Safe & Sound Pounds

The problem

Every year, 100,000 pets are killed in council pounds and shelters, many without ever being given the chance to find a new home.

How can this be when Australia is a nation that considers pets part of the family?

A nation that’s proven there’s a home for every rescue pet - with 95% of pets listed for adoption on PetRescue finding a home, and higher demand to adopt than there are rescue pets listed in most states.

The problem isn’t irresponsible pet owners, overpopulation or abandonment. The issue is flawed legislation and a dysfunctional pound system that fails to meet our communities’ expectations and relentlessly puts rescue groups under immense pressure to save lives.

Volunteer rescue organisations do an incredible job saving at-risk pets from council pounds, often at great cost to their own livelihoods. But they are propping up a broken system, and just don’t have the capacity to take another 100,000 pets.

Our solution

Our Safe & Sound Pounds program is leveraging our greatest strengths as the digital innovators and disruptors of animal welfare to develop a whole raft of positive solutions that will ultimately keep pets safe.

It won’t be easy, and we don’t have all the answers yet. But with the help and support of pet lovers, industry partners and everyone who cares about animals, we will keep up the fight until we find all the answers.

Hackathon and App

Drawing on the brightest minds and innovative tech, a hackathon and peer-to-peer app to disrupt and save lives.

To really fix the archaic pound system, we need to look at the big picture, shake it up, disrupt it, and find ways to keep pets out of the system in the first place. We need to leverage the latest advances in the tech world to solve the big issues and challenges that pets face in Australia. That’s the thinking behind two big digital innovation projects we’ve got in the pipeline - a peer-to-peer app and a hackathon event - drawing on the brightest minds to help keep pets safe.

Find out more about PetRescue hackathons

Fighting micro-battles, one pound at a time

Working one-on-one with Australia’s councils to create a safe future for all pets.

For the pets that end up in the pound system, we want to ensure they’re all given the chance of finding a new home. And we’ve learned that working step-by-step and one-on-one with council pounds has produced the best outcomes.

It’s helped pounds overcome the obstacles and challenges they face in establishing direct-from-pound adoption programs. It’s helped us form strong relationships with amazing pounds doing incredible work. And it’s helped us identify the pounds that show potential to make positive change.

These are the micro-battles we will fight to get Australia closer to a future where every pet is safe, respected and loved.

Community Cat Program

Helping communities care for their cats by supporting groundbreaking urban stray cat desexing research and programs.

PetRescue has seen a huge upturn in cat adoptions in the past three years. And yet, more than 80,000 healthy cats and kittens are killed every year in Australia’s pounds, with no effect on the overall urban stray cat population which replenishes year after year.

It’s time to challenge old legislation and give people real power to care for cats in their community, which is why PetRescue is proud to be supporting a groundbreaking four-year humane cat management trial. It’s the first significant research looking at the advancement of cat management and welfare in Australia.

Vet Recruitment

Collaborating with vets to harness a huge life-saving resource to help save more pets.

Vets are often the first people pet owners turn to when they’re at risk of giving up their pet. By becoming a PetRescue member, vets have the resources to help clients who can no longer look after their pet to rehome them without ever needing to surrender the pet to a pound or shelter. When you consider there are approximately 2,300 vet clinics in Australia, there’s huge untapped potential to save thousands of lives.

Find out more about our Vet Recruitment program