The Young Shire have a problem. Of the just 83 cats the council take in annually, they kill 66 of them (80%). Even though to save every cat, the pound would only need to find one cat adopter every four days, the pound still kills four out of five of them.
Dogs don’t fare much better. Of the 131 dogs left unclaimed at the Young pound, 103 were killed (79%) and just 38 animals total were re-homed. The primary service this pound offer the community is pet-killing.
Right there is a story – about the obligations of pounds and whether they should be saving the lives of the community’s pets. Whether they should photographing available pets and advertising them online (they don’t), on adoption websites (they don’t) or even working with local vets and pet shops to get some of these pets into homes (they don’t). Is that what the media picked up on?
Nope. Unfortunately Chloe Booker from the Young Witness takes a different tack;
The dumping of kittens around Young has become an ongoing problem, leading to a high percentage of the unwanted pets having to be put down.
Yup – that’s right. The ‘irresponsible public’ strikes again.
The dumping of animals, which is illegal in NSW under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, attracts a maximum penalty of $27,500 for corporations and $5500 for individuals.
But this has not prevented both the front door of the J&L Pet Shop and the Young Veterinary Clinic from becoming regular dumping grounds.
J&L Pet Shop owner Jan Taylor said on Wednesday it was the fourth time in a year kittens had been left at her shop and she blames people who didn’t desex their cats for the problem.
”If you can’t afford to have your animals desexed, you shouldn’t have them,” she said.
Maybe the reputation of the pound of being nothing more than pet slaying facility has gotten around – that tends to happen. This pound is failing so badly, that the ‘irresponsible public’ who have kittens who they want to actually see live (go figure), are going to other community services for help. Double, triple, total system FAIL.
”If you can’t afford to have your animals desexed, you shouldn’t have them,” she said.
…
Jan said although many people had told her the cost of desexing was too high, it equalled to only about $20 a year for the cat’s lifetime.
This community has a problem. The cost of desexing is too high. People are begging for help. So topical is the issue, that members of the community are literally discussing it with anyone that will listen – they want to desex their pets, but they can’t afford it.
So the solution is to get them like, help right? Again, you’d be wrong;
In the state, estimates put the amount of cats euthanized each year in the tens of thousands, leading to Blacktown council bringing in mandatory desexing last year in an effort to curb the problem.
Since the ACT brought in mandatory desexing in 2001, the euthanasia rate of cats has fallen dramatically.
The policy has the support of the Australian Veterinary Association.
*whistles*
Yup, right. THAT’S the answer. With a lazy, high-kill pound and pet owners unable to afford desexing, laws forcing people to give up their pets for non-compliance, is almost certainly the path to less killing. And we know that because we’ll be following in the footsteps of Blacktown who has mandatory desexing (no they don’t), and the ACT who has reduced the killing (no it hasn’t) and because the AVA support it (except they don’t).
So look forward to Young being the next No Kill community (yeah, no) and the kill rates of cats to drop dramatically (if the pound was to burn down). And for new laws which target the community’s cat owners to get passed by a confused and mislead public.
I’m so glad you highlighted all that is wrong in the last paragraph! How could the reporter get mandatory desexing so wrong?! And quote the opposite positions of three sources?! Total weirdness!
so sick of the reason behind not desexing being “it’s too expenisve” the problem actually is people just dont want to pay for the desexing. Reasonable thinking people recognise the desexing fees are generally quite reasonable – the problem is the mentailty of the unreasonable people…..right at the back of their mind, it lays there quietly, not rearing its head in public because it isn’t politcally correct…………….at the end of the day a) in australia most people have no idea of the true cost of health care because our health care is so heavily subsidised by the government (a right of every australia is to have access to health care!) 2) at the end of the day, something that no one ever wants to admit too……………..’it’s just an animal” and many people think they shouldnt have to pay as much for an animal, despite wanting exactly the same kind of medical services!
these are the very same people that will be quite happy to pay anything between $800 – $1000 for a puppy in a pet shop and then winge about how much it is going to cost them to get the basic services provided in the first year of life – yet they could have gone to a shelter and got an animal with everything already done….but they didnt because as a rescue/shelter (read disposable) animal it isn;t worth the asking price.
I know someone that works in the vet industry – this person becomes disheartned because it is very common for emotional blackmail to be used in the form of ” do what ever it takes becaue the pet is an important part of the family”……then when it comes to paying the bill its “what thats ridiculous – its’ just an animal” Vets are dammed if they do, and damed if they dont. They are criticised for bringing up the subject of money at a crucial time because they dont want owners to get into difficulties but if they dont mention it they get slammed because the owner was never informed.
@Scully – so you’re sick of people who can’t, or won’t pay for desexing.
Right. Great. Now what?
Being ‘sick of it’ doesn’t help those owners who can’t genuinely afford it. And it certainly doesn’t help the pets of the owners who won’t pay for it.
Studies on those owners who don’t desex, show the same thing time and time again. Cost is the major barrier to compliance. It just is; whether we like it, or want it to be, or not.
So are we going to keep being ‘sick of it’, spew spittle and resent the public for what they may or may not be doing.
Or are we going to do something that actually helps the cats?