(WA) South West animal rescue looking for a new home

South West Animal Rescue is a not for profit organisation based in  Bunbury, the south west of Western Australia. It was established in November 2006 to address the lack of an animal shelter in the Bunbury area. Their primary goal is to rescue abandoned domestic animals, usually from pounds and vet clinics, foster them into homes temporarily while they look for their perfect "forever home".

They are planning to build an animal shelter and are gratefully accepting help in kind and donations.

Kellie Hodgson is a woman who faces difficult choices on a regular basis. She's one of the volunteers at South West Animal Rescue and it's her task to visit shire pounds in order to select cats and dogs to save.

The problem is that there are far more animals awaiting death than there are foster carers to take them. To illustrate, Kellie relates that the organisation took around 200 calls last summer during the cat breeding season from people whose cats had had kittens. The owners had tried advertising, tried the pet shops, tried to find homes. What can you do, Kellie asks, when there's a couple of hundred cats needing homes and only seven or eight people to help.

"This problem can be easily fixed," Kellie points out. "Get your cat or dog sterilised and then you don't have the problem."

Cats are harder to place, says Kellie. "People prefer to adopt six week old kittens." As well, once the cats are grown and around 12 months old, people will ring up and ask to give them back.

When a animal is selected, Kellie is the first stop on its road to reincarnation. Her job, Kellie explains, is to check out general health. Pooch or puss is cleaned up, treated for fleas and taken to the vet. Commonly, the cats and dogs are covered in fleas, she says and severe flea infestations lead to skin problems.

Long haired dogs with matted coats need to be clipped and cleaned up. "You have to completely clip them off, almost to the skin," says Kellie. Once puss or pooch is given a clean bill of health, they are assigned a foster home while waiting for a new owner. The vet costs are recouped when the animal is given a new home.

The dogs are given basic training and taught their manners. Some dogs have been mistreated by their former owners yet can still respond to the care and attention they receive.

The group now has an adoption coordinator which makes the task of matching animals and people much easier, says Kellie.

These are just three of the animals wanting new homes. All have been sterilised, vaccinated and treated for worms and fleas

Reference: www.abc.net.au

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