Pet rescue volunteer calls for better education

BY ALISON MARTIN
A LOCAL animal rescue volunteer wants better education for pet owners before they take kittens and puppies home for Christmas or before they understand the long-term responsibilities that come with owning pet.
There has been a huge 15 per cent jump in the number of dogs residing in Geelong in the past 12 months and the cat population is almost impossible to estimate with unregistered cats and kittens regularly arriving at rescue shelters.
The City of Greater Geelong recorded more than 7000 extra dog registrations in the past year, with 45,267 pooches in the council system in 2020, and 52,435 canine companions taking up residency and registration in 2021.
The recent dog boom was almost as great as the previous 12 months when more than 10,000 extra dogs were registered, up from 34,6012 in 2019.
But unfortunately, these people-pet relationships don’t always end well, and that’s where passionate animal lovers like Beck Kastelein from Waggin Tails Animal Rescue step in to find pets new homes.
Waggin Tails is one of several Geelong-based animal rescue services which play an important role in caring and rehoming surrendered pets after their owners are no longer able or willing to look after them.
Beck said the service, which rehomed about 90 dogs a year, usually experienced an influx of new arrivals which had been “Christmas pets” at this time of year.
“People get a puppy or young dog as a gift for children, then realise there are responsibilities and give it away six months later,” she said.
The service had one dog returned to them after it suffered significant separation anxiety when its owner returned to work after last year’s pandemic lockdown, but unlike metro areas, Waggin Tails hasn’t dealt with numbers of “COVID pets” being surrendered.
“We’ve probably had an increase in animals due to the rental crisis as a lot of people are struggling to find homes, let alone homes that will accept their pets. In saying that though it’s not a significant increase,” Beck said.
She said dogs were generally surrendered because of behaviour issues, “some being quite simple and could have been avoided if training had been done from day one, but also relationship breakdowns and rental reasons”.
However, puppies and dogs are a relatively small part of their Geelong-based service, with just under 200 kittens and cats rehomed in the past 12 months.
Beck said the most common reason for owners to surrender cats was that they were “moving and can’t take the cat”.
Yet despite the growing stray cat population and large number of surrendered cats, the number of cats registered in the City of Greater Geelong has decreased from 10,777 in 2020 to 10,289 this year.
“I really feel that there’s a need for more education around owning a pet,” Beck said.
“There’s so many unwanted cat litters due to people not having the knowledge of the importance of desexing an animal.”
Waggin Tails relies on volunteers and foster carers to support the service they provide homeless pets. See their Facebook page to learn how you can help a pet in need.