Seasonal cat-astrophe

By Emma Sun
It quite often sees more than 23 animals a day through its doors and animal welfare co-ordinator Julie Bencraft said it was pretty much the same routine each year.
“It’s just a bad time of the year, where we get heaps of strays and people just dump animals here,” she said.
“It’s the same excuses as well, where people just don’t want them anymore. It’s what we get all year around but just in a greater quantity.
“A lot of people are probably going away and don’t want to have to pay boarding fees for their pets. It also happens when the animals aren’t cute little puppies or kittens any more.”
According to Ms Bencraft, it isn’t uncommon for the shelter to see more than 150 animals a week during peak times like the New Year holiday period.
“Normally, a bad day would be five or six but then we might not get any for two to three days. At this time of the year, we’re just getting them constantly.”
She said there were a few serial offenders that gave up a dog and bought another one each year, which was unfortunate for the animal.
“It’s very unsettling for them because it’s a new home and a new environment. This is a very stressful environment for the animal.”
Cats are a particular problem and the shelter can receive close to 30 felines in a day between October and April, with the kittens often coming in litters.
The shelter has been forced to put many animals down due to the sheer number that come in, but Ms Bencraft said they tried their best not to.
“Because we don’t work on a time limit, they can be here for as long as it takes but obviously a lot of them don’t make it. We do our best to minimise such issues.”
Ms Bencraft urged people to desex their animals and to be more wary of what they were doing when purchasing a pet for themselves or a family member.
“Desex your animals and consider that whatever animal you adopt has the potential to be with you for the next 10 to 20 years.
“Pets are a family member, not just for amusement.”