2 July 2009

A year in the life of the RSPCA

| johnboy
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The RSPCA has released some numbers on their activity in the past financial year.

Interestingly while total numbers of animals dealt with have risen 3% to 8,125, the numbers of domestic animals is down to 4,905 from 4,965.

For the many of you who speculate on these things they’ve also released the numbers on animals that have to be destroyed:

    We also boast a very low euthanasia rates for dogs, only 8%. Keeping this rate low is very important to us, but we also realise that not every dog that comes to RSPCA will be able to find a home. Some dogs come to us in very poor condition or with very poor social skills. Our staff and volunteers do everything they can to ensure a dog becomes homable and the fact that we find homes for 92% of unwanted dogs proves our commitment to this cause.

    Every dog is given every change, there are no arbitrary time limits, no unrealistic expectations, just caring people doing what they do best, correcting other people mistakes and taking pride in the work they do, every day of the year.

    Our work with cats is almost as successful and we boast a homing rate of over 66% for domestic cats, almost 30% better than the average homing rate across Australia.

    In total during the financial year we found new homes for 2,127 animals and reunited 950 lost animals with their owners.

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gift said :

Lets hope more landlords allow pets, that has been the problem in the past, even housing allow pets now, after I would not part with my old 14 year old poodle, I rang Mr Wood’s office and spoke to his secretary and got a letter from my doctor as she suggested it, and all residents can own a pet now.

YES! More landlords need to allow pets. I think if a vet is willing to provide a reference to say that the pet is well behaved and well looked after, then landlords need to let people keep their precious pets. My cousin can’t have children and her 2 little maltese dogs are her only “children.” I think it’s disgusting that people with pets are treated differently in the rental market. Absolutely disgusting.

jake555 said :

And that is the rspca’s fault because…?

I never said anything about it being RSPCA’s “fault”. I never said anything bad about the RSPCA except wondering about a statistic which Michael clarified anyway. I said the RSPCA does a good job, as do the Canberra rescue groups 🙂

Hells_Bells747:49 pm 03 Jul 09

deezagood said :

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – fantastic work at the RSPCA Michael. Also – fantastic work done by the volunteers at ARF and CPR; without you all, the world would be a much, much sadder place for animals.

+1

I love our RSPCA.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – fantastic work at the RSPCA Michael. Also – fantastic work done by the volunteers at ARF and CPR; without you all, the world would be a much, much sadder place for animals.

iceu said :

I just think the RSPCA gets a lot more publicity than any of the other places and it can be difficult to get info about DAS and rescue groups out there

And that is the rspca’s fault because…?

I’ve been waiting to use this: http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=domestic+animal+services+canberra

Just to clarify, I have nothing against the RSPCA, I think they do a good job. I just think the RSPCA gets a lot more publicity than any of the other places and it can be difficult to get info about DAS and rescue groups out there (and when 18 dogs are due in one week it is very sad) 🙁

Don’t some RSPCAs actually act as the local pound, therefore taking in strays?

mother of many said :

Pfft!! Quite apart from the gruesome effect working for the RSPCA seems to have on some people’s personalities, once again we see “spin” at work, justifiying not only the govt sponsorship, but also milking the public’s pockets…

Pardon me, but the RSPCA regularly dump dogs at the pound – and I would LOVE to see how they include these poor pooches in their stats. TAMS show those as transferred from the RSPCA, or just listed as from Kirkpatrick St, Weston.

And – yay for the cats, but they put down something like 300 – 400 kittens per year…

My, my very personal – wouldn’t happen to work at the pound would we?

How else do you propose that a charity operate? Or would you prefer that the rspca were fully funded by the government?

As their ceo points out in post #29, they are the only rspca that looks after stray animals, which should be a council pound responsibility. Got a better idea? Perhaps your backyard?

Timberwolf65 said :

We should all get involved in this…

http://www.rspcacupcakeday.com.au/

I wish I had the living arrangements to save that 8%. It’s so bloody sad:(

I think what was alluded to in the OP was that those dogs that are put to sleep are put to sleep for a reason, medical or other reasons like aggression. The OP points out that there are no time limits, so medical or other reasons must be the case for the 8% being euthanased.

