Renbury pound kills about one in every two cats that enter their facility. They accomplish over 2,000 dead cats a year.
The only thing that keeps them from sustaining a near 100% kill rate, is a dedicated group of rescuers taking (around 30% of) the cats they want to kill, and instead placing them in homes.
Therefore the residents of the councils who use this pound – Bankstown, Camden, Fairfield and Liverpool City – should be thanking their lucky stars that volunteers are happy to step in and do the pound’s job for them. The pound should be thanking their lucky stars someone is willing to do their job for them, saving them the hassle of doing it themselves.
Which is why it is so surprising that the pound has decided to block access to the cats, by the groups who are willing to save them.
The falling-out started when a group asked to be allowed to save a pregnant cat – Angel – who went into labor and had her kittens in the pound.
While Angel and her kittens were being moved into a transport crate to go into rescue, she bit a handler. The pound decided that this was a legitimate reason to kill her, orphaning her three 24hr-old babies.
The rescue group took the babies, even though raising tiny baby kittens is hard, takes a lot of dedication and is often heartbreakingly unsuccessful.
The rescue community have then rallied together to undo the extreme damage this pound chose to inflict on these babies, and have found a willing surrogate mother. She can be seen doing her thing (here). Bless her.
Of course the rescuers involved were furious. They created a page in Angel’s honor, asking the question; is killing being used as a first, not a last resort? Is it appropriate for Renbury to use killing as the major tool to manage companion animals?
And Renbury Pound staff have responded by getting huffy. Advising groups they will no longer have access to the scared and ‘feral’ cats to take photos or network to save them. They have responded to community criticisms about their killing of animals – by working to start killing more animals – from now on hiding all but the cats they choose to allow rescue to save.
Me thinks they’re forgetting who’s been saving their bacon all this time.
If you’re a resident of the Bankstown, Camden, Fairfield or Liverpool, get off your ass and contact your local council and ask they investigate the way this pound is operating. If the pound staff aren’t willing to keep rescue on-side so animals can be saved, and the pound staff aren’t willing to save the animals themselves, then you need to be asking… just what are we paying the pound staff for?
Please dont put anymore mumma cats down, they are terrified if they scratch its fear and protecting there babies
The poor mumma cat is terrified and protecting her babies please stop putting cats don
We need a voice for the voiceless
This has to be the must unjust thing I have ever read. An animal doing what any parent would do and thats defend her offspring. That doesn’t deserve death. Rembury should be ashamed of the facility they are running. The person that made this call deserves to be sacked and never allowed to work with animals.again.
Thank goodness the rescues care about animal welfare and giving neglected unwanted cats a second chance! We need to be trying to save their lives – not killing them!
It is appalling that someone running an animal shelter knows so little about animal behaviour that she decides to kill a mumma cat who lashes out to protect her new born babies. Shame shame on you!!
How dare you!…….I have seen Angels Law come up in threads…now that I have read what you have done! You disgusting people!……you are not the type of people that should be in charge of helping animals!……you make me sick!….one of my cats went into garage two weeks ago….so as to not lock her in….I grabbed her from behind……I starled her!…she scratched me!….I took her back inside house……..she continued for the the week my scratch took to heal, to still love me as she always does!
Any animal can be startled, including cats, dogs, horses and so on. People too. I hope someone realizes that we need people who care to work with animals, so that there are less accidents. However this council seems to be ruthless as well! Animals need some rights to protect themselves from people!
This needs to be taken further. Media coverage or pamphlets in the local area.
This is an outrageous action of a so called animal shelter. I am deeply concerned for the cats in the care of people who obviously are not concerned for their welfare, and whose ultimate aim should be rehoming cats, not killing them. They are going against the Companion Animals Act when they declare they will kill all ferals and scared cats. As a ratepayer, I want an investigation, and a shelter which will do its duty in caring for homeless cats. Their bullying tactics are proof that something is inherently wrong with Renbury and its management. This last threat to kill all scared and feral cats warrants an investigation. Renbury Shelter seems to forget, we the ratepayers are employing them, it is a private facility and I believe their contract should not be renewed next time tenders are called.
An animal shelter whose staff kill a young mother cat with 24 hour old kittens is disgraceful. Add to this instead of apologising for their misdeed, they flaunt public opinion and declare they will kill all feral and scared cats in their care. I know Renbury has a high kill rate, as it is, and many cats arrive with trap injuries on their faces. No wonder they are scared!!! My husband and I are sickened by the unethical behaviour of this shelter and their heartlessness. We work hard and pay high rates to Fairfield Council, we expect more for our money than a shelter whose staff openly threaten to kill more cats, instead of trying harder to save them.
