Saving lives is all about attitude

According to their website, the Cooma-Monaro Shire Council is based in the country town of Cooma, New South Wales, perfectly situated only one hour from the Mountains, Canberra and the Coast, and only 4 hours to Sydney.

A regional location, it has a population of 6,587 people and a small animal pound. It would be easy for the management of this pound to kill dogs and cats while claiming they’re ‘too rural’ to run a rehoming program, and their farming-based community ‘too backward’ to care for their animals compassionately and ‘too ignorant’ to appreciate the value of rescue pets. They could even claim that country dogs were ‘less social’ than city dogs, or the breeds they dealt with were ‘not desirable’ so killing is unavoidable.

Instead, they shook off the excuses and last year they saved 97% of the dogs they impounded.

Cooma-Monaro Shire Council has achieved its highest rehousing rate of impounded stray dogs in five years.

During the 2009/2010 financial year 97 per cent of dogs impounded were successfully rehoused.

Of the 146 dogs seized 143 were released and three were euthanased, a six per cent improvement on 2005/2006 figures.

Of the 143 dogs released 20 were handed over the Cooma branch of the RSPCA.

President of the Cooma branch of the RSPCA Lil Frezza said a total of 41 dogs came into their care last year with 39 rehoused.

She believes the high rehousing rate is largely due to people who volunteer as foster carers for the animals while the RSPCA finds new homes for them.

“The number is good for a small country town,” she said.

“Council rangers are cooperative and the foster carers make a big difference.”

Mrs Frezza said initiatives such as increased advertising of abandoned pets and increased fund raising efforts had contributed to improved rehousing rates.
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Last year, council seized a total of 17 cats and released 16 while one was destroyed.

Cooperation and marketing, not fire and brimstone. Foster care and innovation, not condemnation and killing. What’s more Cooma celebrated this fantastic achievement, by getting this positive story into their local press, further generating community goodwill.

There is no reason every regional council pound could not follow Cooma’s lead, and the lead of other shelters around the country, and implement the programs and services that make the killing of companion animals unnecessary. Many regional councils are not only still choosing to kill, but are often doing so by draconian means; shooting pets with firearms, or gassing them with car exhausts. And while defending the methods they’re using to kill as ‘humane’, they resist pressure to stop killing from their local community; the ultimate betrayal of the companion animals they are assigned with protecting.

Every council pound who refuses to work with rescue, every council pound who refuses to use foster carers, every council pound who instead looks to laws to punish their public and make it more difficult for people to keep their animals – chooses to kill instead of work with their community to save lives.

Cooma has shown that even a small population in a rural area has enough community goodwill to make their local council pound a safe place for pets, should the pound’s management choose to stop killing and instead open their doors to pet lovers. Every under-performing pound manager should now consider themselves now on notice.

See also: How to save 79 pets in a week