Bundaberg pound chooses killing over doing their job

Dog in Bundaberg Pound

Killing, and then blaming the public for the killing, has become such an entrenched way of doing things in animal pounds in Australia, that sometimes the irony of their policies is lost on the staff who work there.

Bundaberg Council Pound is open to the public for adoptions exactly zero days of the year. However, it is then surprised when the pound fills with pets and no one comes and takes them away. Obviously, this ‘overpopulation’ of pets, leaves them with little choice but to kill. Job done

Well actually, no. They have one last lazy-ass technique to encourage others to do their job for them. Instead of offering adoptions, they simply threaten to kill any pet who remains unclaimed, and waits for rescue groups to step up and save the animals;

Red Collar Rescue founder Sharyn Banks said dogs were coming to the pound faster than the not-for-profit organisation could house them and said the Bundaberg Regional Council was forced to make tough decisions.

“They don’t like killing dogs, they don’t want to do it, but they hold off as long as they can,” Ms Banks said.

They might not like killing dogs, but they don’t dislike it so much that they do something OTHER than kill them.

With the pound not offering adoptions directly from the site, the only saviour for the animals is organisations like Red Collar Rescue and the RSPCA.

Ms Banks yesterday said she had until 10am Friday to find homes for the dogs or they too, would be killed.

“If I ring them up and say I’m not taking those dogs, they’ll have to call in the vet,” she said.

Well, actually there’s no ‘have to’. A pound doesn’t HAVE TO kill. It CHOOSES to kill, when it CHOOSES not to offer to allow the public to adopt pets and save their lives.

Bundaberg Regional Council health and regulatory services spokesman Wayne Honor said the dogs had “past the prescribed holding timeframe” of three days for unregistered and five days for registered dogs.

He said it was an “absolutely heart wrenching” process for the workers of the pound who have already euthanised 43 dogs and 24 cats this year.

Cue the violins. Boo hoo poor shelter staff getting all heart-wrenched going to their deskphone to call for a vet to kill-empty their shelter for them.

Cr Honor urged dog owners to ensure their animals were registered, microchipped, desexed and take all the steps to ensure they were appropriately confined within their premises.

Yes, you – the pet lovers of Bundaberg. Stop bothering the public officials and staff you are paying to do their JOB, and instead get on board the magical fairy-dust train to a place where pets never become lost or displaced from their family.

And should pets need help today, then too bad. Unless some rescue is willing to stump up and haul some dogs from the kill rooms, Cr Honor backs a 100% kill rate – no irony noted.