BY ALISON MARTIN
\nA 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.
\nThere 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.
\nThe 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.
\nThe 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.
\nBut unfortunately, these people-pet relationships don\u2019t always end well, and that\u2019s where passionate animal lovers like Beck Kastelein from Waggin Tails Animal Rescue step in to find pets new homes.
\nWaggin 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.
\nBeck said the service, which rehomed about 90 dogs a year, usually experienced an influx of new arrivals which had been \u201cChristmas pets\u201d at this time of year.
\n\u201cPeople get a puppy or young dog as a gift for children, then realise there are responsibilities and give it away six months later,\u201d she said.
\nThe service had one dog returned to them after it suffered significant separation anxiety when its owner returned to work after last year\u2019s pandemic lockdown, but unlike metro areas, Waggin Tails hasn\u2019t dealt with numbers of \u201cCOVID pets\u201d being surrendered.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve 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\u2019s not a significant increase,\u201d Beck said.
\nShe said dogs were generally surrendered because of behaviour issues, \u201csome being quite simple and could have been avoided if training had been done from day one, but also relationship breakdowns and rental reasons\u201d.
\nHowever, 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.
\nBeck said the most common reason for owners to surrender cats was that they were \u201cmoving and can\u2019t take the cat\u201d.
\nYet 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.
\n\u201cI really feel that there\u2019s a need for more education around owning a pet,\u201d Beck said.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s so many unwanted cat litters due to people not having the knowledge of the importance of desexing an animal.\u201d
\nWaggin 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.<\/p>\n
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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 […]<\/p>\n