SYDNEY DOGS AND CATS HOME   - PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE VISITING THE SHELTER WEBSITE OR DONATING TO THEIR APPEALS! -  SYDNEY DOGS HOME

Please click here to visit the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home website but we ask that you read the stories below first!

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

This letter to Sydney Dogs and Cats Home Management Committee was forwarded to PAWS and has been posted on this website with permission of the author. 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 SDCH.

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!

SAD NEWS -  END OF AN ERA AT SDCH
23 DECEMBER 2007

Yesterday marked the end of an era at Sydney Dogs and Cats Home in Carlton with the resignation of Pound Manager Pat Hood and (almost) full time volunteer Tracey Etchells after  8 years of dedication to curbing one of the highest euthanasia rates in Sydney and turning these figures into the highest rehoming rates of any animal welfare facility. In total 7 staff have resigned in the last week in protest at the new administration and their declared goal of running the charity as a 'business'. In addition to the two very experienced and long serving volunteers mentioned below, that is a lot of experience and knowledge now lost to the Shelter. In addition, the  two volunteers will have to replaced by paid staff otherwise we believe the care of the animals will be compromised. Pat, Tracey and the banned volunteers gave up hours and hours of their own time attending fair days with Shelter animals, taking them to the airport to enable interstate adoptions, in fact doing anything they could to get one more animal get a home of it's own. You may have seen the Featured Pet on our homepage in November/December. Pat the Pound Manager was forbidden from posting this photo of Jack and Chicken's wedding on the Shelter website as it was unprofessional so we were asked if they could go on the  PAWS website. I am pleased to say that on the day before Pat resigned, Jack and Chicken flew to their new home in Victoria with someone who had seen their wedding photo and story! They were most probably the Shelter's last interstate adoption ....As outlined below, the first task of the new Committee is to pay off a debt to the adjoining vet hospital St George Animal Hospital. This debt was allowed to accrue over a number of years by the people who are now seeking repayment when they were in fact running the Shelter. PAWS would never seek to discourage anyone from either making a donation or becoming a volunteer dog walker at the Shelter. However we do suggest that your donation be in the form of food or treats (see below) which you know will go directly to benefit the animals. Corners will have to be cut in order to pay the debt and also to replace the volunteer labour force (spouses of the two banned volunteers were a qualified plumber and electrician who donated their services to the Shelter and other volunteers did the work of painters and decorators to save costs!) Tracey also had years of experience in emergency nursing at major hospitals and helped save the lives of many pets brought to the Shelter. She was able to administer professional care and save the Shelter from paying the vet hospital to provide the same service. This fact did not go down well as the hospital are also running a business and the Pound contract is a lucrative one! 

Where SDCH differed from other animal welfare groups was that they gave the old dogs, the sick dogs, the difficult dogs and the traumatised dogs a chance. These will be the first casualties of the new 'businesslike' approach. They probably won't be put on the website so they won't be missed and will just disappear as soon as their legal holding period expires and Council payment stops. This disappearing act is already happening to to dogs and cats that do make it on to the website and then are subsequently euthanased. PAWS believes that an animal's death should be acknowledged and memorialised and, when we did the Shelter website, would always mark their passing and give a reason for the euthanasia. This was immediately discontinued in July when the new website was unleashed (excuse pun!) on the public. 

Here are the Shelter's wishlist items that we suggest be given in lieu of monetary donations. If you would like to help by donating any of the items listed below, the Shelter is open between 9am and 1pm 7 days a week to receive them.
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OLD TOWELS
DOG LEADS
DOG SHAMPOO
CANS OR SACHETS OF CAT FOOD
LARGE CANS OF TUNA IN OIL
BAGS OF RICE
DOG TREATS (FOR EXAMPLE BISCUITS OR 'SCHMACKOS")
RAWHIDE CHEWS
RAW CHICKEN NECKS AND WINGS
CAN OPENERS
NEW KITTY LITTER TRAYS
BAGS OF KITTY LITTER
WASHABLE CAT TOYS
CAT CARRY BOXES OR BASKETS

For background on recent events at the Shelter written from the viewpoint of volunteers and supporters, please click here