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LATEST  PAWS NEWS Last Updated 27 August 2008

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UPDATE:     Thankfully Edwina has been found safe and sound!

DONATION OF SMALL KENNEL FOR FOSTER DOG NEEDED
13 AUGUST 2008

Our rescuer Denise is hoping someone has a kennel suitable for a small breed dog that they can donate as we urgently need one for a foster dog who is outside during the day while his carer is at work. If anyone can help please phone Denise on 0405 244871 or email denise@paws.com.au

 

FOSTER CARERS NEEDED URGENTLY!
13 AUGUST 2008

If you have previously fostered for PAWS or have been thinking of becoming a new carer then now is a good time to offer your services! We currently have two dogs we need to find carers for urgently so if you would like more information on becoming a foster carer for PAWS please click here.

PLEASE CONTACT AGAIN RE SURRENDERING MALTESE
4 JULY 2008

Would the person who phoned Friday 4 July about surrendering his 70 year old mother's Maltese (referred to us by Sydney Dog and Cats Home) please email mail@paws.com.au as we may be able to help him.

REST IN PEACE PETE ... NOW AT RAINBOW BRIDGE
7 JUNE 2008

Pete was a Shih Tzu around 2 years of age who was one of seven dogs seized from a backyard breeder who had 23 of them. Two had to be euthanased due to their bad condition but the other five were taken by rescue to be rehomed. Sadly Pete met with an accident in foster care before we even got to advertise him on the website but we wanted to acknowledge his life and death here. Poor little Pete never got the chance to have the new happy life we hoped to give him but hopefully the other dogs rescued with him will do so. Run free at Rainbow Bridge Pete .... you won't be forgotten.

PETITION TO BAN SALE OF PETS IN PET SHOPS
30 OCTOBER 2007         Updated 21 MARCH 2008

21 MARCH 2008
Within the next few months NSW politicians will be asked to vote on the Animals (Regulation of Sale) Bill.  If introduced, this legislation will help protect companion animals from exploitation, cruelty, neglect, suffering and unnecessary euthanasia. We need your help to get this life saving bill passed.

Act NOW without leaving your desk
Please click on the links below to visit the Paws for Action website ....

Click Here to send an instant email to your MP asking them to support the bill. It will take you less than a minute and will save lives. We have an initial target of 5000 emails but the more sent the more your MP will sit up and take notice.

Visit Paws for Action for fast and effective ‘5 minute’ activities designed to encourage your local MP to vote YES.

For more information on the bill Click Here

30 OCTOBER 2007 
NSW Independent MP and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore is introducing a bill that would effectively see the sale of all mammals banned from pet shops. PAWS wholeheartedly supports this bill as we know first hand how much 'impulse buying' occurs when people see the cute puppies and kittens in pet shop windows. We get numerous emails and phone calls from people who want us to take their dog once it has outgrown the puppy stage and needs training and regular grooming and exercise. One lady was still paying the pet shop instalments when she asked us to rehome her dog! Another went to a shopping mall to purchase a new washing machine and came back with a puppy! The main supplier to pet shops is usually backyard breeders who are in it for the money and care little for the welfare of the dogs or cats. The parents of these dogs are often disposed of when they become unsuitable for breeding and they usually live in misery with little thought for their health or well being.

Our rescuer Denise was interviewed by Brian Pickering on Pet Talk Radio.com last week about this subject. Please click here to listen to Denise ...

Under Clover Moore's Animals (Regulation of Sale) Bill, people will be able to buy animals from registered breeders, animal pounds and shelters or their local vet, where they will be matched with an animal and provided with detailed written information about its specific needs and requirements. Pet shops will still sell food and accessories and other animals such as birds and fish, and also act as an agent for animal shelters. This will reduce cruel and intense breeding practices to meet demand created by impulse buying.

The text of the Bill is available at www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/nswbills.nsf/0/F558C7306802FB93CA257307001EFDE9

Clover's introductory speech is at www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/hansArt.nsf/V3Key/LA20071018005

You might like to contact your local Member of Parliament and  talk to your colleagues, family and friends and encourage them to do the same. Clover has one vote out of 93 in the Legislative Assembly, so it will need other MPs to support the Bill. Write to local newspapers and call in to radio talk shows where the Bill is being discussed.

You may also like to gather signatures on Clover’s petition calling for a ban on the sale of animals in pet shops. She will table these in the Parliament to show community support for this reform. The petition is available online at www.clovermoore.com/main/page/489.pdf

Please do what you can to support this cause and help put PAWS out of business!

 

27 FEBRUARY 2008

PAWS would like to congratulate Rachel from Renbury Animal Shelter on the birth of baby Max Dylan (9lb 1oz) on Monday 25 February and thank her for her help and continued support of our rescue work. She will be greatly missed by our rescuers Ronda and Denise while away on maternity leave!
 