To ICEU and mother of many…Its Michael Linke here, CEO of RSPCA ACT. Our figures are what they are, I don’t think they are spin. To answer your questions:

We sent 192 dogs to DAS in the last 12 months. They are never “dumped” mother of many.
We received from DAS 206 animals, including 71 dogs.
Dogs sent to DAS are not counted as homed in our figures.
In 2008/09 594 kittens were put to sleep. 231 of them feral. The remainder were put down for a variety of medical reasons, cat flu, calici virus etc. NO, I repeat, no, zero, healthy kittens have been put to sleep at RSPCA ACT since I have been CEO.

Dogs are sent to DAS when we are full. RSPCA ACT is the only RSPCA in Australia that takes in stray animals. RSPCAs traditionally deal with surrendered and neglected animals, local government pounds have the job of looking after strays.

DAS’s homing rate has been advertised in the 90 percentile range, ours is 92%. So I don’t think dogs are sent from RSPCA to DAS and subsequently put to sleep. We have an active and very positive working relationship with DAS, so Weeziepops it is already happening at this level.

mother of many4:45 pm 03 Jul 09

Pfft!! Quite apart from the gruesome effect working for the RSPCA seems to have on some people’s personalities, once again we see “spin” at work, justifiying not only the govt sponsorship, but also milking the public’s pockets…

Pardon me, but the RSPCA regularly dump dogs at the pound – and I would LOVE to see how they include these poor pooches in their stats. TAMS show those as transferred from the RSPCA, or just listed as from Kirkpatrick St, Weston.

And – yay for the cats, but they put down something like 300 – 400 kittens per year…

I wonder if it would be more efficient/effective if RSPCA, ARF, Canberra Pooch Rescue and the Pound joined forces in some aspects of their work – eg: care, assessment and rehoming of dogs.

We also need to support both the pound (Domestic Animal Services) and private rescue groups. There are 18 dogs this week scheduled to be euthanased at Domestic Animal Services and no matter what their temperaments are, they do NOT get more time as there is limited room. There are some purebreds there at the moment including a whippet and golden retriever. The dogs are temperament tested by a lovely group of volunteers each weekend and many will go into foster care but of course there are limited foster homes for these poor dogs.

I also wonder where the dogs that the RSPCA transfers to the pound fit in their statistics? Do they count as a rehome, even if they get put to sleep after a week at the pound?

If anyone is looking for a new dog, please have a look on petrescue.com.au as adopting one of these dogs frees up another space in foster care for the poundies.

I LOVE my dog lots, and would hate to have him not allowed in my property.
Luckily for me I own so I don’t have a landlord telling me what I can and can’t do regarding my pet.
However, looking at how much damage my dog does, there is no way I would allow a tenant of mine to have a pet, unless I knew them and their pet very well.
Renting out property is business, and it wouldn’t be a smart business decision for me to do otherwise.

gift said :

Lets hope more landlords allow pets, that has been the problem in the past, even housing allow pets now, after I would not part with my old 14 year old poodle, I rang Mr Wood’s office and spoke to his secretary and got a letter from my doctor as she suggested it, and all residents can own a pet now.

Personally I’m very fond dogs and cats and hate to see them separated from owners, but pets are a big liability for landlords. If every pet owner assumed full responsibility for the repair or replacement of doors, carpet, gardens and water-systems, curtains, and anything else their animals may have stained, marked, scratched, chewed, or shredded, there wouldn’t be a problem.

But you can bet they’ll kick up a stink when presented with a bill for the thousands and thousands of dollars damage that 10 bonds wouldn’t cover let alone 1. Some tenants have the attitude that if the damage can’t be undone cheaply, it just has to become ‘part’ of the property. And claiming on insurance requires the landlord to report the damage to police.

So sorry, but too many pet owners are laissez-faire to see a sea-change in the attitude of property owners.

