Noosa shelter spreads the message

Refuge manager Nicole Cleary with Ranger.

Geoff Potter

What is traditionally pet-dumping season has become pet-adoption season at Noosa RSPCA animal shelter.

Figures show the amount of abandoned animals taken in by the centre last year dropped to 19, down from 75 pets dumped during the 2008 period.

And while a lot less animals came in, more were adopted out, especially during the Christmas/ New Year period. In 2008, 85 animals were adopted while last year 115 found new homes.

Noosa RSPCA shelter manager Nicole Cleary said they had been run off their feet recently.

“We have been doing huge days, completing up to six or seven adoptions a day,” she said.

It has allowed the shelter to fill those empty cages with needy animals brought in from other shelters across the state.

In the lead-up to Christmas, dogs, cats, puppies and kittens were brought in from Kingaroy, Gympie and Brisbane, while 11 were flown from Townsville.

All up Noosa RSPCA took 84 animals from other shelters last year.

Ms Cleary said it was not just the animals coming from far and wide, but prospective pet owners were also travelling to the shelter from outside of Noosa.

“We have had people from Brisbane and the Gold Coast.”

Out of the refugees from other shelters the first to be adopted was a three-legged shih tzu from Brisbane called Daisy.

However Ranger, a five-year-old cattle dog cross, is not having the same luck. He is the longest- serving resident, having been at the shelter for eight months.

“He is a beautiful dog, he gets along really well with kids – he is just not a cat lover,” Ms Cleary said.

Visit the RSPCA shelter at the corner of Eumundi and Hollett roads or call 5449 1371. The shelter is open 8.30am-4pm daily.