Abused pets granted new life
Wed 02 November 2011
Kaisa Suomalainen, Bachelor of Journalism
Animal rescue workers often share stories of the Sunshine Coast’s abandoned and abused pets, and advise people not to buy pets from a pet shop.
Rental problems were the main reasons for pet abandonment in the region, 4 Paws Animal Rescue founder Julie Penlington said, but many times 4 Paws also had to rescue cruelly treated pets.
The Sunshine Coast Daily reported in 2010 there were close to 700 complaints of animal cruelty in the Sunshine Coast and more than 14,500 complaints in Queensland.
4 Paws foster care organiser Ailsa Watson, who has also worked for wildlife rescue, said wildlife cruelty and pet cruelty were just as common in the Sunshine Coast, but they took different forms.
Ms Watson said wildlife cruelty cases often involved teenagers who captured and tortured wild animals, while pet cruelty could happen out of pure ignorance.
“People can be cruel to dogs without realising it,” Ms Watson said.
“They forget to take them to the vet, or annual immunisations and things like that.”
Ms Penlington said 4 Paws received about 20 calls per year, while the RSPCA dealt with most of the complaints.
Since the foundation of 4 Paws in 2005, Ms Penlington had witnessed many cases of animal cruelty, but some incidents stuck permanently in her memory.
“We got a phone call from someone about Manx kittens that they couldn’t rehome and they couldn’t keep them,” Ms Penlington said.
When Ms Penlington went to pick up the kittens from the owners’ house, she was unprepared for the sight waiting for her.
“All the twelve kittens were paralysed from shoulders down and they were dragging themselves in the backyard covered in faeces,” Ms Penlington said.
Ms Penlington said the owners were intoxicated, and turned aggressive when she and her friend became emotional from seeing the cats in such condition.
Ms Penlington took the kittens to the vet, but they all had to be euthanised because of their genetic default and poor treatment.
Ms Penlington said that to prevent the rescued animals from facing similar situation in their next home, 4 Paws has adapted a very strict screening process when selecting the appropriate adopters.
“There are people who are excellent pet owners, but there are always people around who aren't,” Ms Penlington said.
“They’ll never get a 4 Paws dog because we screen the people so carefully.”
Ms Penlington said it was the organisation’s adoption requirement that people must have a vet reference to prove that they have had previous experience in taking care of an animal.
Ms Penlington said 20 dogs were currently waiting for adoption in foster care families and nine cats were in 4 Paws’ shelter Halfway House.
Many of the animals have experienced poor living conditions.
For instance, Boz, a 13-year-old tibetan spaniel cross, used to live in a cardboard box in his owners’ backyard, and 7-year-old Chinese crested powder puff Mac was rescued from the local pound’s death row.
Ms Penlington said when they took Mac from the pound, he had no hair and his skin was bleeding.
After spending six months with 4 Paws, Mac has found a new home with Ms Penlington’s mother.
Boz was still waiting for adoption.
Ms Penlington said it was hard to get the older animals adopted, but it would be easier if people could not buy pets from pet shops.
“I feel sorry for the animals that are bought from the pet shops today, because they don’t know where they’re going,” Ms Penlington said.
“Pet shops don’t care who they sell the animals to, it’s about the money.
“The only way it will work is when only shelters and registered breeders could give pets because no registered breeder would ever give their animals to a pet shop for sale.”
Ms Penlington said many pet shops received their animals from backyard breeders who worked in suspicious conditions.
Ms Watson agreed with Ms Penlington, and said she would tell everyone who was considering buying a pet from a pet shop not to do it.
Ms Watson has adopted two 4 Paws dogs, and said the experience to adopt a rescued animal has been great.
“It’s a really nice feeling giving an animal a home and they appreciate everything you do to them, they become very loving little dogs,” Ms Watson said.
Ms Penlington said Christmas was their busiest time of the year, because people tended to buy pets from pet shops as a present and then forget about them after the holidays.
The message Ms Penlington had for everyone wanting to buy a pet was relevant for all year around, and not only for the holiday season.
“Don’t breed or buy when homeless pets die,” Ms Penlington said.
Image(s) designed by Kaisa Suomalainen
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Submitted Comments
I love my dog, and I can't imagine ever doing anything to hurt her. Some people just don't realise how precious any life is, even if it is just that of a pet.
Christina