The RSPCA Rutherford shelter has for several years managed pound services for the suburbs of Maitland, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle (NSW). The pound had long been criticised by animal advocates for refusing to release animals to community rescue, for working to overturn minimum impound periods making it easier to kill pets and for running overcapacity, especially during the busy holiday periods.
But in 2011, the RSPCA began negotiations with the Cessnock Council (Kurri Kurri Animal Shelter) to take over their pound, and in doing so expand the Rutherford shelter load by an expected 800 dogs and 300 cats per year.
The news was met with howls of protest from animal rescue groups in the area, with groups claiming they had been left out of discussions, that council had awarded the contract without calling for tenders and that more animals would die under the new management;
“Kurri Kurri pound has an extremely low rate of animals being put to sleep,” Hunter Animal Rescue president Jaimie Abbott said.
“This low euthanasia rate is because of the passionate and dedicated rangers and a large [number] of rescue groups releasing from the pound.
“This figure will not be maintained under the proposed new scheme and rescue groups will not be able to help save these animals.”
Despite these objections, council went ahead with the contract. So for the last few months, animals from Kurri Kurri with its “extremely low” kill rate are now being processed by the RSPCA NSW in Rutherford.
Fast forward to today, and how’s it working out for the pets?
Creatures swamp Rutherford RSPCA shelter
The number of animals dumped at the RSPCA’s Rutherford shelter since the start of the summer holiday season has jumped by almost 40% on last year’s figures with almost 1,300 pets passing through the doors over the past five weeks.
There has been a steady procession of animals since the beginning of December and staff are preparing for the numbers to continue to rise with three weeks of school holidays remaining.
Healthy kittens are being euthanised as staff struggle to cope with the unprecedented jump in the number of animals arriving at shelter.
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(RSPCA spokeswoman Marianne Zander) said the majority of animals handed in at Rutherford had been dogs and kittens, many of the kittens having to be destroyed.
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She said the shelter had also received many dogs and puppies, 175 of them surrenders.She said as soon as the animals were behaviour- and health-assessed they stayed at the shelter for as long as it took to find them a new home but if it came to the shelter being too full, animals would be transferred to other shelters.
Now, this is where it gets interesting; the pound claims that should rehomable pets be in danger, they can simply be moved to other RSPCA locations. However those other locations aren’t likely a safe option either. The RSPCA NSW Annual Report 2010/11 contains no breakdown for individual shelters, but provides these overall number, state-wide for the year:
9,606 rehomed
5,509 returned
21,510 Killed (8,209 dogs & 13,301 cats)
Not very reassuring.
The Cessnock Council contract is worth more than $2 million to the RSPCA. Collecting multiple pound tenders, regardless of capacity seems to be a growing trend amongst major animal welfare organisations. And being able to explain away any surge in impounds by blaming ‘irresponsible owners’, ‘global warming‘, or the carbon tax has meant the public has largely remained ignorant the effects of pound management has on kill rates.
The RSPCA NSW is aware of the lack of capacity and had plans to expand its Tighes Hill vet clinic into an ‘animal care centre’ to cope with the pressure Cessnock city councils’ pound services are placing on the Rutherford shelter.
Unfortunately however, until other solutions are found, the lives of those pets who were once able to be saved by community rescue groups from the Kurri Kurri pound, will remain in the hands of an organisation who seems to be happy to use killing as the main tool to make its overcrowding problems go away.
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If a member of the public was to acquire so many pets that it was ‘forced’ to kill some to make space to continue to acquire more, we would call that ‘irresponsible’. When shelters do it however, they blame the community for the killing…
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Archive of news articles
1. Rescue groups want Rutherford pound animals
2. Lake Macquarie’s new policy on feral animals
3. Cessnock council puts Kurri pound decisions on a lead
4. Abandoned animals on death row
5. RSPCA planning to make room for more homeless
6. Fear for lives of pound animals
7. Animal welfare activists to protest pound closure
