When you first hear about our nation’s failing pound system (read ‘part 1’ here), one of the most common responses is, ‘I don’t believe it’. Because it is unbelievable.
In 2014, with the enormous advances in treatment of pets and with the majority of pet owners considering their pets as an invaluable extension of their human families, and with the sophisticated vet, behavioural and retail products, mirroring our own lifestyles – it is unbelievable to think that if your pet was to leave the safety of your family and enter the pound system, that he is essentially entering a system designed to remove his rights and if at all possible, end his life.
– Legislation which directs pounds to notify owners is littered with exclusion phrases (‘if practicable’, ‘all reasonable efforts’) meaning that if they don’t notify you and your pet dies as a result, no action will be taken against the council or the council representative.
– If your pet catches a transmissible, even life threatening disease because of poor hygiene standards, no action will be taken against the council.
– If the pound ‘oopsie’ kills your pet because of poor procedures, and because it doesn’t work to save the lives of the animals in its care, no action will be taken against the council.
– If the pound takes your pet in, but chooses not to release it because it fails a health or temperament test (or simply because the council refuses to offer a rescue or adoption program) – even if a rescue group is willing to step in and save its life – the discretion lay completely with council. There is no mandate to save lives.
– The amounts charged by pound providers can exceed the actual cost of caring for a pet several times over. If you cannot afford the costs – even if your pet is microchipped and desexed – the pound can kill your pet.
– The pound can, in most states, shoot your pet with a rifle and dump their body at the tip.
– A pound can kill a pet, rather than treat his ailment, even if that ailment is easily treatable (ringworm, flu, kennel cough), caught at their facility, or not permanent (young pets).
– A pound can tell you they don’t have your pet, when they actually do, and even if they missed your pet’s microchip, there will be no action you can take against them. This is acceptable.
– A pound can refuse to give their kill rates/stats to you.
– A pound can refuse to offer any vet treatment citing ‘expense’. They are under no obligation to offer a behavioural treatment plan, or enrichment program.
– A pound can use killing as its main method of shelter population control, and still be lauded as an animal welfare leader by its peers.
It sounds unbelievable. Which is why when I started blogging five years ago, I was skeptical of people’s claims that our pound system was in crisis. But the evidence is simply overwhelming.
The case studies below show the lack of protection pets have once they enter this system. No pound or shelter worker was ever held accountable in any of these situations. No one was charged with neglect. They all still have jobs. But in most cases, the pets ended up dead and the owners were expected to simply put up with it.
We know that for ever one person who ‘complains’, a dozen probably don’t. Across the nation, pet owners are in mourning. For pets lost in a system they believed would protect their pets.
Because the alternative seems so unbelievable…
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| A purebred German Shepherd pup was struck by a car and taken to the RSPCA. The man who rescued her emphasised that he would find her a home and pay for any treatment, following up regularly trying to secure her release. The dog was killed. (Ref) | A family found themselves owing nearly $1,000 in impound and reclaim fees when their two pups escaped. The RSPCA accidentally killed the dogs before they could come up with the money. (Ref) | A Victorian Council who kills 55% of dogs and 80% of cats, leaves a dog with a horrific eye injury to sit in their pound, untreated and without seeing a vet over the christmas holiday break. (Ref) | A Victorian council pound holding facility was found to be feeding pet dog sedative drugs, then leaving them to struggle, fit and die alone overnight. Any dogs who didn’t pass away, were killed the next morning. (Ref) |
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| A NSW pound was found to be driving live dogs to the local rubbish tip and shooting them. This task was completed by a single ranger, suggesting that the dogs killed in this manner were agreeable and tame. (Ref) | A major Victorian pound, known for its large collection of pound tenders, chooses to take in pets from several dozen councils, then kill many for common and treatable illness, remediable behavioural issues and age. At the same time it refused access to local rescue groups willing to save those same pets. (Ref) | A WA cat organisation lobbied publicly to be allowed to rescue a colony of cats, that had been being gradually tamed and rehoused by a local woman. Of the cats the organisation ‘saved’ every single one of them was killed for a treatable skin condition. (Ref) | A dog who entered RSPCA care was reported to have developed an ear infection. Breed rescue groups begged to be allowed to seek specialist care, but the dog was killed. (Ref) |
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| A NSW pound killed a labrador retriever as it caught kennel cough while in their facility (a dog version of the ‘flu’). This dog had a rescue with a local breed rescue group who was not contacted.(Ref) | A regional ranger in NSW ‘returned’ a dog by dropping it, from height, over the fence of its home. Unfortunately, the senior, deaf/blind dachshund was fatally injured. (Ref) | A South Australian pound made the national news when it was found to be gassing pets using a home-made carbon monoxide chamber filled with an old holden car motor. (Ref) | A pair of distinctive dogs travelling together were impounded in NT, but were not matched to enquiries to claim them. They were killed. (Ref) |
