As the holiday season comes at a speed, Keysborough’s animals shelter urge people to adopt cats and dogs responsibly.
Mandy Warrick started to volunteer from the age of 13 at the Australian Animal Protection Society at Keysborough, now a manager at the animal shelter says they see more than 30 pet surrenders every day.
There are no more holiday trends, pets are instead surrendered all year round she says.
“Pre Covid there were trends, winter would be a big trend for lots of dogs because it’s muddy, Christmas hasn’t been so much of a trend but certainly post covid there’s no trends, it just all year around.
“We get strays, surrenders, take a lot of dogs from breeding establishments, from other shelters that are overflowing because it’s the worst we’ve seen, the amount of animals coming through the system is out of control, it’s like a human Tetris game at time.
“It’s always important for people to support adoption to bust the perception that shelter animals is here because there’s a problem, in fact it’s the people who’ve brought them in and let them down are the problem.”
Cost of living, cost of vet, rentals that don’t allow pets, elderly people moving into aged care or retirement villages that don’t allow pets are some of the main reasons people surrender their pets.
“I just had a surrender request for a 9-year-old dog, the person had the dog from the age of 9 weeks old.
“The dog needs urgent care, and he can’t afford vet fees, so he asked us to take the dog so he can get the treatment.”
The Keysborough animal shelter has the capacity to care for 70 cats, up to 20 dogs and 150 out in foster care.
To avoid gifting trends especially around Christmas, the shelter require the whole family of the person adopting the pet to attend in person, being “selective” on where animals are rehomed.
Their experience has taught the important skills of seeing through fibs.
Ms Warrick says they are in peak kitten season but even before then they’ve had increased numbers of pregnant mums come through the shelter.
She urges cat desexing prices to be made cheap to take control of the overpopulation of cats especially in Greater Dandenong.
“People call us that they’ve had cats having babies in their backyard and garages, asking what they can do.
“Council gets so many of these calls that they refer people to us.
“Council needs to step up a lot more and really help their community.”
Keysborough’s animal shelter charge $160 for cat desexing with microchip as a shelter, however costs can vary and go up to $500.
Ms Warrick remembers when it used to cost just $50.
As reported previously by Star Journal in 2022, stray cats and dogs and unregistered animals have been identified as major challenges in the council’s draft domestic animal management plan 2021-2025.
As of January 2021, there were about 3500 registered cats – but that’s estimated to be only 15 per cent of the cat population in Greater Dandenong.
Council had passed a night time curfew for cats, from dusk till dawn from April last year to tackle cat overpopulation as a significant issues in the municipality.
Council impounds an average of 700 cats per year and only seven per cent of them are reclaimed by the owner, leaving 651 cats
without legal owner with the council to bear the costs of the animals care.
These costs can equate to approximately $216,000 per year.
For over 20 years AAPS has been fundraising with Entertainment to provide exclusive dining, experiences, travel perks, and shopping savings all year long to supporters whilst supporting their cause.
Memberships can be bought this Christmas and help even more animals this holiday season.
