a new breed of dog rescue organisations

In our local newspaper, The Age, there was an article on Monday about a new event to occur monthly at the Commerical Hotel In Yarraville - The Big Dog Day Out. It looked as if the dogs were enjoying themselves, so I might plan on taking Penny there one day.

The events will raise money for dogs. The money collected on this occasion went to Halfway Home Animal Rescue. On the Commercial Hotel's site I read that this is a regular summer event, and the Halfway Home group is 'an organisation that saves animals in remote rural pounds on death row and places them into foster care in the Melbourne area, where they can then be adopted into loving homes'.

I'd like to support them, because they are an organisation that gives stray dogs a second chance when they are about to be put down. In The Age article, the founder, Jenaya Du Toit said they have become disenchanted with animal "shelters" that put down about 250,000 dogs and cats each year.

What a terrible number!

I've recently heard of another organisation called Rescued With Love, one that aims to keep dogs out of shelters altogether and also processes them through voluntary foster carers.

I donate to the big dog rescue organisations here, as much as I can, and now I'm wondering whether my money would be better going to these "direct rescue" groups. It's quite a dilemma, because, despite criticism of the big shelters, they do rescue lots of dogs. And they are easily contacted if a dog is lost. But it scares me to think how many animals pass through their doors and what a short time a dog is given before its fate is decided.

I can't afford to donate to all of them, unfortunately.

German animal lovers help pets in need

Penny was eating her breakfast as I sat reading The Age newspaper today. When I read an article about a German organisation called Tiertafel I realised how lucky we are to be able to feed Penny well.

With times so hard all around the world, many people are having to make the hard decision to give up a much-loved pet because they have to choose between feeding themselves (or their children) - or feeding the pet.

Many elderly pensioners are in this sad situation and we all know that if an old pet is given up to a shelter it's unlikely to be adopted.

Tiertafel was set up to stop people having to make this awful choice. Pet owners in financial difficulty, short term or long term, can get free food for their pets.

There are about 19 of these free food outlets in Germany now. I had a look at a lovely feel-good video clip showing the 'pet soup-kitchen' in action in Berlin. Even if you don't speak German, it's a nice video to look at. First it shows 'two-legs' patiently queuing with their four-legged pals and then explains that people need to prove they are in need. Then we see volunteers bringing in donations and a lady explains that she's donated some food because she feels for people in this situation.

Verein "Tiertafel" - Menschen helfen ... @ Yahoo! Video

campaign to rehome dogs Home 4 the Holidays

Penny's blog received a comment a few days ago, asking me to promote a pet rehoming project called Home 4 the Holidays, which aims to place at least 1 million pets in loving and happy homes over the holiday season (Oct. 1, 2008 through Jan. 5, 2009).

I hesitated for a while because I have a policy of not engaging in any marketing (except for the ads that appear if you click on my world map - I love the free map so much I couldn't resist it). The Home 4 the Holidays Program is backed by the petfood company Iams.

However, it is such a good cause that I think it deserves promotion.

These Australian shelters are taking part:
1. Greyhound Fan Club, Sydney NSW
2. NSW Animal Rescue Inc, Toongabbie
3. PetRescue, East Vic Park
4. PetsHaven, Woodend
5. RSPCA, Fairfield Gardens
6. Save Our Strays, Sydney NSW

1. Greyhound Fan Club, Sydney, is sponsored by Nutrience, which I take to be a subsidiary of Iams, and, strangely, they have an address that ends with .ru - a RUSSIAN web address. They have an adoption page with stories of dogs now in loving homes.

2. I rang NSW Animal Rescue, because at that stage I hadn't found their great site, with its sad and happy photos and stories of the work they do. Steve Austin is their sponsor. They are a voluntary organisation and have taken part in the Home 4 the Holidays program for the past few years. I spoke to one of their volunteers, who was most helpful.

3. PetRescue, East Victoria Park is a listing on a national register of rescue organisations - the actual name is 'shel', and at that site is listed as having rehomed ONE animal in the last year. I couldn't find out any more about them via the Web.

4. Pets Haven in Woodend in Victoria has its own site and lots of 'happy ending' stories of rehomed animals. They have a policy of keeping animals as long as possible, rather than euthanasing after a set time.

5. I guess the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) needs no explanation. Probably our best-known animal welfare agency.

6. Save Our Strays, Sydney NSW - I couldn't find an individual site for this organisation but they have lots of successful rehomings listed on PetRescue.

Here's the original comment that I received:

My name is Victoria, and I'm with Rocket XL, a marketing agency working out of Los Angeles. I wanted to invite you to join in a great project we're working on to help homeless dogs, cats & animals everywhere. We're working on a project for one of the world's most successful pet adoption drives, Home 4 the Holidays, which has set a goal to place at least 1 million pets in loving and happy homes over this holiday season (Oct. 1, 2008 through Jan. 5, 2009). In fact, Home 4 the Holidays has 6 shelters participating in Australia alone this year!

With some help from animal-supporting bloggers like yourselves sharing the word about the program, and this year's Home 4 the Holidays celebrity spokesperson, Felicity Huffman and her beloved adopted dog Tucker, we know we can reach this goal! Last year alone, this pet adoption program helped nearly 500,000 families experience the joy of pet adoption. In fact, since it began in 1999, Iams Home for the Holidays has helped place more than 2 million pets into happy homes.