So disgusted with Renbury ‘farm’.This is hell on earth for animals,you’re supposed to be helping
animals not murdering them.Not sure how you can sleep at night.
No words can express my anger!!! It is very worrying for an animal shelter to threaten they will kill more cats because of public outrage. I wonder why they are so defensive? We need to investigate Renbury.
I am shocked that such a miscarriage of justice could happen in Sydney in 2014. My teenage son told me about it, and it upset our family deeply. Why, did they do it? I keep asking myself The answer is because they thought they could get away with it. We are contacting our Council, and our local MP, and we are telling everyone we know about Renbury, and their injustice to “Angel” She did not belong to them, she belonged to the rescue group who were trying to save her. We pay rates, and we want answers, and promises that Renbury pound will come under a transparent investigation. Their threat to kill all the poor feral and scared cats in their care will not be taken lightly by the local community. They are a shelter, and we pay rates to our Council which go towards the operation of Renbury, and the wages of the pound management and staff.
Dear Katie, thank u for your total outrage and for contacting your local MP and councillor. These are the actions that will only make a difference for what happened to Angel and all the Angels before and after her.
Angie.
I’m am outraged and disgusted and heart broken these animals deserve a 2nd chance at life as after all it’s the bad humans who have done this to them by abandoning and not desexing these innocent souls. Renbury and many pounds like this need to be stopped and Lorraine needs to be sacked for doing what she did to Angel. Lets come together as one and be the voice for our beautiful animals once and for al. We will not stand for this any longer.
This is outrageous, often the cats killed are beautiful healthy animals who are just scared or injured or protecting themselves or their babies (like Angel was)!! Who wouldn’t be after being tapped, captured or just torn from their homes and handed in to be killed? Please release these cats to the rescue groups, they are able to rehabilitate them and find them good homes – just because the pound doesn’t have the interest or resources to do so doesn’t mean these creatures have to die!
Have a look at the renbury website they work with a lot of rescues I
I’ve been to this hell hole and the whole place and staff are a disgrace. Someone use their common sense for god sake !
lets speak up n stand up for these babies that have no voice let us b there voice n stop this horror
I have been to this place as well and it is poorly ran and these poor animals are the ones suffering.
I’m so upset that some people are so heartless that they could kill a young mother cat who was terrified and protecting her babies that they thought it was just to put her down
I have brought all my animals from renburyfarm farm in the past 20 years I find it disgusting some of the comments that have been left by people 1. The cat ATTACKED and BIT a person if that was a dog it would be declared as dangerous and put to sleep 2. It’s not the pounds fault that there are so many undesexed cats and dog that come into there care it’s un responsible pet owners that cause these problems so why are you blaming renbury they can only rehome so many cats and dogs do you think they enjoy putting this animals to sleep 3. I have been to renbury many times and found it to be one of the best pounds around and all your nasty comments about renbury are just hurting no one but the animals as your trying to give renbury a bad name but all you are doing is turning people off buying from a shelter so really your bad comments are going to effect these poor animals getting rehomed .
And you say you giving these poor animals a voice well your all your doing is sending these poor animals to death.
“Angel” the little cat in question was not much more than a kitten herself. She had given birth just 24 hours before she was killed. She was a shy, scared little Mumma. The women who was bitten put her hand in the cage and foolishly tried to take one of “Angel’s” kittens. This is an instinctive maternal reaction. Any mother fights to protect her young. The misguided woman then left the cage open, allowing “Angel” to escape into the back seat. You never open a cat carrier when you are transporting cats, especially nervous cats. The transporter panicked, and instead of calming down, and calling one of her colleagues for help, she drove back into Renbury, abandoned ‘Angel” took her kittens and drove away. “Angel” was not a dangerous cat, she was a sweet little soul, who was protecting her offspring like any new Mumma. Thanks to incompetence and callousness “Angel” is now dead, and her babies passed away yesterday. “Angel” was owned by the Rescue Group, she was not under the jurisdiction of Renbury Pound when they made the heartless decision to kill her.
I am saddened and angered by the way innocent animals are being treated at Renbury. This place needs to be investigated. Why was Angel put down? She was on her way to a rescue? How can killing an innocent mother xxgo unpunished worth no investigation.
I am not surprised by anything they do at Renbury. It is the saddest place on Earth. They have rows of cages containing cats with trap wounds on their faces, they are given no painkillers, no antibiotics, and certainly no care. They let them huddle in their stinking little cages, where they mostly sleep in their litter trays, and then are put in a crush cage and they kill them. They always try to rehome the pedigrees, but the scared, shy and cats they judge to be unattractive they kill. MY husband was physically ill after a visit to Renbury, he came home in tears, and he is a big’ “Macho” guy who doesn’t easily cry.