March 24, 2010Comments are closed.shelter procedure
Hey, remember how animal management in Orange were bagging out their community, rather than offering them services and support?
Well, they’re not the only ones;
Casino is the abandoned and abused animal capital of the Northern Rivers, according to figures compiled by the Animals Rights and Rescue Group (ARRG).
Two-thirds of the 2000 cats and dogs the Lismore-based animal welfare organisation rescues from around the region annually come from Casino, according to ARRG co-ordinator Barbara Steffensen.
Unfortunately about 65 per cent are either badly malnourished, injured, have skin problems or are underage.
….
Richmond Valley Council’s manager of environmental health and regulatory control Peter Cotterill agreed there appeared to be an animal welfare problem in Casino, but could not pinpoint the cause.“There is a really high percentage of pet ownership in the Casino area and there are an unfortunately high number of irresponsible pet owners in the town as well,” he said.
Mr Cotterill would not accept, however, that the council’s operation of the Casino pound was contributing to the problem.
“Unfortunately, we have found through experience that if people want to dispose of an animal for whatever reason, they will dispose of it no matter what the council’s pound policy is at the time.”
So what does ARRG see as the solution?
… if there were more desexing programs in the town, many of the animal welfare issues would be resolved.
So the option for every single council animal management department is now clear:
If you choose not to offer extensive pet desexing programs, you’re choosing to offer extensive services impounding and killing.
It’s simple really.
