Local animal welfare advocate Louise Webb with her two rescue dogs, Minnie and Lacey. Lacey was abandoned in a council pound. Photo: Supplied.
Eurobodalla’s animal shelter is viewed by several people, including some Eurobodalla Shire Council staff and councillors, as inadequate and no longer fit for purpose, but a new facility remains some way off.
In the meantime, local animal welfare advocate Louise Webb has three suggestions to improve the plight of animals at the Moruya pound in need of a new home.
Recently the councillors approved submitting a development application for the new pound and submitting a grant application to support the project.
They also requested a report be provided to them in conjunction with its consideration of its annual operating plan in June.
Ms Webb said that while the Eurobodalla branch of the Animal Welfare League (AWL) took animals out of the pound and rehomed them, there was an opportunity for the council’s network of volunteers to become animal foster carers to supplement the AWL’s work.
“Other councils use foster carers for impounded animals,” Ms Webb said. “Our council has a network of volunteers in a range of activities so they should try to use volunteers for foster carers, particularly given the current facilities are so out-of-date, especially for cats and kittens.”
Ranger Jason Ritzen and friend at the Eurobodalla Animal Shelter. The current shelter has capacity for 16 dogs and four cats. Photo: Eurobodalla Shire Council.
Ms Webb and two former RSPCA colleagues discussed the possibility of foster care with two senior council staff in December 2024 when they were invited to look at the designs of the new animal shelter.
The council officers’ response was positive at that December meeting, but nothing happened. Ms Webb made the offer again in March this year. She was told the council needed to develop appropriate forms for the volunteers to sign.
“I didn’t get the impression that the issue was being given any priority,” Ms Webb said.
So, while encouraged by the signs of progress by the council and understanding that a new animal shelter is a pressing need, Ms Webb said, “I think we can do better for some of the animals by the council signing up foster carers the way other councils have done”.
Another initiative Ms Webb would like to see is an after-hours drop-off facility to accommodate stray animals that are found on the weekend and in the evening.
Ms Webb said members of the public had often contacted her and local vets when they found stray animals. She said Shoalhaven had a drop-off facility, as did Dubbo, Orange and Lithgow, while people in Port Macquarie and Albury could always contact rangers.
“I discussed this in the design of the new shelter, but a senior council officer ruled it out,” Ms Webb said. “The officer said people abuse such facilities, but I would like to revisit this issue as I think there is a real need for somewhere where people who find stray animals can safely leave them until someone can take care of them.”
Plans for the new animal shelter in Moruya industrial area. Photo: Via Eurobodalla Shire Council website.
Looking at the bigger picture, Ms Webb would like the council to follow the lead of other councils and desex animals before they are adopted out.
The council could cover at least some of that cost in a slightly higher adoption fee.
Desexing and microchipping the animals would enable the council to advertise them on the Pet Rescue website, something which 31 other councils throughout NSW already do.
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Ms Webb said that while people adopting from the council shelter received a voucher for assistance from AWL Eurobodalla to have their pet desexed, it was still up to the individual to book the vet and pay the gap between the vet’s charge and AWL’s assistance.
“It is too uncertain and it isn’t adequately closing the loop on unwanted breeding,” she said. “I think the council should step up and take responsibility for desexing animals before they leave council care. If 31 other councils can do it and see the value, this is something Eurobodalla should think about.”
Ms Webb’s priority though is getting a modern animal shelter with better separation between cats and dogs, larger cages, and a bigger exercise area.
“We need to get this new shelter up and running,” she said. “These other things are important but not the key thing.”
