Imagine for one moment each & every impounded pet came with a bundle of money – a few hundred dollars – around their kneck.
Would this be enough to save their lives?
In 2004 The Lost Dogs Home won the pound and shelter services tender for Melbourne City Council. It held the tender until 2008/09, when it was reviewed and the annual sum of $151,200 was proposed by the LDH.
This amount included $20,000 for them to provide their ‘free’ micro-chipping events to the Melbourne CC local area.
So how many animals were impounded for the remaining $131,200?
(168 dogs and 260 cats)
That’s more than $300 per pet that walks through the door.
114 pets were collected by their families. Leaving 314 pets needing care.
30 of the dogs were rehomed – 40 were killed
10 of the cats were rehomed – 218 cats were killed
The Lost Dogs Home received nearly $80,000 for the care of pets that it would go on to kill. Over the three year term of the tender, that’s $240,000 paid by Melbourne City Council for dead pets.
The animal sheltering model whereby a organisation can save a few animals, kill the rest, and be paid by the community for doing so, is well and truly over.
In this instance, the people of Melbourne have spoken up on behalf of the pets and the Council is currently examining other shelter options. If the tender is to be offered to another organisation, it will be an embarrassing blow to the LDH, who are inside the Melbourne City Council municipality. Community backlash to killing, will be directly hitting their bottom line.
Is your local council using your tax dollars to pay private organisations to kill pets? Major groups will tell you the best way to benefit pets is to simply give them your money. They want you to cook cakes, run marathons and collect from your friends on their behalf. What they don’t want you to do is examine their operations, compare their kill rates, or look at where their money is being directed.
If you love pets, start at the grass roots level. Only by taking an interest in your local council can your truly help pets in need.
I think the community should be told this please send this to the local newspaper please. I am sure it is not going to cost the council 300 per animal to do it themselves. What a waste of rate payers money.