By Grace Jones | posted on December 7, 2017
AN animal rescue and rehoming group has urged people to reconsider gifting kittens and puppies due to the high abandonment rate seen in the post-Christmas period.
Saving Animals From Euthanasia (SAFE) Albany Coordinator Camille Gray said there were already more abandoned pets in foster care than the group could handle, without the inrush after Christmas.
“We start getting young cats and dogs around three months after Christmas when they’ve grown out of the cute and fluffy stage,” she said.
“Kids grow bored of the animal or the family isn’t able to afford the upkeep of the pet and they get abandoned or handed into SAFE or RSPCA.
“It’s just better if they’re not gifted, and if you still want to gift a pet there’s plenty of abandoned animals that would love a home.”
The awareness of the looming gifting season was prompted after six week old kitten Clover was found abandoned in the Kalgan River by a Perth fisherman.
“She was covered in mud and shivering when she was handed in,” Ms Gray said.
“After her vet check, we found out that she was completely deaf, mostly blind and had balance issues that causes her to wobble a bit when she walks.”
Clover was recently adopted, but there are still more than 10 young cats in the care of SAFE as well as a handful of kittens.
“We get kittens in almost every day which are given to RSPCA to care for,” Ms Gray said.
“We just don’t have enough foster carers to look after the cats and kittens for extended periods of time; some of our foster homes have more than five cats at a time that probably won’t be re-homed.”
For more information on becoming a foster carer or adopting an animal, go to the SAFE Albany website.
