Mr Paxton said.”There were 46 and when (the council worker) told us we could only have 30, we put the rest up for sale on the internet and got rid of them.”

Neighbouring property owners complained about dogs escaping, excessive noise and people shooting kangaroos to feed the dogs.

Council compliance officers also reported that dogs were chained to trees and cars, kept in cages with concrete floors without sufficient water, and that raw meat was thrown on the ground for the dogs to eat.

Still think you should buy that internet pup?

Heartfelt plea for sick pup

Pets Paradise at Parkmore Shopping Centre is raising money for a critically ill puppy in need of surgery.

Three-month-old Harry Heart Murmur, a King Charles Cavalier puppy, was diagnosed with a serious heart condition known as Patient Ductus Arteriosis and needs a large medical procedure in order to survive. The surgery is estimated to cost up to $10,000, and the staff at the animal specialist centre SARC in Highett have offered to do the operation at cost price.

Pets Paradise owner Cally Loridas said putting the puppy down was the last resort.

“We don’t believe in euthanasia for young pups,” she said.

“Putting it down isn’t something we want to do. We want Harry to have a long and healthy life, and for a family to be able to share it with him.”

Harry Heart Murmur is currently being cared for by Ms Loridas who is making sure he is happy and comfortable.

Anyone wanting to donate can visit Pets Paradise at Parkmore Shopping Centre

Now I’m no vet, but according to a very elementary search on Google, ‘patent ductus arteriosis’ (PDA) is the most common congenital heart disease in dogs. So, not only are Pets Paradise allowing shoppers the ‘privilege’ of purchasing full price stock for rescue groups, they’re now fundraising for treatment when their puppies get sick from diseases developed before birth.

The cup does runeth over at PP.

I’m the first encourage rescue groups to join forces with the corporate world. The skills and resources of commercial companies combined with the goodwill of rescue means huge benefits to both parties if the right partnership is struck. But while relationships with like-minded organisations are beneficial to rescue, others run contradictory to our pledge to better animal welfare and do more damage than good.

Businesses who make money trading off the farming of companion animals, and who support those who view dogs and cats as a cash crop are obviously the kind we would want to avoid as animal rescuers…. wouldn’t we?

Take this year’s Pets Paradise Christmas Giving Tree.

Pets Paradise is the largest retailler of live pets, puppies and kittens in Australia. They made a cool $80 million dollars profit last year from pet and pet product sales and their model relies directly on the ‘impulse’ of passing foot traffic.

With an enviable position in the retail world, millions of people visit the Pets Paradise franchise stores every week. What visit to the local shops would be complete without kids dragging their parents to see Pets Paradise? The retail franchise has a captive audience every week looking at the product offering.
Franchisee information

The idea of their promotion is this – visitors to Pets Paradise stores can purchase an item to donate to an ‘animal shelter’. That’s it. The store gets extra sales and the company gets to claim the valuable ‘halo’ of being seen to be helping rescue.

But wait! I hear you saying. The company isn’t contributing anything and are directly benefiting financially! Plus, aren’t they the kind of business we’d want to avoid?

Exactly. And that’s why when animal shelters were approached with this idea, they told Pets Paradise to go swivel. They could see that they were simply trying to ‘cash in’ on the kindness of the community towards animal rescue groups to improve their nefarious reputation.

That is, most animal shelters but one. And you’ll never guess who it was…

Christmas is always an exciting and beautiful time for families, but we shouldn’t forget our furry friends who are not lucky enough to have a home of their own.

Pets Paradise helped to donate over $50,000 worth of pet food, toys and accessories to The Lost Dogs Home, helping all of pet friends have a Merry Christmas. ref

So while animal rescue groups nationally are trying to educate the public about the problems with purchasing puppies and kittens from pet shops this xmas, the Lost Dogs Home is lending their name to help Pets Paradise launder its reputation. Not one to say no to a corporate relationship over a silly thing like ‘principals’, the Lost Dogs Home took the entire $50,000 donation of product. And the benefits to Pets Paradise were so enormous, that they’re looking to double the size of their campaign this year!

Last year our generous customers helped us donate over $55,00 in much needed supplies to animal shelters across the country. This year we aim to double the amount in donated goods for various shelters Australia wide.

Dear friends, if you have a passion to help animals in need, then simply purchase a gift from any of our Pets Paradise stores across Australia, place it under the Christmas tree and take home a tree tag to hang on your tree as a token of our and the animal shelters appreciation. ref

$100,000 and a whole bunch of goodwill to Pets Paradise, a company who should definitely not be benefiting from the work of animal rescuers. But thanks to the help of the Lost Dogs Home, they can enjoy basking in the glow of a successful holiday boom.

Merry Christmas!