The Sydney Dogs and Cats Home is proud to be the first pound in NSW to sign up to the Getting To Zero Euthanasia (“G2Z”) program, designed for pounds and shelters who consider that it is an ethical imperative to pursue all available options to save or rehome rescue pets as opposed to utilising euthanasia as a default position [when impounded pets pass their statutory “hold” period].
How it started & how it works
G2Z is an initiative of the Animal Welfare League of Queensland (“AWL Qld”), possibly the most progressive and most successful large pound in Australia in terms of their rehoming rates for the lost, abandoned and surrendered animals that come into their care.
AWL Qld’s Gold Coast shelter takes in around 7,000 dogs and cats every year as part of their contractual commitment to the Gold Coast Council, but they also voluntarily take an additional 3,000 animals from pounds in surrounding areas who can’t cope with their intake of animals. Despite this, AWL Qld has consistently achieved rehoming & reclaim rates of over 90% of all dogs and 75% of all cats for many years. This compares with some of the larger pounds in other States who kill over 90% of cats and 70% of unclaimed dogs they receive each year.
AWL Qld’s rehoming & reclaim rate is probably the best of any open-intake pound or shelter in Australia and it is the result of a concerted effort on the part of AWL Qld to identify options to save every single healthy, adoptable or (medically or behaviourally) treatable pet that comes into their care.
As a result of their success in rehoming so many of their animals, AWL Qld has teamed up with the Elsie Cameron Foundation to create the G2Z initiative to encourage and support other pounds and shelters around Australia who wish to make a concerted effort to rehome rather than euthanise pets.
(Note that “Zero Euthanasia” here refers to the goal of not euthanising any healthy or medically or behaviorally treatable pet, which should translate into a reclaim + rehome rate of over 90% for dogs and over 80% for cats, allowing for an ongoing intake of feral cats).
Pounds and shelters that publicly commit to the G2Z goals are able to work with AWL Qld (and receive the benefit of their many years of experience) to jointly design tailored programs for each specific shelter, allowing them to improve rehoming rates and better engage with their community. These include foster care programs, volunteer programs, marketing initiatives for adoptable pets and working with rescue groups and veterinary clinics.
Help Sydney Dogs and Cats Home G2Z
With dog reclaim & rehoming rates of around 88% last year, the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home is well and truly in alignment with these objectives already, despite handling around 3,500 animals per annum supported by only 10 staff (plus our wonderful & dedicated volunteers). The SDCH would, however, love to do better by shortening the time dogs spend in the shelter before being rehomed and improving adoption rates for our cats and kittens.
Achieving these goals will not be easy, nor will it happen overnight. The Home’s contracts with 11 Sydney Councils provide funding for the first 7-14 days’ care of impounded animals only – if we hold pets for any period beyond that (to allow them sufficient time to be adopted) it is a cost which must be borne by the Home.
To achieve the best outcome for these dogs and cats we need the support of our community:
- We need foster carers to provide a safe and secure environment for these pets while they wait for their new forever homes. If you can’t adopt a pet (or can’t adopt a second pet if you already have one) perhaps you could temporarily foster a happy, healthy dog or cat while we work to find their forever family?
- We need volunteers to help give the animals some TLC while they are in our care at the shelter. If you can’t foster a pet perhaps you could devote a little bit of your time as and when you can to walking dogs or socialising cats?
- We need skilled volunteers who can work from home (or generally in their spare time) to help build and maintain the SDCH website and Facebook page to boost’s the Home’s online presence and improve our communication with both our supporters and with pet-loving members of the community.
- We need volunteers to help us find ways to spread the word about the wonderful variety of pets available for adoption at the Home (for a broad cross-section of the breeds and sizes we always have available please see the Adoptable Animals section of our website at www.sydneydogsandcatshome.org).
- If you don’t have time to volunteer or foster, perhaps you can assist the Home to buy more time for our animals by donating to their care? It can take time to find the right forever family for our dogs and cats and we need more sponsors and supporters who are prepared to help us provide this time for them. We always have animals with special needs, such as those requiring medical care for specific problems (everything from injuries, to skin conditions, to cancer) whose only hope for a second chance is that the Home will be able to nurse them on the road back to health.
If you would like more information about the adoptable animals at the Home, volunteering opportunities or ways in which you can assist the Home financially please visit the following sections of the website:
Volunteer
Donate
Sponsorship
Kennel Sponsorship
Bequests
Animals for Adoption
For more information on the Getting To Zero Euthanasia initiative please visit the AWL Qld website at:
