Doggedly sticking to dogma

gobsmack says:

07:33am | 25/09/12

No pet owner gladly has the object of their love euthanised.

The problem is oversupply.  Puppy farms need to be tightly regulated and neutering of domestic pets compulsory.  But these sorts of measures have already been implemented to varying degrees.

Keeping intelligent animals in small cages in shelters for the rest of their lives is not a humane solution.

Nathan Explosion says:

08:10am | 25/09/12

There is a great no kill shelter in Victoria called Save a Dog. They have cats and dogs fostered until they can find a forever home. I got one of my cats there. I can’t imagine life without any of my kitties.

DrBob says:

10:19am | 25/09/12

We always had a dog when I was a kid, but I was too young to appreciate them as more than just pets to play with. Three years ago, my son bought a 7-year-old Cattle Dog / Jack Russell cross bitch from the pound, but was posted overseas a year later, when I inherited her. We quickly became friends, as I learned more and more about the wonderful world she enjoyed. She can’t talk, but she understands most of what I say. She reads our body language amazingly well and we’ve learned to understand her sign language and different barks, as well. She’s a sentient being, just like us, with similar feelings. Although dogs live in a different virtual reality from ours, we share a huge overlap, probably due to the long association of dogs and humans. Few people understand the importance of our symbiosis with dogs throughout human history and realise that we would still be a primitive species, if dogs hadn’t helped us to hunt, warned us of intrusions, protected our crops and made it possible for us to herd goats, sheep, cattle etc.
Apart from their companionship, dogs have been indispensable to human progress and we owe a huge debt to them.
My little friend loves her session of catching her ball and we’d slaughter the Poms, if they made her first slip for Australia!

Chris says:

10:44am | 25/09/12

Miles has not adequately declared his interest in this issue. 

He was employed by the Lost Dogs’ Home in Melbourne to do their PR. 

Lost Dogs’ Home has a reputation in the sector for some of the worst live save rates in Victoria for dogs.

What Miles fails to mention is that vested interests lie everywhere - including in the animal welfare industry.  Lost Dogs’ Home in North Melbourne would stand to lose highly lucrative council contracts for managing pounds across Victoria in their central mega-pound if they reformed.

Katrina says:

12:09pm | 25/09/12

Let’s leave aside your incredibly condescending characterization of rescue groups and look at the substance of your complaint. We, at the grassroots of rescue, are making too much noise and not being reasonable? Those of us who have seen there is a way of saving the lives of pets are upsetting the apple cart by being too aggressive? It’s an old charge, all through history, when new thinking comes along which threatens the power of existing institutions, they are chided for being too noisy, too assertive, not reasonable.  I doubt you’ll find anyone at the grassroots level threatened or silenced by Saving Pets,  “It always seems to me when the anti-suffrage members of the Government criticize militancy in women that it is very like beasts of prey reproaching gentler animals who turn in desperate resistance when at the point of death.” Emmeline Pankhurst

Julie-Anne says:

02:14pm | 25/09/12

In our society we live in I find high kill rates in pounds and shelter across this country extremely disturbing and unnecessary. Why kill healthy companion animals in the first place, due to small problems with temperaments, when they can be assessed and placed into the appropriate environments or foster care until re-homed?  It is proven and can be done. Many animal rescue groups have successfully re-homed numbers of unwanted companion animals through foster care programs and the push for pet adoptions is growing.  Also, there is a huge difference between humanely putting down an animal due to suffering pain and dying than giving the needle to a perfectly healthy soul that the high kill pounds and shelters choose to do.  Instead stamp down on rouge breeders, puppy and kitten factories and backyarders, to reduce the over population of companion animals ending up in the wrong hands that often use poor excuses and then surrender, to high kill pounds and shelters, simply because the pet doesn’t suit them anymore.  Introduce pet licensing for households along with the current local laws on pet registrations across the country.  It’s about time the rest of community is educated that companion animals are non disposable living souls that cannot be cast off as rubbish!

willie says:

02:52pm | 25/09/12

After our dog died my mum wanted to get another from the pound. The previous dog was a hunterway and had been a working dog until the arthritis got to him. Since then my parents had sold all the sheep and my mum just wanted a companion dog.

At the pound there was a fairly old, very quiet, short haired mutt. The perfect dog to follow mum around the garden or walk through the bush. Mum had almost finished all the paperwork when she mentioned to the woman in charge that the dog wouldn’t be allowed inside. That was it, no dog for her “and don’t try get one from another shelter”. apparently they have a system to tell other shelters about unsavoury people like her.

If shelters think keeping animals outside is worse than killing them then the whole system has some serious issues. We ended up with a kelpy somthing-or-other cross with giant ears. It has never complained about sleeping outside.