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| A regional NSW pound takes in one pet per day. Although their intakes seem manageable, they rehome zero pets, killing 100% of unclaimed animals because ‘irresponsible people’. (Ref) | A pound in the ACT told an owner her dog was not in their pound. They later sent a letter advising her that the dog was indeed impounded. but before the letter could make it through the post, the dog was killed. (Ref) | A regional NSW ranger had trouble unloading a dog from his van when he arrived at the Council depo. Rather than contact the owner for help, he shot the dog in the head. (Ref) | In regional Victoria, a microchipped border collie pup became lost and was collected by a local ranger. Rather than return or impound the dog, the ranger instead shot him and dumped his body at the local tip. (Ref) |
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| When a fifteen year old, indoor only cat escaped, his owner tried every avenue to find him. The Lost Dogs Home ignored the obvious fact that such an aged cat must have an owner, and killed him on intake. (Ref) | A regional NSW pound took into care a 12 month old cattle dog pup. After her holding period, and the same hour she became property of Council, she was killed. She was never offered for adoption, or to rescue, despite being young and healthy. (Ref) | A family on holidays in NSW lost their two dogs. The receiving pound provider demanded $65 per dog, for holding the animals a matter of hours. On a limited income, the family was unable to pay and the pound refused to release their pets. (Ref) | A dog was killed at the RSPCA despite wearing a rescue group identification tag and them being willing and ready to collect him. (Ref) |
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| A QLD pound killed a purebred, desexed border collie pup who escaped from her owner after digging under a fence. The owners had reported her missing. (Ref) | A Victorian pound killed a jack russell dog who escaped during a storm. Her owners had phoned to claim her, but the pound was closed on Fridays. When they went to collect her on Monday she was already dead. (Ref) | The Lost Dogs Home failed to reunite a dog and his family after a microchipping paperwork bungle. When the family went to resolve the paperwork issue and collect their pet the next day, the dog was already dead. (Ref) | A dog languished and died in an unattended drop-off pen and wasn’t found until after it had passed. Council blamed the death on the dog’s owner for using the council provided service. (Ref) |
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| A QLD family’s new kitten escaped and was collected by a kindly neighbour. He was killed on arrival because the pound had ‘too many kittens’. (Ref) | A major Victorian cat shelter defended a 91% kill rate, and the death of more than 10,000 cats annually. (Ref) | A NSW metropolitan pound was criticised by their local community for killing cats and dogs using an inhumane and outdated method of killing, where animals are fatally injected in the heart. (Ref) | The RSPCA put a blind pup with a broken leg into foster care. After a month, and as his carer begged to be allowed to save his life, they remove him and kill him for ‘separation anxiety’. (Ref) |
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| A QLD pound was found to be sending live animals to their local university of ‘non-revival’ (or fatal) surgery by vet students. The process was defended by Council as ‘humane’. (Ref) | A NSW pound was found to be killing 80% of cats and dogs entering its facility. It had no rehoming or rescue process to speak of, yet blamed the community for the killing. (Ref) | A Victorian council directed owners to build an enclosure to hold their pet after it was declared dangerous. Council seized the dog from his home, but then killed it before the owners were able to comply. (Ref) | Animal lovers begged to be allowed to save a neglected dog from the pound and treat it at their own expense. The pound refused on medical grounds, and instead killed the dog. (Ref) |
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| A metropolitan NSW council pound was found to only be releasing alive 1 in every 10 unclaimed pets. It blamed the community for the high level of killing, despite only taking in a couple of thousand pets a year. (Ref) | A pup who got lost in regional NSW, entered the pound and was accidentally killed after the pound made an ‘error’, and after her family had already come forward to claim her. (Ref) | A regional QLD council killed 3 out of 4 intakes, blamed the public for its predicament. Despite having no rehoming or rescue program, only being open one hour a day and holding pets just 72hrs before killing them. (Ref) | A 10-year-old cattle dog was killed by the RSPCA despite her owner lodging a lost pet report with Council. The healthy dog was never made available to rescue. (Ref) |
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| A young pup microchipped with current details, is collected by a ranger in regional NSW. The ranger misses the chip and rather than hold the dog, he drives him to the rubbish tip and shoots him. (Ref) | A family in regional NSW, signed over ownership of their pup to the local ranger. The ranger drove the pup directly to the tip and shot him. When the family changed their mind, it was already too late. The pup was never offered to rescue or for adoption. (Ref) | A regional pound in QLD advised a dog owner that she could not reclaim her dog until her fence was repaired. While the owner worked to comply, the pound ‘oops’ killed her dog. (Ref) | An unweaned litter of kittens is by law, required to be impounded at a NSW pound. Their rescuer requests to be allowed to continue to care for them. The pound however, kills each one on intake. (Ref) |
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| The RSPCA awards a ‘certificate of appreciation’ to a shoot-em-at-the-tip ranger. (Ref) | A cat went missing while her owner was on holiday. As she was microchipped, it should have been an easy job to get her home. Instead the pound released her to her finder and she’s not been seen since. (Ref) | A regional NSW pound rebuffs volunteers wanting to photograph and promote their shelter intakes, choosing instead to quietly kill more than 100 dogs. (Ref) | Hundreds of dogs are killed each year in Victoria (and nationally), because of how they look. Many are seized from loving families who had no idea that their dog looked the ‘wrong’ way. (Ref) |
It doesn’t have to be this way. Join us.
