Shelters & Rescue

Animal Shelters

BACKGROUND AND FACILITIES

The Dogs’ Refuge Home (WA) incorporated is one to the oldest animal welfare organisations in Australia. Its premises at Shenton Park Perth Western Australia were officially opened by the then WA Lieutenant Governor, Sir James Mitchell on 20 October 1935.

In 1994, in recognition of the Home’s long-standing service to the community, the WA State Government vested the Shenton Park site as a Reserve for the Home’s purposes. This has assured the Home of long term tenancy of its premises.

The Home commenced its operations using unwanted tram carriages as kennels. These were used throughout the 1940’s with operations being very limited during the wartime years. In the 1950’s operations grew considerably with the first of the existing purpose built kennels constructed in 1954. Additional kennels and other facilities were progressively constructed from the 1960’s through to the early 1970’s.

The kennel facilities are capable of housing about 120 dogs and puppies, and 21 cats, with an additional 44 kennels allocated to the provision of dog pound services for 8 local shire councils. The Home also has a dedicated kennel kitchen and storage area; a veterinary examination and quarantine area; a dog grooming and bathing area, dog training and exercise areas, and a pet cemetery. Three staff houses were provided in the 1950’s and 60’s, but with the exception of one cottage now used as a caretaker’s residence, the cottages were redeveloped in the 1970’s as the Home’s administration and reception area.

The Home has started fundraising efforts to redevelop, over the next two years, one of the older kennel blocks to provide an additional 10 kennels, as well as a dedicated area for whelping bitches and young pups. In addition, the Home has partially developed another dog training area, which is being set up as a free play and agility training area. The area will include a permanent built-in agility course. The course will be used primarily in–house for the training and recreation of refuge dogs, but will also be made available to members and the general public for agility training of their dogs.

OBJECTIVES OF THE HOME

The Home is dedicated to encouraging responsible dog ownership so as to reduce the incidence of lost, abandoned and unwanted dogs. The Home believes that dogs have the right to be wanted, cared for and suitably homed for life by committed owners.

The Home seeks to achieve this aim through the operation of its refuge centre, and the provision of education and welfare programs.

SERVICES PROVIDED

The refuge operations include the care and re-homing of lost, abused, abandoned and unwanted dogs. The associated ancillary services include provision of dog training and owner education classes, school education visits, and pet therapy visits to nursing homes/hospitals.

The refuge programs are supported by a range of commercial services including boarding for dogs and cats, dog grooming and bathing, sale of pet accessories and pet food, operation of the pounds provision of the pet cemetery. As the Home receives no government financial assistance, the Home also undertakes a wide range of ancillary fundraising activities to help fund the operations. These include conduct of such activities as a dog show, a sponsored dog walk, an open day, a street appeal, donation appeals and raffles.

OPERATION OF THE REFUGE

All dogs admitted to the refuge undergo a complete veterinary examination and behavioural assessment in the first 10 days after admission. Each dog is fully vaccinated and microchipped at the time of the vet exam. If the dog requires any particular veterinary treatment this treatment is usually completed prior to the dog being placed in the rehoming program. In some cases this can delay placement for some months. Each dog is also routinely dewormed and given regular baths.

All adult dogs are also sterilised prior to being rehomed, with puppies younger than 4 months sold on the proviso that they be returned for sterilisation once 6 months old. Each puppy owner is reminded personally of the date the puppy is due for sterilisation.

The behavoural assessment is used to guide the placement of dogs in homes which will be suitable to their temperament and exercise and training needs, as well as to develop an individual training program for each dog.

All adult dogs, and puppies older than 4 months, receive basic obedience training as part of the rehoming program. This is to ensure that the dog has basic good manners prior to going to a new home, and eases the transition of the dog to its new family. Puppies younger than 4 months are regularly socialised with children, adults, cats, and other dogs so that they are not too institutionalised before being rehomed. Dogs with behavioural or adjustment problems also receive additional training to overcome these problems prior to the dog being rehomed.

The Home seeks to operate the refuge on a "no-kill" basis and keeps dogs as long as necessary to place them in the right new home. For some large breeds, and dogs with difficult temperaments, or from an abusive past, this can take up to 12 months.

Very occasionally dogs do not respond to retraining and cannot be safely rehomed, or have veterinary problems that do not respond to treatment, and euthanasia is regrettably undertaken in these cases.

EXTENT OF OPERATIONS

The Home placed 742 dogs and puppies in new homes last year, and admitted 693 to the refuge. The admissions included several pregnant dogs that gave birth at the Home. The Home also cared for 281 dogs in the shire pounds, of which 67 were transferred to the refuge as they were not claimed by their owners.

This is getting close to saturation level for the extent of the Home’s facilities and staff and volunteer numbers, although the Home is targetting 780 placements in 2001.

As the Homes facilities are limited, preferences for admission have been applied. First preference is given to lost or abandoned dogs, including dogs from others facing immediate euthanasia. Second preference is given to pregnant dogs and/or puppies so that they can be given a chance of new long-term homes. Third preference is given to dogs whose owners may have died, or are in hospital or in extreme ill health, or have been incarcerated. Only after these needs have been met are dogs then accepted from the general public.

ASSISTANCE WITH OPERATIONS

The Home relies heavily on volunteers to assist with walking, training, play and socialisation of the dogs and puppies. Volunteers also help with fundraising and general administration activities. The support of volunteers means that the Home can take in significantly more dogs than would otherwise be possible.

C A T H A V E N

           
Lemnos Street Shenton Park. WA 6008 tel: 9381 1644 fax: 9381 4326 e-mail: cathaven@iprimus.com.au


The Cat Welfare Society was formed in the late 1960's and trades as the Cat Haven. The people that started the Society wanted to address the growing problem of stray and abandoned cats and so volunteered their time to raise money and provide for these animals.

The Cat Haven has a motto, it is that "we never say no", the Haven itself accepts cats that are surrendered from owners, cats that are lost, found, strays, unwanted kitten litters and outright ferals. We also accept boarding cats whilst owners go on holiday.

The Haven operates solely from money raised from the sale of the cats to the public and from donations. We provide services in lost and found, ranger pick ups, boarding and theatre.

The Cat Haven accepts and looks after the welfare of some 15,000 cats per year, finding new homes or reuniting the owners with some 5,500 of them. We do that by utilising the services of many volunteers and experienced staff, without them the Haven would never be able to afford the level of care that it does now and has done for over 30 years. The volunteers assist in the day to day upkeep of the shelter, they also assist by providing a pick up service in some hard to get to areas and on top of that provide minder care for kittens that are too young to be kept at the Haven.

They keep the Cat Haven afloat by doing all of this......for free!

The Cat Haven survives to provide education to the community in how to plan to maintain the domestic cat as a companion pet and secure its place in our future. We will provide advice on cats, their care and welfare and assist in addressing the growing overpopulation issues.

Procedures-
The cats arrive from whichever source they might, they are examined by a kennel hand in an initial attempt to decide who is healthy and of an appropriate size and personality to keep.

The cats are wormed and flea treated, they are then lamped for Ringworm and checked for any other obvious signs of illness or injury.

Following the general health checks, the numbers would be reduced and then it becomes a matter of variety of cats, there is no point keeping all white or all tabby. A selection of colours and ages assists in the decision making process for who gets a kennel.

The Cat Haven maintains that we will try and keep the most sellable of cats. If a cat/ kitten is chosen to get a kennel, it will be moved to it quickly and the kennel hands will decide on a name (if they don't already have one) and write a few details about the cats personality or history if we know it.

This information is generally our opinion on whether the cats like other cats, dogs, children and if they have any peculiar traits that might make them more attractive to customers. The more information we can pass on the better it will be.

Sadly though, not everyone gets a chance to find a new home. During kitten season we will get over 250 a week and we can only house 80. Not only that but adult cats get overlooked when fluffy kittens are available so we keep less of those during this time because they simply do not sell.

It is the education of the public and cat owners that needs to be addressed, sterilisation programs put into place and enforced to prevent unwanted additions to the cat population.

Sterilisations, Immunisations, Boarding Kennels, Rescue service, Sale of cats and kittens.

Animal Rescue

Raptors

INFORMATION ON THE SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION INCORPORATED.