Cherie says:

03:58pm | 25/09/12

Since being involved with a Brisbane based, Cat and Kitten Rescue Ass.
I have sourced other similar groups, I hope SBS on Insight tonight , has,
a balanced group, and finally the truth comes out.
According to a reliable source, the figures are thus,
600,000 Companion Pets bought in Australia,
250,000 Companion Pets euthanised.
Most of the fault , is to do with Pet Shops, Puppy Mills (backyard breeders),
they sell to Pet Shops, and in Car Parks , through online, and classified,
Papers.
An American came up with the TNR, in effect it means,
Trap Neuter Return.

  Healthy and well-cared for, but gradually diminishing feral-neighborhood cat colonies
  An immediate reduction in complaints about behaviors associated with unsterilized cats, including spraying, fighting, roaming and breeding
  Fewer rodents in your neighbourhood.
I am not an authority on TNR, what it will do is reduce the Feral Cat Colony,
if they are trapped by the Council, taken to the Pound, they will most certainly be PTS, as the Pound gets a fee for every Animal that is PTS.
Also if that Feral Colony is destroyed , another Colony will move in, that is
the principle, and it has had success in the States.
The Council must bring in Neutering Laws, and offer cheaper rates, it is already working in Logan, and the Gold Coast.(It has just started).
Since being involved with the Brisbane based Rescue Ass. at Capalaba,
they do not PTS any of their Cats and Kittens, all the Animals are cared for by a band of Volunteers, Foster Carers, and in some cases, have the Cat /Kitten for up to a year, until the Animal is adopted out, they are neutered,
vaccinated, wormed, and a Veneratey Surgeon has an Assessment of the ,
“Adopted Pet” , the Animal is then Adopted out.
What must be stopped , are Pet Shops and Backyard Breeders, they are in ,
it for money, the Dog or Cat are in appalling conditions, they breed in sqaulor, have shocking hygiene, their offspring are usually unhealthy, inbreed, and if they survive , multiplle pregnancies, are dumped,
or killed , visciously, their market , is the Pet Shops, and online, papers ,
and signs out the front of their House.
Pet Shops sell the cute puppies and kittens, and are often impulse buys,
I am not saying all buyers ,are going to dump them , but why are the Pounds full, the Animals , are neglected, tortured, abused, killed.
Now you can knock these well meaning Rescue Organisations, but they do,
take in the dumped, abused, pregnant Mothers and their future offspring,
the Rescue Ass. I am involved with , refuse to PTS, any of their Cats/Kittens,
unless, it is the kindest action, that can be done.
I believe the RSPCA has made such a profit, yet they still have a high kill rate.
I read 57,000 Cats were destroyed last year, less for Dogs,by the RSPCA
You would be surprised the number of People , that like Older Companion,
Animals, they are easier to care for, toilet trained, and very loyal and loving.,
there is a demand for them.
I know of intances where , owners tried to retrieve their Dogs/ Cats from the
Pound, only to find out , they had been destroyed, .
I have seen such graphic photos of Companion Pets, gassed to Death,
some even survive the Gas Chamber, only to be put through it again.
We must stop the killing , I have a Petition I started , to put a stop to Pet Shops, and Puppy Mills.
I hope SBS Insight, tonight brings out the truth, this is a National disgrace,
and I wil keep my petitions going, volunteer, at a genuine “No Kill” Rescue,
Association, and I sincerely hope, something good comes out of tonights ,
Insight.
PS> If you would like to sign my Petition , I will ask the permission ,
of the Author Miles Heffernan.
  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/343/554/301/stop-pet-shops-selling-kittens-and-puppies-in-australia/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/343/554/301/stop-pet-shops-selling-kittens-and-puppies-in-australia/

We must desex all Companion Animals, register all Companion Animals,

Cherie says:

04:23pm | 25/09/12

@Miles Heffernan,
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/343/554/301/stop-pet-shops-selling-kittens-and-puppies-in-australia/
This didn’t copy as well as I had hoped, I need 1,000 signatures,
and have over 830 signatures already, I want to stop pet Shops and Puppy
Mills, I am so overwhelmed with the shocking abuse, torture, dumping of ,
unwanted Cats and Dogs, I am really looking forward to Insight.
I am not a nutter, that thinks , this is the way we run our Shelters,.
“Little Paws Rescue Association” do admirable work, and are run by Foster,
Cares, Volunteers, they rehomed over 800 Cats , some very old, and Kittens.
They have blind cats, they have rehabilitated abused Cats, one darling Cat,
was thrown from a moving Car, so we all pitched in for her Vet Bills, she has, thrived, and apart from nerve damage, following a fractured pelvis,
and femur , she has nerve damage, that was six months ago, one day,
they will find a special person, for her.
They entered a rescue Kitten from a litter with her Mother, and this Kitten ,
came second in The Animal Planet Competition, winning a much needed,
$1,000 of Pet supplies.
Thanks for listening, and good luck tonight.
Regards,
Cherie Gibbs

Cherie says:

05:59pm | 25/09/12

@Miles Herffernan,
Please excuse ,the format, grammar and spelling mistakes,
I have left my glasses in my Son’s Car.
Kind regards,
Cherie