Angel of the stray animals

article listed on 02 November 2008

Trish Burke is learning to loathe every metre of the Calder Highway from Woodend to Mildura.

Each week it's six seat-numbing hours each way and the trip has turned into a never-ending loop.

For Ms Burke, there is one thing worse, though: the alternative.

If the Woodend mum isn't at Mildura pound by 11am each Friday, a vet with a needle will be.

Dozens of strays who have overstayed their welcome won't see the weekend.

What started as the classic kid-and-faithful-dog tale has become for her a never-ending story.

The mother of two has become a death-row angel for dogs and cats, well over 700 of them this year alone.

Her car and old dog trailer are the ark for strays that have run out of time.

"I know if I don't do it, what will happen," she said.

For five years Ms Burke, 39, has run the Pets Haven animal shelter out of a pet shop in Woodend.

Her rehousing rate is close to 100 per cent and she even sells strays interstate, about a dozen a month.

Except that they sell at a loss, it would be a boom business. Supply, sadly, is never an issue.

"Every Friday they euthanase animals at Mildura pound," she said. "We get there before the vet."

Since the Mildura runs started this year, Ms Burke has dragged her decrepit trailer the equivalent of once around the earth.

The pet shop exists to support the shelter, and doesn't quite make it.

"The vet bill is probably $3000 in a quiet week. The most is probably around $6000," Ms Burke said.

She got her first dog, a labrador, before she could toddle.

"It's all I know," she said, underselling herself.

The job never ends and that takes a toll.

"I feel like I'm always a failure. I'm never getting ahead, there's always more, but that's the industry I'm in," she said.

"Every day doing this is hard, but I do see real happiness and real joy. Every day is a battle, but I just can't turn my back on them."

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