The rally the pet lovers of Melbourne have been waiting for

Saturday the 15th of October 2011 marked a historic event for pets in Australia. It was the day when the first community – the community of Geelong in Victoria – stood up and said enough to the unnecessary killing of pets.

Their local council pound, the Geelong Animal Welfare Society (GAWS) had been defending killing for decades, citing that they couldn’t stop killing animals because they were simply not savable, they were unsocialised puppies, there was too much irresponsible breeding, ‘inbreeding’ made them dangerous, the weather was warming, people kept treating their pets as ‘expendable’, the ‘28 Day Rule’ made it impossible, the rising cost of food and fuel, global warming and a mice epidemic
… and all of these factors meant the organisation was ‘forced’ to kill pets.

GAWS encouraged the trapping, impoundment and killing of stray cats, claimed the majority of the pets entering the shelter were untreatably aggressive, and killed pets for being non-english speaking.

GAWS management refused to work with openly with volunteers, release to rescue groups or even advertise pets on the web, instead they called on the government to crack down on irresponsible owners, and complained that they were being harrassed’ and ‘vilified’ by animal advocates.

Videos emerged showing dogs being drugged and left overnight to struggle and sometimes die unmonitored, and cats being killed by heartstick while staff joked about the inhumane conditions.

Then, when the community finally said enough is enough – when they stood with one voice and said we will no longer accept you killing our community’s companion animals in the face of alternatives – the management of Geelong Animal Welfare Society was forced out.

Photo: The Geelong Advertiser

And the transformation at the Society has been remarkable. New animal welfare leaders with a drive to save lives stepped up and stepped in, taking them from an organisation working in isolation and shutting out the community, to a lifesaving asset which depends on the community to thrive.

GAWS now has a volunteer program, a foster care program, an instore adoption program. They have partnered with dozens of their fellow rescue associations who are proud to be part of the revolution. They promote adoptions and are using the media, not to berate the public and defend killing, but to ask for their support. They put in a transparent system of recording and reporting pet outcomes. They treat sick pets. They rehabilitate pets. And in just the 8 months left of the 2011/12 year – along with not insignificant task of forming an entirely new organisation structure and team – the new management;

– Increased the ‘release to rescue’ rate from zero dogs in 2010/11 to 110 dogs in 2011/12
– Increased their adoption rate by 45%, from 582 dogs in 2010/11 to 846 dogss in 2011/12
and
– Dropped their euthanasia rate from 833 dogs in 2010/11 to 283 dogs in 2011/12 (or around a 10% kill rate, or ‘No Kill’)
and for cats
– Increased their cat adoption rate by more than 45% from 616 cats in 2010/11 to 904 cats in 2011/12
– Euthanased 1,200 less cats for the year.

And they did it all on less the $1 million dollars.

(see the Geelong Animal Welfare Annual Report)

A new beginning

As Dr Phil says, the only thing worse than being in a toxic relationship for a year, is to be in a toxic relationship for a year and one day.

Who knows how long the excuses and killing would have continued, hidden from sight, should the community of Geelong not taken a stand. The old management were not motivated to change. The old-high-kill management of Geelong accused the community of being ‘bullies’ and ‘harrassing’ them. They threatened legal action. They said they were the victims simply doing the ‘irresponsible public’s dirty work’. That they didn’t have the right laws. That we didn’t know what they were up against; how uncaring Geelong’s pet owners really were.

And they were wrong.

History now shows – they were the reason pets were dying. The only thing that needed to change was them.

No new laws. No mythical, magical change in community behaviour. But simply for the organisation to reclaim its mission to act as a protector to pets.

Our chance for a compassionate Melbourne

For literally decades The Lost Dogs Home in Melbourne have maintained their kill rate is the fault of Christmas pet shop sales. That the pets they take in have untreatable behavioural problems. Because of backyard fireworks. A lack of microchipping. Global warming. That the pets THEY get in THEIR community are too aggressive to be saved. That they weren’t killing pets, but ‘euthanising’ them. That animal advocates were simply ‘cyber bullies’ and they are the victims of a No Kill ‘attack’.

They’ve killed pets with owners. Failed to reunite pets and their families. And condemned Victorian dogs with BSL.

And in 2011/12 the organisation adopted 5,462 pets, killed 14,240 with a revenue of $17,000,000.

The time for change is now.

Join us in rallying for change at the Lost Dogs Home.

Watch a video on the LDH here