Each year about 12,000 dogs enter the Lost Dogs Home Melbourne. About 7,000 will be collected by their owners, leaving about 5,000 unclaimed dogs needing protection. Allowing for the few days a year the Home closes, this is about 15 dogs per day.
The Queen’s Birthday long weekend would be expected to be a busy time and a big weekend for adoptions. At the very least, the organisation should be able to achieve a relatively balanced intake/outtake ratio, and keep killing to a minimum.
By close of business on Friday the following 28 dogs were up for adoption;
Bonza (4 months) Reggie (4 months) Foxy (2 years) Cleo (3 years) Rambo (7 months) Annie (4 years) Rex (3 years) Jet (3 years) Eva (3 years) Badga (1 year) Charlie (2 years) Murphy (1 year) Nayla (3 years) Boof (4 years) Pepper (10mths) Ben (9 months) Donny (1 year) Mezzi (3 years) Crystal (2 years) Prince (4 months) Snowy (1 year) Daryl (9 months) Storm (6 months) Buffy (3 years) Bromley (2 years) Leroy (2 years) Rosie (1 year) and Bruce (2 years)
By Sunday (two full days later) 10 dogs had found new homes (Bonza, Reggie, Foxy, Cleo, Annie, Prince, Daryl, Storm, Leroy and Bruce). Also on Sunday one new dog was added (Boots).
The public holiday Monday saw 6 more adoptions (Rambo, Eva, Nayla, Boof, Pepper and Crystal), but no new listings.
As of tonight (COB Monday) there are 13 dogs available for adoption. 12 of those are the same dogs that were available on Friday, making the adoption total for the entire three day weekend as… 16 dogs.
In that same timeframe (Sat, Sun & Mon), based on average intakes, it would be expected 45 dogs were left unclaimed at the facility.
Where are all the dogs?
There was some good news coming out of the Home this weekend however. Molly Brown, the sole surviving sheep from the recent Melbourne truck roll-over, was treated by the home, then released to Edgar’s Mission. There she will continue her treatment, be rehabilitated and, most importantly, given a second chance at a happy life.
Edgar’s Mission is a not-for-profit farm sanctuary, founded by Pam Ahern and looks to provide “…shelter and direct care for homeless, abused, injured or abandoned animals”. Their website claims they “Rescue, Rehabilitate and Rehome whenever possible”…
The great irony being that while Molly Brown – a sheep and not the Home’s core animal client – enjoyed the lifesaving process that is working with community rescue groups – the cats and dogs of the Lost Dogs Home are killed while rescue groups are refused access.
Molly Brown could not simply adopted to a member of the public because she was injured and needed ongoing care – exactly the kind of care that a community groups are able to offer. While dogs who need extra care, behavioural rehabilitation or ongoing treatment, are simply deemed ‘unadoptable’ and are killed rather than offered to rescue groups who would take them and care for them at no cost to the facility.
Seems you’re better off being a sheep, than a dog at the LDH.
