Stirling is the largest local council by population in WA (200,000+ people) and the 12th largest in Australia. The City has an average household weekly income of $1,353*, which is less than the WA average ($1,415). It also includes some of the least-wealthy suburbs in the state; Nollamara ($1,033), Westminster ($1,082) and Balga ($934).
However despite these obstacles, the staff at the Stirling Animal Care Facility bust balls to get pets out of their facility alive.
Dogs who are registered and wearing ID and whose owners can be located, are taken straight home. The benefits of this are two-fold; happier pet owners as their lost pets are found – and less impoundments, killing and costs to council.
The Council also doesn’t support cat trapping programs, nor supply loan cat traps citing;
There are a number of issues associated with this practice, most importantly the cat may be a family pet and there are significant animal welfare concerns. Cat trapping may also be an offence under the Western Australian Animal Welfare Act.
(This will potentially change once new cat laws in the state are enacted)
Council also emphasise the importance of registering pets. Along with exercising them, with practically all public parks within the City of Stirling (of which there are more than 700) classified as Dog Exercise Areas where dogs can be exercised without a leash attached. Once a year they host a community dog event, the ‘Doggy Do’ which includes discount microchipping.
The City’s website includes an online pet lost and found page, which includes a good, clear photo of the pet and the location it was found.
This is clearly helping enormously in reuniting pets and owners. Pound staff also judiciously follow up on lost pet reports and try to contact owners through as many channels as possible.
And their hard work is clearly paying off, with the reclaim rate for dogs who are impounded at the facility a whopping 73% for the 2011/12 year.
(Note: This figure doesn’t include straight-to-home drop offs, so this number is potentially even higher!)
The pound has established a volunteer program to help clean the facilities and walk the dogs, making for happier, more sociable animals. Management also work to train and rehabilitate dogs on-site, helping with adoptability.
The facilities are welcoming and well-kept. Stirling Council is one of the few in WA who have a ‘desexing before release’ program in place, and all available dogs are advertised on the council website.
In addition, the facility has a Facebook page dedicated to rehoming – the Adopt-a-dog! Stirling Animal Care Facility Page
Animals who need new homes have an attractive photo taken of them and are then promoted via the page.
For any pets who are not placed directly, the City also work with local rescue groups, Staffy & Bully Breed Rescue and SAFE Perth, and this program continues to grow.
Says SAFE Perth;
Stirling staff always have the animals best welfare at heart. They are a pleasure to deal with as they are so proactive in not only placing pets themselves, but also in contacting us should we be needed to lend a hand. Their hard work is clearly getting results – all pounds in WA should be operating in this way.
And SABBR
Stirling is one of the best councils to work with and make a real effort to save their animals. They always let us know if there is a dog needing help. They take great care of their dogs and take the time to be supportive to the rescues they work with. It’s a team effort, that is really saving lives.
All the hard work at the City of Stirling Animal Care Facility, has seen them achieve a live-release rate of 97%.
2011/12
907 – Dog intakes
662 – Returns (73%)
214 – Adopted/rescue (24%)
31 – Euthanised (3%)
This is an extraordinary achievement, for which the Council and the staff at the animal care facility should be given an enormous commendation for.
Do you know of another simply awesome council pound? Drop me a line.
*Census 2011
Absolutely fantastic stats guys so a top effort to you all. Be proud of your facility and all your efforts.
Thanks for the good-news report. Excellent stuff!
This is my city. They also provide a subsidised sterilisation program, so I was able to get my dog, (rescued from another metro council pound, which does not sterilise, and euthanises) sterilised at a cheaper rate. SO they are also having an effect on animals from other areas.
Keep up the good work. Good common sense is a rare commodity these days. :)
Derek who is a ranger at the pound, plus the wonderful volunteers like Liz is what makes this pound different from others, leading by example!
I Love This Place, We got our Rescue Puppy from here, and the whole process was Fantastic…..The premises are wonderful…and the Staff amazing……
I am proud that I live in this council area for what you do for the lost dogs.
Congratulations .. Wish all councils would adopt your approach .. Three huge gold stars …
Stirling Pound sound like a great example for other Pounds throughout the country.Well done Stirling Pound for your excellent standards!
While acknowledging the terrible problems caused by feral cats, I do hope the treatment of cats will be as well considered and humane when and if laws change around trapping.
Fantastic report. Finally some good news after all the shocking reports of animal abuse and unecessary euthanasia of many animals. Keep up the great work.
Fantastic work City of Stirling, this should be the standard for all councils…I often find lost dogs and always avoid getting the ranger involved unless for a contact number. A neighbour recently lost her dogs for a few hours but still had to pay $300 to our shire to get them back even though they were let out of a closed gate….should be 100% included in our HUGE rates if not a regular occurance. It breaks my heart to think animals could be destroyed if owners are unable to afford for their release…
Take note every other city and shire and follow City of Stirlings example !!
These guys are awesome we got our boy from Stirling Animal care facility. He is a great dog. If it wAsnt for the love and dedication of Derek and the volunteers we would not have found our boy. Also thanks to Facebook we also found the facility well done guys keep up the great work
the staff and volunteers were very happy to read this. Liz wanted you to know balls are only busted under aneasthetic :) while the reclaim rate is mainly the work of Derek & the rangers, rehoming is facilitated by volunteers & rescue groups. while volunteers walk and play with dogs, we can temperament test them, and the rescue groups foster out the “slow movers” so they can find the right forever home.
every pound should make use of local volunteers and the help rescue groups provide. and every council should have a facebook page for returning lost dogs and rehoming unclaimed dogs.
in the year I’ve been volunteering i’ve only ever seen dogs euthanized because they were sick or were aggressive (towards dogs or people). i don’t believe a no-kill policy is helpful. aggressive dogs are highly stressed and i believe its kinder to end that stress. while i’m sad when a dog i’ve got to know is euthanized, i know we’ve shown the dog kindness, so its life ends with some happiness. this was the case with a highly aggressive dog i adopted a few years ago. she had been abused and i loved her enough to end the psychological pain she experienced every time she went into attack mode