Ouch … okay I’ve emailed you ….

back on topic guys, this isn’t the place for this sort of discussion.

Except for the fact that I’ll want to personally adopt them all … leading to marital arguments at home!

On the subject of doing more for the RSPCA, and given RA’s large Canberra readership, JB would you consider implementing some sort of weekly ‘RSPCA Pet of the Week’ post, featuring a cat/dog/other animal as provided by the RSPCA – maybe posted mid-week?

Some people may not be actively looking for an additional pet, but if the right one appears in front of them …. I would be happy to coordinate this post with RSPCA input if need be (if they like the idea). There seems to be quite a lot of pet-lovers in RA’s readership. Whatcha reckon JB???

These stats are great but I am confident they would be even better if RSPCA ACT had more capacity in terms of decent accommodation and enough staff. It’s hard to believe they do all te animal welfare work they do, as well as running a dog training school, shop, vet clinic etc etc. I always get my pet food there and am hoping to book my dog in for some one-on-one training soon as I am not confident that she would manage in a class situation…

Timberwolf659:07 am 03 Jul 09

We should all get involved in this…

http://www.rspcacupcakeday.com.au/

I wish I had the living arrangements to save that 8%. It’s so bloody sad:(

No go for the whippet … very sad 🙁 Husband is highly sensible in all matters dog-related and suspects three might ruin our lovely doggy dynamic (and also, he would have to pick up 30% more poo)… sigh.

Lets hope more landlords allow pets, that has been the problem in the past, even housing allow pets now, after I would not part with my old 14 year old poodle, I rang Mr Wood’s office and spoke to his secretary and got a letter from my doctor as she suggested it, and all residents can own a pet now.

threepaws said :

deezagood said :

I was prepared for a few ‘teething problems’ when I took my little man home from the RSPCA,…!

So did I, and then Thumper ran away to join the Feldons.

I also notice they have an absolutely gorgeous, housetrained, affectionate female whippet on their site at the moment ….. wonder if husband will let me increase the household doggy-quota?

Even if hubby does approve, depending on how many youve already got the RSPCA and ACT govt might have something to say about it, if not something to charge you for it. Think it becomes an issue at 3 or 4.
Tho, if youve already got a household of happy dogs, youd be aware of that already.

Very optimistic! It was explained to me that all healthy cats and dogs are homed. I assumed this meant both physically and mentally.

An RSPCA volunteer at the shelter told me earlier this year that they home ALL the cats. I thought that sounded optimistic!

deezagood said :

Yay RSPCA – keep up the wonderful work. Those rehoming rates are amazing, given the number of stray, hurt, abused and/or poorly socialised animals they encounter each year.

Yay RSPCA indeed.

Let’s not forget that there is another class of animal than those mentioned above, those that are perfect pets (as perfect as the little terrors can be :)) but just unwanted.

I was prepared for a few ‘teething problems’ when I took my little man home from the RSPCA, but the whole experience was very stress free. Either that’s the way he was born, or it is a testament to the TLC that pets receive at the RSPCA, or a combination of both.

Either way, I’ll be heading back there when I am permitted to increase my pet quota!

Yay RSPCA – keep up the wonderful work. Those rehoming rates are amazing, given the number of stray, hurt, abused and/or poorly socialised animals they encounter each year.

I also notice they have an absolutely gorgeous, housetrained, affectionate female whippet on their site at the moment ….. wonder if husband will let me increase the household doggy-quota?

@6 unless you fall into the 8% category

The information on those euthanasia rates is great, sounds like Canberra is the place to be if you are an unwanted dog or cat

I have had to use their cat trap service twice this year when stray kittens emerged from the thick scrub in the back yard. Always helpful and provide a great service.

Something like that.

Psst. Jb. Switch the numbers 4,905 and 4,965 around.

“the numbers of domestic animals is down from 4,905 to 4,965”

How is 4965 down from 4905? Typo somewhere?

much good upon them. they probably don’t articulate the hoops they doubtless negotiate to secure the funding they need to do this – an unsung part of a job pretty well always well done.

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