Is the crisis at Sydney Dogs and Cats Home being ca
used by the adjoining St George Animal Hospital?
OPEN LETTER TO SYDNEY DOGS AND CATS HOME MANAGEMENT
28 DECEMBER 2007

The following letter to the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home Management Committee was forwarded to PAWS by the author and this opinion of events occurring at the Shelter has been posted with their kind permission. The information in red is their response to comments posted on the Shelter website (in blue).  

Dear Volunteers

The Committee of Management is very concerned that unnecessary concern and distress appears to have been caused by the dissemination of inaccurate, distorted and/or blatantly false information about the current state of the Sydney Dogs & Cats Home (SDCH) and its future.

The Committee of Management has had ample opportunity to publicly refute any information about the current state of the Sydney Dogs & Cats Home (SDCH) and its future but has not done so.

 The Committee has set upon a path of:

§                   Clearing a long outstanding and legitimate financial debt to a very patient creditor.

§                   A “very patient creditor” who is “patient” up until a point whereby that creditor finally decides to cease being “patient” when the debt reaches an amount that is impossible to pay in full.

§                   A “very patient” creditor who set veterinary fees for the Shelter arguably higher than “reasonable” to begin with.

§                   A “very patient” creditor” who I believe will “profit” from the works and renovations that have been done to the Shelter paid for by donations, NOT the creditor.

§                   Although SDCH is a not for profit organisation, it is not excused from its obligations to a genuine creditor, who has been more than generous in extending the time for repayment.

§                   Parts of this debt could have been called in at various stages rather than being “patient” and waiting until the amount was so “un-payable”. Do not paint this “patient creditor” in such a glowing light. He appears to be neither patient nor generous except to suit his own needs.

§                   Enhancing our fundraising. SDCH will not change its “low kill” policy.

“Low Kill” is merely terminology and can be adapted to suit one person’s idea of what is “low kill” over another. The proof will be in the future euthanasia rate in comparison with the rate over the past 6 years.

§                   The revenue from Councils only provides for one weeks costs, for caring for an animal without a microchip, (two weeks for those with a microchip). Thus, our organization has a major reliance on donations to keep the dogs and cats alive longer and to maximize our chances of finding them a good home. To give them that opportunity, it can take weeks to months of care, food and veterinary treatment.

The public will have no confidence in the new committee of management, and donations will fall. Donations will also fall now that it is public knowledge that most of the donations will inevitably be used to pay the “patient creditor”. This in turn will reduce the amount of time that animals can be housed before being euthanased. What will happen to the “low kill” policy then?

§                   Improving management, systems and processes at all levels to provide clear and transparent accountability.

This is a direct insult to the previous management, systems and processes that have made Sydney Dogs and Cats Home the most highly respected rescue organisation in NSW!

The role of Volunteer Co-ordinator will from now on reside within the management of the SDCH. A new occupant for that position will be appointed.

This will fail miserably and the numbers will decline as the volunteers will not assimilate with someone “appointed” by the new committee of management and particularly someone who is not a volunteer themselves.

The Committee is unified in its praise for the very good work done by the outgoing long serving volunteer co-ordinator, Christine.

This would appear to be contradictory based on the treatment Christine has received from the committee recently.

We will also be engaging a full time veterinary nurse to provide a high level of health monitoring and enhanced care for our animals.

No animals have suffered previously as a direct result of any lack of health monitoring. Perhaps the finances used to pay another full time staff member could be better used to pay off the debt to the ‘patient creditor’ or for renovations of the day kennels.

The SDCH is an outstanding example of a broad community effort to care for our valuable animal companions and we appeal to you for your continued support.

Not as long as ‘Boards’ can be elected in secret and without asking any volunteers for applications for membership and nominated!!!

SDCH will go forward and the Committee is committed to steering it towards being an even more admired facility than what it already is, a truly outstanding centre of excellence.

Who composed this ‘spin’….a politician?

When the SDCH became a registered charity, the Committee was required to meet far stricter reporting obligations. The SDCH will now need to embrace some change

Now we finally get to the nitty gritty. Change. Change to the detriment of the animals in our opinion and again, time will reveal whether this ‘change’ is for the better or worse as far as they are concerned and as far as the euthanasia rate is concerned.

 We will hold firm to our established goals and are fully committed to retaining the warmth and humanity that makes the SDCH so unique.

The warmth and humanity that was provided by the previous management, staff and volunteers.

The previous staff and volunteers are most highly respected and have long been supported by many animal rescue organisations throughout New South Wales (and some in other states) who have given much loyalty to SD&CH.

That same loyalty can ensure that donations and voluntary workers are re-directed to other animal shelters.

The power of networking is strong.

Please click here for more information on the ongoing turmoil at Sydney Dogs and Cats Home!