Gunnedah’s dogs and cats will be on the agenda for Gunnedah Shire Council this year with plans to upgrade the animal shelter and bring it up to specification.
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Council’s director of planning and environmental services, Andrew Johns said the council was planning to budget for the upgrade in the new financial year.
“We’re looking at having some money in our future budget to augment that facility to make it compliant to the current standards,” he said.
The number of animals found, rescued, dumped and surrendered is an ongoing issue for the Gunnedah shire with 368 animals taken in by the shelter in 2016, and around 400 animals taken in by the RSPCA.
Currently, dogs and cats are housed together at the shelter which has been an ongoing issue for Gunnedah RSPCA who regularly take the animals into foster care.
RSPCA member Maddison Lawback said it was a very negative experience for cats and kittens because they became so fearful after being surrounded by barking dogs.
Ms Lawback said the branch was “swamped” over the Christmas/New Year period, taking in 53 cats and kittens and a handful of puppies.
“We had a lot of phone calls over the Christmas breaks for surrendering animals, especially kittens. We were just having to turn people down left, right and centre,” she said.
“I wish we could have helped out more but you can only go to your limits, really.”
The branch rehomed more than 380 animals in 2016 but has limited carers available to house the huge number of animals.
Branch president Cheryl Sharman said the members could not rescue animals from the animal shelter when foster carers had run out of room.
Ms Lawback said the branch was keen to partner with the council to rehome animals directly from the animal shelter through a Facebook page. She said this would take pressure off the members and foster carers and give the animals a better chance of finding a home sooner rather than later.
Gunnedah mayor Jamie Chaffey said it was a “fantastic idea” and would be happy to discuss the idea with the RSPCA.
“I think a combination of more awareness, more conversations around it and activities like campaigns, free micro-chipping and desexing, I think a continuation of that as well as social media when the animals have been picked up – the difference that could make to the numbers going forward could be considerable,” he said.
“It’s a problem worth talking about.”
Gunnedah RSPCA is searching for homes for a number of dogs ranging in age and size.
To see a full list of animals in need of homes, visit www.adoptapet.com.au and choose Gunnedah under the location drop down menu, or visit the RSPCA Gunnedah Volunteer Branch Facebook page.
