Media Releases

A new campaign being launched nationally by the SPCA based on the expertise of Nathan Winograd and Michael Arms, both world reknowned consultants for Savings Lives in Animal Shelters and communities throughout the world.

SAVING LIVES

A new campaign being launched nationally by the SPCA based on the expertise of Nathan Winograd and Michael Arms, both world reknowned consultants for Savings Lives in Animal Shelters and communities throughout the world.

SPCA’s and other Animal Welfare Charities were established to offer safety and protection to animals is need, however as a flow on effect of this we have been placed in the distressing and unenviable position of having to make decisions every day as to which animals live and which die. There are simple too many animals that are orphaned, unwanted and mistreated for anyone to deal with. We have preached for years about responsible ownership, desex your pets, don’t encourage people to backyard breed by adopting ‘free’ animals but still the animals are born and abandoned in the hundreds of thousands every year. Basically what has been done every since the establishment of animal welfare and animal control does not work and we need a new approach.

The SPCA in Whangarei is committed to stopping the flow of these unwanted animals and encouraging every animal to be wanted, cherished and cared for. We WILL change this but we need the help of the community, councils, businesses, media etc.

Firstly, we have halved our adoption prices at the Whangarei SPCA – we want the public to adopt our animals and we will take big losses on the costs of the desexing, vet care etc to achieve this.

We are going to work with the community to help control and contain numbers of feral and stray cats by desexing them and forming networks of people to take responsibility for animal care.

We are actively going to help people desex their animals. We are going to help people keep their own animals rather than surrender them to the SPCA. We need a network of people in the community who will foster animals that have special needs such as being very young, old, health problems and behaviour problems – the animals that would usually be last on the list to be considered for homes and we need people who want to adopt these animals and give them love and kindness.

We are going to work with the Vets, Pets shops, Animal Control Services and anyone who wants to help Save Lives to achieve this. Our goal is that only animals which have no quality of life or are too aggressive will die.

This can be done – it has been proved over and over again in America and even recently in Australia. It has been done it the poorest, lowest educated and the neediest communities as well as the wealthiest in state after state. It does work and I believe it will work in New Zealand and my challenge to Whangarei is to be the first City to achieve it.

We need people to help us by donating to the Saving Lives campaign where my personal guarantee will be that that money will be used to Save Lives directly by providing desexing, medical treatment and helping people to retention their own pets rather than have them put to death. The sooner we stop people with pets, and indeed the stray & unowned animals, producing unwanted litters, having to give their animals away or taken away only to replace it with another animal and continue the cycle the sooner we stop killing animals needlessly.

If you cannot help with money you can help by being a new foster carer for some of the animals in need, volunteer as someone who will come and work with a shy dog that needs more one to one training than we can give, set up a challenge in your business to sponsor the life of one animal a month by raising money to spey a cat that we would otherwise be surrender to the SPCA and potentially put to death, lobby the councils to get behind this campaign. Do you have expertise in vet nursing and can look after a sick animal while it recovers? Can you sponsor the treatment of an animal that we would usually be unable to fund the care of? Do you have experience in working with poorly socalised dogs? If you think you can help to Save Lives of animals we want to hear from you!

Do you believe an animal should die solely because it has unplanned litters? Should a dog die because the owners weren’t offer behaviour assistance with managing the barking? Should a cat die because it has gotten old and can’t see well anymore? If you answer no then get behind this campaign.

If we don’t take dramatic steps now – animals will continue to be killed needlessly. There is a way to ensure that this does not continue forever and the Whangarei SPCA is committed and passionate about making this happen.

Francine Shields
Whangarei SPCA Manager